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2 results

  • Introduction

  • A. D. Lee, University of Nottingham
  • Book:
    Warfare in the Roman World
    Published online:
    04 September 2020
    Print publication:
    17 September 2020, pp 1-29

  • Summary

    The overall approach of the book is thematic, with the Introduction providing important context for what follows, especially for those less familiar with Roman history, first by defining key terms and parameters (especially explaining the chronological range of the volume, from the fourth century BC to the early seventh century AD), and then through an overview of the incidence of warfare, both external and internal, across the course of Roman history. The evolution of Roman military forces from the Republic through to Late Antiquity is outlined, with particular attention to Augustus’ formalisation of a standing army and the reconfiguration of the empire’s forces in the early fourth century. Finally, the most important ancient sources for the subject are introduced, with discussion of key literary sources (Polybius, Caesar, Livy, Josephus, Tacitus, Ammianus Marcellinus and Procopius), the less familiar Syriac chronicle atttributed to Joshua the Stylite, military treatises, documentary evidence (inscriptions, papyri) and relevant archaeological material.

  • 9 - The army

  • from PART III - THE EMPIRE
  • Edited by Alan K. Bowman, University of Oxford, Peter Garnsey, University of Cambridge, Dominic Rathbone, King's College London
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Ancient History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    12 October 2000, pp 320-343

  • Summary

    The effectiveness of the Roman army of the later first and second centuries AD was as great as it had ever been and was never to be surpassed. The legions in the later first and second centuries were essentially large bodies of highly disciplined and well-equipped infantry, trained primarily to engage the enemy in formal 'set-piece' battles. The extraordinary success of the Roman army can be ascribed to a number of factors, not least of which will have been the military qualities of the emperor and his legates and the spirit that they instilled into the men under their command so that under an emperor like Hadrian, who shared the rigours of camp life with his men, military discipline became very much the order of the day. The significance of the army to the empire and particularly to those frontier provinces in which it was based was not, however, limited to its military role, whether offensive or defensive.