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Ancient Warfare Podcast

Discussions from Ancient Warfare Magazine. Why did early civilisations fight? Who were their Generals? What was life like for the earliest soldiers? Ancient Warfare Magazine will try and answer these questions. Warfare minus two thousand years.
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Now displaying: Page 1
Mar 15, 2024

Nathan wonders how the Praetorian Guard was structured. Was it used in traditional combat or taken on campaigns? While not directly related to ancient warfare, why did the emperors continually use the Praetorian Guard despite their history of treachery, intrigue, and assassination?

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Mar 8, 2024

'The time has come to take the fight to the enemy. How do you prepare? Can you rely on your guides, your allies, and your subordinates? Have you secured enough supplies?'

The Ancient Warfare Magazine team get together to discuss issue XVII.1 In the Land of the Enemy: The Challenges of Campaigning.

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Mar 1, 2024

Gregorio Gariglio asks, "could you please tell me what really happened at the Battle of Pydna and are the casualty rates that the sources give to us correct?"

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Feb 23, 2024

Blake asks "Love your podcast, my question is about Ancient Roman Enemies and the most well remembered. My question is why do we talk about say Spartacus, Boudica or Hannibal over say Genseric or Shapur I? Especially since the latter were more successful against Rome than the former, I have a few theories but I wanted to hear your answer."

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Feb 16, 2024

Matthew Tilley asks "who/what were hypastpists? I always hear very vague descriptions, or none at all." Murray gives his thoughts.

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Feb 9, 2024

Murray answers three separate but closely related questions this week – from Floody77 – “Hi Murray, I was wondering who you're favourite ancient general was and why ?”; from Euchale : “Who do you think is one of the most underrepresented Generals of ancient times in popular media, compared to how important they were in their time? Any book recommendations to read more about him?”; and from Caleb on Patreon “If an autobiography of an ancient general could be discovered, who would you want it to be written about, why, and what is already known about them?”

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Feb 2, 2024

'Since the dawn of the Classical Era up to World War II, thousands have lost their lives fighting over the pass at Thermopylae.'

Jasper and Murray are joined by Michael Livingston and AW regular Myke Cole to discuss their new book, The Killing Ground: A Biography of Thermopylae.

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Jan 26, 2024

Patron Simon's second question asks 'Were there notions of "losing well" or instances of exemplary defeat in ancient warfare?'

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Jan 19, 2024

Patron Simon (via postcard) asks 'It's often said that Greek armies put their best soldiers on the right. Given that predictability is exploitable, how and why did such a convention arise?'

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Jan 12, 2024

'Shortly after Marcus Aurelius came to power in AD 161, the Roman Empire was racked by a series of military crises. While unrest in Britain and a new war with Parthia were swiftly dealt with, the invasion of Roman territory by the Chatti and Chauci peoples heralded a resurgent threat from the empire’s European neighbours. Soon the Marcomanni and the Quadi, as well as the Dacians and the Sarmatian Iazyges, would attack the Romans in a series of savage conflicts that continued until AD 175 and would involve the first invasion of Roman Italy since the beginning of the 1st century BC.'

Marc talks to Murray about his latest Combat title for Osprey on Marcus Aurelius' Marcomannic Wars, Barbarian Warrior vs Roman Legionary: Marcomannic Wars AD 165–180.

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Jan 5, 2024

Murray answers a question from a 12-year-old fan from Italy, Greg - How many casualties were there really at Magnesia? The Roman sources say 53,000 for the Seleucids and only 350 Romans died. Is This true?

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Dec 29, 2023

Responding to several comments on recent podcasts which have looked at heavy infantry, especially the Macedonian phalanx, Murray looks at the issue of light armed troops in ancient battle accounts.

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Dec 22, 2023

Mark wants to hear Murray's thoughts on comparing the Roman wars against the Vandals vs the Punic Wars. Mark writes, 'both the Roman-Vandal and Roman-Carthage wars occurred roughly in the same geographic area and included naval and land-based fighting. However, within 26 years the Vandals had conquered North Africa, the major islands of the Western Med and sacked Rome. 

In the 3rd/2nd centuries BCE the 1st/2nd Punic wars lasted over 60 years, and even then, neither side could capture each other's capitals. Granted, the Roman Empire was exhausted and fighting multiple enemies for much of the 5th century CE- but the Roman Republic also fought on multiple fronts during the 2nd Punic War. 

