Greece and Rome at War

by Peter Connolly

Book Overview

In this sumptuous guide to twelve centuries of military development, Peter Connolly combines a detailed account of the arms and armies of Greece and Rome with his superb full-color artwork. Making use... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 185367303X
• ISBN13: 9781853673030
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: Greenhill Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 3.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 8.7" x 11.3"

Customer Reviews

This is a Great book

I really enjoy reading this book. It has great information about the various military structures of the greek and roman armys. The book goes in detail about how they fought, what armor they wore, how the marched, even what kind of food they ate. But this is only about half the book. The other parts of the book talk about differnt wars, battles, and campaigns. One of my favorite part of this book is about how the romans gradualy took over italy. I thought this was very intersting. I am a big military history fan so I already knew some things about Marius, Ceaser, and the Punic wars, but never had I come upon a detailed acount of how the romans really came to power in italy. It was also intersting to read about the early italian military systems. The book went into great detail about many ages of fighting, and gave detailed accounts of battles acnd campaigns. This book is a great book for anyone to read. It has the detail to impress any hisorian and also has cosmetic appeal to keep you intersted. This book is well worth your money.

Well done

Excellent image/pictures, graphics and text to go with it. Connolly has managed to take an overwhelming subject and hit just the right points for novice as well as expert. For the novice, concise but detailed explanations on a huge range of subjects; from pitching camp on the march, to type of cloak worn underneath a legionnaire's cuirass. For the expert, not often seen or described details regards Camp minutia. Fluid writing, detailed graphics to compliment the text. Well worth the price.

The Primer on all things Greek and Roman

This is truly an outstanding book that does an excellent job of sketching the advancement of the Greeks and Romans in the Military Art. There are outstanding illustrations that give as accurate a picture as possible of the arms, armor, and tactics of these two dynamic civilizations. Most of us are visual learners and the diagrams of the warriors, equipment, and formations of this period helps one to visualize the Greek phalanx or the Roman cohort in the attack and what were their strengths and weaknesses. There are also outstanding illustrations of siege equiment, ships, and fortications. I must confess that this book helped to inspire me to write the novel, The Chief Centurion, as I was able to picture in my mind much clearer what that soldier looked like and what it must have been like to have had to march and fight in the armor of the period. I strongly reccommend this book for anyone who wants to learn more about the Greek or Roman soldier and wants to be able to visualize how he looked and fought.

Absolutely the first book you should buy on ancient wafare

Why do I say this? First of all, it's very readable and approachable. Even kids will love it. (OK, admittedly, few will read it cover-to-cover, but that's hardly the point. DON'T be surprised if they do, though. In spite of its density and scholarship, I've known a few lads who've mined seemingly every page.) The pictures in it are absolutley wonderful, as well. Connolly is an excellent illustrator, and his pictures are still unsurpassed. (Incidently, Connolly put out some excellent children's books as well, some of which are still in print.) For the older reader, though, Connolly is still a must-have. He knows the archaeology as well as anyone. What makes him unique is that he's enough of a craftsman to go out and try to make these things so that he could get a feel for how they were used. Thus, his attempt at re-creating a Roman shield found in Egypt caused him to create a revolutionary theory for how the legions fought in the republican period. Likewise, his reproduction of a Greek hoplite shield led him to modify his understanding of how the Greek and Macedonian phalanx differed. Further, while most books before him concentrated heavily on the "ideals" (i.e., the fully developed Roman legion or Macedonian phalanx), Connolly took some time to spin some theories on the transition phases through which these things developed. Thus, for example, he spins a novel theory on how the Macedonian phalanx developed out of the Theban tactics of Epanimondas and that the odd-shaped "boetian" shield was a part of this development. All of this is not to say that he is an unquestionable authority on such matters where we are bumping up against the available data and controversy results. Nevertheless, Connolly is a wonderful teacher in those areas where consensus reigns and an important voice to take into account even where he may be controversial.

I very like this book !

This book is magnificent benefit, which maintane describe of military antique world (Greece and Rome), armour and arms. My opinion, that this book will be interested all people, who like military history and men at arms. Thank You, Peter Connolly! I will be very glad to acquaint with you.