Login

Q Rutilius · 03-27-2004, 03:36 PM

This has probaby been gone over many times but the search engine is, well.... you know... 
 
I have a copy of Vegetius. I would like a list of other writers who have coverd Roman tactics and formations. I also have a copy of Josephus but I screwed up and bought a version that was translated circa 1700. It is difficult and boring to read to say the least. Can anyone recommend a good modern translation?

03-27-2004, 09:50 PM

I'd recommend the Penguin modern classics translation of Josephus for readability-plus it is affordable and easy to get hold of. 
 
"other writers who have coverd Roman tactics and formations"- phew! A huge number. De Rebus Bellicis by Anon is a fun companion (bizarre inventions) to Vegetius for late Rome, as is Ammianus. For earlier stuff, try Arrian's Contra Alanos, Frontinus' Strategems, ar any of Caesar. 
 
Cheers, 
 
Paulus

03-29-2004, 02:03 AM

Also check out Appian's work on Cavalry training and the Order of Battle agaisnt the alans - available in a single volume through Amazon

Muzzaguchi · 03-29-2004, 03:22 AM

Hi, 
 
The genre to which Vegetius broadly belongs has only a few titles which are extant. Arrian, Frontinus and the De Rebus Bellicis have been mentioned. 
 
Arrian and the De Rebus were available from Ares which seems to have dissapeared from the face of the earth but they are still around on Amazon. Frontinus is only available in English in the Loeb as far as I am aware. 
 
There is also Asclepiodotus who wrote a Tactica some time after 50 BC and Aelian whose Tactica dates to before Trajan's Parthian campaign. Asclepiodotus is in the Loeb volume with Aeneas Tacticus and Onasander. Aelian was translated in a volume of the journal The Ancient World (number 19 IIRC)(also published by Ares). Both of these works describe the MAcedonian Phalanx but may have been describing such formations with a view to haveing them adopted in Roamn Parthian campaign contexts. Problem is they don't ever say so but modern scholars (Wheeler and others) have argued this was the case - especially given Arrian's Contra Alanos which seems like a phalanx. Its similarity is debated. 
 
Onasander's The General addressed to Veranius in the 50s AD does not describe formations or tactics but wrote a theoretical work on what type of person makes the best general (this work has been derided by philologists - although I went to a conference where Titus was described as the perfect example of an Onasandrian general - now that is a backhanded compliment if ever I heard one! ) I digress. 
 
There is also Polyaenus of Macedon's Strategemata (same as Frontinus) published yet again by Ares. These also do not describe tactics but provide anecdotes and stratagems of military history from myth to the present day (Polyaenus' latest anecdote was under Nero - Frontinus includes some under Domitian). Polyaenus wrote for the Parthian war of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus in 161 AD. Frontinus probably wrote in the 80s AD after serving 
 
Who have I left out? There is also Maurice's Strategikon available on Amazon from Uni of Pennsylvania Press which is very useful. 
 
Other than that there was an earlier thread (Nov 2002?) about the discovery of a papyrus in Egypt which described a formation similar to Arrian's - I have heard no more about it since alas. 
 
And then you are on to Historians - Caesar, Polybius, Josephus, Ammianus are probably best 
 
ALso see Kate Gilliver's The Roman Art of War from Tempus 2000 which summarises all these works. Campbell's JRS article 'Teach yourself how to be a Roman General' 1987. 
 
Once you have tracked down and read that lot - we'll see you in a few months!! 
 
Cheers 
 
Muzzaguchi It is an unscrupulous intellect that does not pay Antiquity its due reverence - Erasmus of Rotterdam 
 
'Modern history, like a deaf man, answers questions no one asks' - Tolstoy War and Peace Ep. ii.1

Q Rutilius · 03-30-2004, 12:30 AM

Thanks guys, that is just the kind of information I was looking for.

Login
Username:
Password:	Lost Password?
	Remember me