Then, in the 6th century CE, Belisarius was able to conquer and annex the Vandal Kingdom in less than a year. Why did these later wars seem to happen at a much faster pace? Did smaller armies and a more depopulated Mediterranean in late antiquity shorten wars? Were logistics better with better ships or Roman roads? Did later armies and navies use different tactics or technologies so that wars were much shorter?'

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Dec 15, 2023

Murray answers this question from Jsoth, 'during the battle of Issus, it's my understanding that the Macedonian phalanx struggled and even lost ground against Darius' mercenary Greeks. I was under the impression that if facing off directly, the sarrisa-wielding phalanx would be at an advantage with their longer spears, but here, that doesn't seem to be the case. Do historians believe this is accurate, and if so, why or how?'

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Dec 8, 2023

'King at just 20, Alexander of Macedon spent two years securing his northern borders and Greece. In 334 he crossed the Hellespont to begin the campaign his father had prepared: the invasion of Achaemenid Persia.'

The Ancient Warfare team discuss issue XVI.6 of the magazine Alexander versus Darius

 

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Dec 1, 2023

John asks 'What are your thoughts on the news that we are starting to be able to read some of the carbonised scrolls from Herculaneum. What do you think will be found when we can read them? What would you love to be located, rediscovered?'

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Nov 24, 2023

Murray is asked, 'I am reading about Spanish Conquistadors. Since they were unfamiliar with the land, they would capture local tribe members and force them to act as guides. On many occasions, the guides would deliberately lead them astray to be attacked or direct them away from villages. Are there any notable incidents in ancient warfare where this occurred?'

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Nov 17, 2023

Negrisan George writes, 'I Read about how the Dacians imposed high tribute on the Romans in the first century AD. I'm not an expert, but I think the Dacians were the only ones who received tribute from Roman Empire. 

And then I read how the Daco-Roman wars started: how Trajan invaded Dacia with one-third of the army of the empire. A third can you imagine? And, of course they defeated the Dacians and robbed Dacia. 

Was the purpose of the campaign to get the gold from what is today Rosia Montana in Romania? After defeating the Dacians Trajan built Trajan's Column to depict the wars - it was a huge matter of pride for the Romans. Were the Dacians the most respected and feared enemy of the Roman Empire?' 

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Nov 10, 2023

Murray talks with regular AW contributor Jo Ball about her new book from Pen & Sword on the career of Publius Quinctilius Varus and the Teutoburg Disaster of AD 9.

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Nov 3, 2023

We got a Postcard! From Euchale in Heidelberg.  

Euchale asks two questions: "1. Have you ever played Age of Mythology. If so, how doyou like the depiction and speech of the various armies of the game? 2. How much of your research happens online, and how much from physical books? Any recommendations on how to find good books related to a topic? Any sources other than books and the internet?"

 

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Oct 27, 2023

"Why does Marcus Aurelius never take the blame for appointing his son his heir rather than the most qualified, like 3 of the 4 emperors before him? Maybe he should have spent less time philosophising and more time being a father."

Murray gives us his thoughts.

Oct 20, 2023

JSoth asks "Out of curiosity, if Crassus knew Caeser, then during Carrhae, why not build a heavily fortified camp the night after the first day as Caeser may have done? If the Parthians didn't fight at night, and the army was comprised of 10,000 all-mounted troops, that seems like it would have made at least some sense. In particular, if he would have been able to make palisades tall enough and simply encamped another day, thereby giving more time to come up with a proper answer to the situation."

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Oct 13, 2023

Augustus' reign started with a thorny problem. He was now the proud 'owner' of 50-odd legions, and no rivals to his power. For now. His solution was a system that lasted.

The team discusses the latest edition of the magazine issue XVI.5 The Roman Imperial Legions: The army of the Julio Claudians.

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Oct 6, 2023

Manos sent this in for Murray to chew over. 

'Having heard and read so much about Phillip & Alexander’s training of the Macedonian phalanx as to becoming flexible in manoeuvring difficult battle landscapes as well as proficient when encountering lateral attacks, I remain sceptical about the devastating results in both the battles of Cynoscephalae and Pydna. Was it hubris on the part of Phillip and later his son Perseus or lax training which resulted in both battles’ outcome?'

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Sep 29, 2023

Patron of the podcast, Mathew, sent this question in. 

Are there accounts of artillery specifically targeting leaders, for example, a Legatus or centurion? Or dedicated expert archers, etc., to do the same? Imagine a sniper-type scenario. This seems like a tactic that could have been used to demoralise a force and eliminate command and control quickly.

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