Ancient Warfare
Battles of Philippi
The first battle of Philippi. Philippi, the modern Filippoi, was probably already several hundred years old when King Philip II of Macedon fortified the town in 356 b. c. to protect neighboring gold mines. The town lay about eight miles from the port of Neapolis, present-day Kavala, where Brutus and Cassius established their supply base in 43 b. c. The…
![Sassanian [Sassanid] Army Pil-savaran: The Elephant Corps](https://weaponsandwarfare.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Sassanian-Sassanid-Army-Pil-savaran-The-Elephant-Corps-330x220.jpg "Sassanian [Sassanid] Army Pil-savaran: The Elephant Corps 6")
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The Sicels c. 1000 BC – 450 BC
A 6th century BC Greek hoplite. Some of the hoplites in Gelon’s army would have looked very similar, clad in bronze armour. Artwork by © Angel Garcia Pinto. The map shows the most important archaeological sites of Sicily related to pre-hellenic cultures, as well as the possible extent of the…
The Persian Onslaught I
SHAPUR I ‘As for you wretched Syria, I weep for you with great pity. To you too will come a fearful attack by bow-shooting men, which you never expected to befall you. The fugitive of Rome will come, brandishing a great spear, crossing the Euphrates with many thousands, who will…
The Persian Onslaught II
Sculpture at Naqsh-e Rostam, Iran, depicting the triumph of King Shapur I over the Roman Emperor Valerian. The Goths Were Coming … Six centuries earlier Spartans and their allies had stood at Thermopylae and blocked the Persian advance into Greece. Ephialtes, the Greek traitor, had treacherously led the Persian troops…
Julian Apostate
Julian had survived because he was so young (only six when the previous Emperor Constantine died), and he appeared unambitious and insignificant; he professed Christianity, but he had fallen in love with the culture of Athens and was a pagan at heart. In 355, as Constantius himself was preparing for…
Pyrrhus in Sicily
Two new warlike prospects now invited Pyrrhus. Both offered him the opportunity-which he always coveted – of championing Greek civilization. One opportunity lay in Greece itself, where an eruption of Celtic hordes from the north had produced turmoil; the other lay in Sicily, where the Greek cities, lacking a military…
The Late Mycenaean Period, the Dark Age and Homer, 1300–900 bc Part I
The period covered, was a period of turmoil and change. The Greek palaces grew in economic wealth, and many of them built or improved impressive fortifications, showing that battle was very much a common occurrence. Greek influence was extended to south-west Asia Minor and to the island of Cyprus. Then,…