The Punic Wars, by Nigel Bagnall........

[Anonymous]

I just bought this book today, and though I haven't started reading it yet, I was wondering if anyone else has? Any opinions?<br>
<br>
Thanks. <p>Tiberius Lantanius Magnus<BR>
CO/Optio,<BR>
Legio XXX "Ulpia Victrix"<BR>
(Matt)</p><i></i>

[Guest]

Salve,<br>
<br>
For a very general introduction Bagnall will do, but he is not a trained historian and the text is not the most balanced and carefully weighed one around. In my opinion the two books by Lazenby (<i> Hannibal's war</i> and <i> The first Punic war</i>) and the one by Goldsworthy (see this review) are more useful due to the more critical approach and annotations. Connolly's <i> Greece and Rome at war</i> has a good part on the second Punic war. I can recommend reading those after you finished this one.<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
<br>
Sander van Dorst <p></p><i></i>

[Catiline]

I'm reading Bagnall at the moment. The fact he's not a trained historian does show through, but this isn't always a bad thing, he is after all a soldier, and a different point of view on matters never hurt anyone. There are occaisional discrepancies in the text with regard to troop figures, and one or two strange sentences that are confusing, but they're relatively minor. More of a pain is the lack of any real citations. He makes a lot of use of Livy, Polybius and Diodorus, but I've yet to find a proper reference that would allow you to go and find the inrormation yourself. i ended up reading great chunks of Polybius and Livy (perhaps no bad thing ) to find the context the information Bagnall was using was in.<br>
<br>
the style's approachable though, i was reading it on the train without suffering brain failure or feeling i needed to take notes to really break down what was being said. Not bad overall. <p><i>Unless the Persians fly away like birds, hide in the earth like mice, or leap into a lake like frogs, they will never see their homes again, but will die under our arrows</i></p><i></i>

[Guest]

Salve,<br>
<br>
The question is also which one. There are two publications by Bagnall that conveniently share the same title.<br>
<br>
Bagnall, N., <i> The Punic Wars</i> (London 1990) 347p.<br>
Bagnall, N., <i> The Punic wars</i> (London 2002) 95p. (Osprey Essential History series);<br>
<br>
I had the first one when the thread was started and found out about the latter only a few weeks later.<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
<br>
Sander van Dorst <p></p><i></i>

[Catiline]

Didn't know that, I've got the 1990 one. <p><i>Unless the Persians fly away like birds, hide in the earth like mice, or leap into a lake like frogs, they will never see their homes again, but will die under our arrows</i></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

Well either way, I only read the first few chapters...it was interesting, but didn't have enough pull for me. <p>"Only Trajan could go to Dacia."<BR>
<BR>
Magnus/Matt<BR>
Optio<BR>
Legio XXX "Ulpia Victrix" </p><i></i>