Any books for a beginner?

[Anonymous]

Hello,<br>
<br>
First time poster here. I've been looking for books (fiction or non-fiction) about the Roman army, their weapons, organizations, tactics and the details about battles fought.<br>
<br>
I've just finished "Roman Warfare" by Adrian Goldsworthy but he focuses more on the general aspects of the warfare rather than the detail account of the battles and their tactics and equipments.<br>
<br>
Thanks,<br>
Tim<br>
<p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

Try any of the Osprey books, they deal with Roman soldiers in different time periods. However, don't take them as gospel, they are known to have mistakes in them.<br>
<br>
But they <em>are</em> good starting points for many people.<br>
<br>
Cavetus <p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

I just read "The Complete Roman Army" by Adrian Goldsworthy. I doubt if the experts on this board would learn anything from it, but I thought it was a good survey of most aspects of the Roman Military over several centuries. For example, he splits the army into: Republican, Principate, and Late Empire eras, and characterizes each separately. I recommend it.<br>
<br>
Rich K. <p></p><i></i>

[Matthew Amt]

Ave, and welcome to RAT!<br>
<br>
You want Peter Connolly. Almost anything he writes is terrific starting stuff, or even high intermediate! But you'll find his "Greece and Rome at War" to be a vital part of your library for many years to come.<br>
<br>
Other possibilities: John Warry, "Warfare in the Classical World"; Graham Sumner, "Roman Army: Wars of the Empire"; Dan Peterson, "Roman Legions Reconstructed in Colour Photographs"; and a few others.<br>
<br>
For details on all of these, hit the Legio XX Bibliography page,<br>
<br>
www.larp.com/legioxx/bibliog.html<br>
<br>
Happy reading! Vale,<br>
<br>
Matthew/Quintus, Legio XX <p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

Thanks for reply. Will look into those books.<br>
<br>
By the way are there books focus on Roman military tactics and details of battles fought by Roman army?<br>
<br>
Also, anyone here has read Caesar's "Conquest of Gaul" and "Commentaries of the Gaulic Campaign"? What are their differences?<br>
<br>
Tim<br>
<p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p200.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=timmylondon>timmylondon</A> at: 8/29/04 6:47 am<br></i>

[Nathan Ross]

Quote:</em></strong><hr>Also, anyone here has read Caesar's "Conquest of Gaul" and "Commentaries of the Gaulic Campaign"? What are their differences?<hr><br>
<br>
Tim - they're the same. The original title (I think!) was 'War Commentaries' - Caesar wrote seven volumes (books) on the Gallic war and his legate Aulus Hirtius finished off the eighth. Then there are three volumes of 'Civil Wars' (by Caesar), an 'Alexandrian War' (by Hirtius) an 'African War' and a 'Spanish War' (possibly by Caesar), covering the campaigns of Alexandria, Thapsus and Munda. Most modern editions divide the commentaries up, and give the parts various titles - there's 'The Conquest of Gaul', 'The Gallic Wars', 'The Civil War' etc - translations vary, and some have better notes and maps than others, but it's all essentially the same thing. All of them are available on-line, if you want to have a look and see what you think.<br>
<br>
[url=http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/CaeComm.html" target="top]Caesar's War Commentaries[/url] <p></p><i></i>

[Gregg]

I enthusiastically support Matt’s recommendations. Connolly’s “Greece and Rome at Warâ€ÂÂ