A Sensory History Of Ancient Warfare

How can we attempt to understand the experience of those involved in ancient battles, sieges and campaigns? What was the visual impact of seeing the massed ranks of the enemy approaching or the sky darkened with their arrows? How did it feel to be trapped in the press of bodies as phalanxes clashed shield to shield? What of the taste of dust on the march or the smell of split blood and entrails? What of the rumble of approaching cavalry, the clash of iron weapons and the screams of the dying? The assault on all five senses which must have occurred is the subject of this innovative book. Sensory history is a new approach that attempts to understand the full spectrum of the experience of the participants in history. Conor Whately is the first to apply the discipline in a dedicated study of warfare in the classical world. He draws on literary, archaeological, reconstructive and comparative evidence to understand the human experience of the ancient battlefield in unprecedented depth.

How can we attempt to understand the experience of those involved in ancient battles, sieges and campaigns? What was the visual impact of seeing the massed ranks of the enemy approaching or the sky darkened with their arrows? How did it feel to be trapped in the press of bodies as phalanxes clashed shield to shield? What of the taste of dust on the march or the smell of split blood and entrails? What of the rumble of approaching cavalry, the clash of iron weapons and the screams of the dying? The assault on all five senses which must have occurred is the subject of this innovative book. Sensory history is a new approach that attempts to understand the full spectrum of the experience of the participants in history. Conor Whately is the first to apply the discipline in a dedicated study of warfare in the classical world. He draws on literary, archaeological, reconstructive and comparative evidence to understand the human experience of the ancient battlefield in unprecedented depth.

A History of War explains the dark but compelling story of warfare, from its emergence in prehistoric tribal disputes, through great imperial and global wars, to present-day counterinsurgency and 'hybrid' conflicts. Two factors sit at the heart of this story: technology - including weapons, vehicle systems, vehicles and tactics. A History of War charts the rise of the army, explaining how primitive tribal war parties evolved through seasonal levies and feudal armies to professional standing armies and mass conscription forces, with formal organisational structures. The narrative of A History of War is sewn together by the conflicts that have periodically reshaped history and created the roots of current conflict, from the crusades and two world wars to Cold War and the conflicts in the Middle East. The book provides summaries and insights into these disputes while recognising the human drama of conflict, with first-hand insight into the experience of combat.

"New Perspectives on Ancient Warfare" explores the armies of antiquity from Assyria and Persia, to classical Greece and Rome. The studies illustrate the ways in which technology, innovation, cultural exchange, and tactical developments transformed ancient warfare by land and sea.

"This book explores the ways in which ancient society thought about conflict. Many aspects of ancient warfare are examined from philosophy to the technical skills needed to fight"--Provided by publisher.

This ambitious and innovative book sets out to establish a new understanding of human aggression and conflict in the distant past. Examining the evidence of warfare in prehistoric times and in the early historical period, John Carman and Anthony Harding throw fresh light on the motives and methods of the combatants. This study marks a significant new step in this fascinating and neglected subject, and sets the agenda for many years to come. By integrating archaeological and documentary research, the contributors seek to explain why some sides gained and others lost in battle and examine the impact of warfare on the social and political developments of early chiefdoms and states. Their conclusions suggest a new interpretation of the evolution of warfare from the Stone Age and the Bronze Age, through the military practice of the Ancient Greeks and the Romans, to the conflicts of the Anglo-Saxons and of medieval Europe.

This volume provides chapters on current research into ancient warfare. It is a collection with a wide-range, covering a long chronological spread, with many historical themes, including some that have recently been rather neglected. It has wide academic relevance to a number of on-going debates on themes in ancient warfare. Each topic covered is coherently presented, and offers convincing coverage of the subject area. There is a high standard of scholarship and presentation; chapters are well documented with extensive bibliographies. It is readable and successful in engaging the reader’s attention, and presents subject matter in an accessible way. The book will particularly appeal to professional historians, students and a wider audience of those interested in ancient warfare.

This volume demonstrates the wide array of topics in ancient warfare currently studied by researchers around the world. Arranged chronologically in Greek and Roman history sections, the book takes readers through all manner of current research topics on ancient warfare, from traditional battle narratives or strategic analyses of campaigns, through the logistical considerations of armies in the field, to the ideology of women in war and mythology. The study of ancient war deals with a myriad of different topics and deals with themes in all types of history: social, cultural, economic, religious, literary, numismatical, epigraphical, ethnographical, topographical, prosopographical, and mythical, as well as the usual political and military. The study of ancient war is a field that is growing in popularity and continues to surprise us with many innovative new ideas, as shown in this collection of papers by established academics and current graduate students.