Tony sent this in for Murray to think about, 'can you tell us anything about the difference in style of combat when comparing late medieval pike vs ancient Sarissa?' 

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One man's pirate is another's daring raider, and the boundary between warrior and pirate can be equally nebulous. Piracy is an age-old problem without a simple solution.

The team discuss issue XVI.1 of the Ancient Warfare magazine Piracy and Raids: Robbers on the Mediterranean.

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Mason sent in a question a few weeks ago, and here he is again with another for Murray.'If Romans were fighting and happened to get surrounded, did they have a formation for that? Did the back line and sides turn around and form a square?'

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'How did the Romans keep track of who actually completed their years of service? What's to stop you from deserting and showing up to claim your pension unfairly? Presumably, this could be tricky in an empire of mostly illiterate people from all over the known world without government driver's licenses or passports'. Murray gives us his thoughts...

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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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Mason sent this question in for Murray to muse over, 'how did the language differences of auxiliary units affect armies on campaign or during battle? Were there any particular Roman generals who were multilingual'.

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In response to an email from David in New York, Murray explains siege mining in the ancient world.

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Murray answers this question from Pascal, 'could you serve as a soldier, officer or even a consul despite some form of physical handicap during the roman republic?'

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Murray got this question from Jonathan via email 'I read about Caesar bridging of the Rhine, is that how armies bridged rivers after him, following his example, what about before him?'

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Bill sent Murray this question, 'how long was the Macedonian Sarissa? I've read a lot about 20' and sometimes longer'. 

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Jonathan sent this question directly to Murray 'What was the standard depth of a hoplite line? I see eight mentioned all the time – were there any others?' 

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Jasper and Murray are joined by Julien Blurel, the brains behind the Invicta YouTube channel.

In the latest episode, Invicta demonstrates the true size of a Roman legion. This is the first of their new 'true size' series, which aims to bring history to life in 3D using the Unreal Engine.

True Size of the Roman Legion really puts into context the Roman army camp, the Legion on the march and the Roman army order of battle.

You can find it here.

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Patron of the podcast Seanbob sent in this question for Murray to mull over, 'what is up with foreskin collection? I know Ramses wrote on walls about the stacks of foreskins he collected from the sea peoples, and David bought his wife with foreskins (1 Samuel 18:27). So what is the deal?

Was circumcisions popular in some cultures and not others? Why not the whole penis? What did they do with them after they stacked them? Some sort of trophy? Like a deer rack on your Grandpa's wall? It is one thing to like dicks, it is strange to collect foreskins. What is the deal?'

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What happened to all the gear and supplies after a big battle? What did people tend to salvage?

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'Philip II of Macedonia inherited a fragile kingdom under pressure. He absorbed the lessons from his childhood and turned it into a military powerhouse.'

The team discuss the latest issue of the magazine XV.6 Macedonia Rising: The volatile life of King Phillip II.

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How did armies get or store potable water while on campaign? Murray has the answer...

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Murray, once more on his own, discusses what, in his opinion, is a useful analogy for talking about ancient warfare.

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Bryan sent us in this question,'what are some documented cases where the victorious/conquering forces held a deep respect for their defeated foe or for the manner in which their foe fought even though they were ultimately defeated?' 

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Bruce emailed us this question, what do the columns (Trajan, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius) tell us about the wars depicted? Are they reliable narratives? Narratives at all? 

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Andrew emailed us this question for Murray to answer, why did generals write back to the senate about what they had done? Was that account trustworthy – and how can we tell?

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We are between issues of the magazine, but Murray suggested the team discuss who is our favourite military author or ancient source.

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Patron of the podcast Micius Porcius sent us this question for Murray to answer. During the imperial period, did consuls continue leading armies in war as they had in the Republican period or were legions only led by generals assigned by the Emperor? 

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In the last episode, Murray answered the first of two questions Doug posed, the second question being a request to explain the battle of Crimisus in 340BC.

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Murray tackles this question that Doug emailed in, 'what kind of armies, weapons, and tactics were used by Carthage and Syracuse in the fifth and fourth centuries BC?'

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