01-10-2015, 08:21 PM
I posted a short review on Amazon in case of any interest:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Single Volume Summary from an Experienced Roman Campaigner, 10 Jan. 2015
This is a rather long book which covers the Roman army from the early days of Rome to the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Taken as a whole, the book is successful in rising to the major challenge of describing an institution which existed for over a millennium.
The three sections are essentially pre-Augustan, Principate and Dominate, i.e. monarchy and republican period, 1st to mid-3rd C AD and mid-3rd to late 5th C AD. The author has published a number of works on the Roman Army before as well as a number of biographies and narrative histories covering the "3rd Century Crisis", Roman Britain and a general history of Roman covering the same period as this book, so she draws on years of accumulated knowledge. She is not afraid to say where evidence is lacking and where there is controversy or uncertainty. Her prose style is readable and the 500+ pages of main text flow well in the main.
Most of the text is devoted to the army of the Principate, where the evidence is best and comprises historical, epigraphical and archaeological. Less space is given to the army of the Dominate, where the historical evidence is less good, the "epigraphical habit" declined and the archaeological evidence for the mobile armies is inherently less substantial as they, by definition, lacked the long term bases of the legions and auxilia of the 1st and 2nd C AD. The approach in both these sections is thematic, taking an institutional approach ("Legions", "Auxiliary Cavalry", "Forts, Fortresses & Camps", "Frontiers" etc). Both of these sections begin with an historical summary.
Why 4 and not 5 stars?
The slightly less satisfactory part from my perspective was the first, "Kings & Republic". This starts with the normal historical summary, but much of this first part seemed to comprise detailed narrative. The "institutional" approach is more difficult for this period due to lack of information, and indeed because the army did not exist as a standing institution, so lacked the physical installations and long-lived units of the Imperial army. I felt that the chronological narrative could have been cut down, and it would have been worth devoting more space to the numbers an locations of legions in service in the style of Keppie's approach in "The Making of the Roman Army". It might also have been worth looking at the network of Roman colonies in terms of numbers and sites, which were in a sense the equivalent of the military bases of the imperial period.
Overall, though, a highly worthwhile and good value contribution from an author with a sound, broad and comprehensive knowledge of the subject.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Single Volume Summary from an Experienced Roman Campaigner, 10 Jan. 2015
This is a rather long book which covers the Roman army from the early days of Rome to the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Taken as a whole, the book is successful in rising to the major challenge of describing an institution which existed for over a millennium.
The three sections are essentially pre-Augustan, Principate and Dominate, i.e. monarchy and republican period, 1st to mid-3rd C AD and mid-3rd to late 5th C AD. The author has published a number of works on the Roman Army before as well as a number of biographies and narrative histories covering the "3rd Century Crisis", Roman Britain and a general history of Roman covering the same period as this book, so she draws on years of accumulated knowledge. She is not afraid to say where evidence is lacking and where there is controversy or uncertainty. Her prose style is readable and the 500+ pages of main text flow well in the main.
Most of the text is devoted to the army of the Principate, where the evidence is best and comprises historical, epigraphical and archaeological. Less space is given to the army of the Dominate, where the historical evidence is less good, the "epigraphical habit" declined and the archaeological evidence for the mobile armies is inherently less substantial as they, by definition, lacked the long term bases of the legions and auxilia of the 1st and 2nd C AD. The approach in both these sections is thematic, taking an institutional approach ("Legions", "Auxiliary Cavalry", "Forts, Fortresses & Camps", "Frontiers" etc). Both of these sections begin with an historical summary.
Why 4 and not 5 stars?
The slightly less satisfactory part from my perspective was the first, "Kings & Republic". This starts with the normal historical summary, but much of this first part seemed to comprise detailed narrative. The "institutional" approach is more difficult for this period due to lack of information, and indeed because the army did not exist as a standing institution, so lacked the physical installations and long-lived units of the Imperial army. I felt that the chronological narrative could have been cut down, and it would have been worth devoting more space to the numbers an locations of legions in service in the style of Keppie's approach in "The Making of the Roman Army". It might also have been worth looking at the network of Roman colonies in terms of numbers and sites, which were in a sense the equivalent of the military bases of the imperial period.
Overall, though, a highly worthwhile and good value contribution from an author with a sound, broad and comprehensive knowledge of the subject.
