Ancient Wars

Xerxes the first

Well you have to define what a good ruler is. He was revered as a demi-god for being the first Roman Empire, and he unified Rome from the Second Triumvirate. However, people at the time had much different notions of what a "good" ruler was than what we do today. After defeating Mark Antony, it is likely he wanted to use Cleopatra (who had an affair with Julius Caesar, Octavian's adopted father) as a centerpiece in his victory Triumph, then kill her, as was the custom. He also ordered the death of Caesarion, Cleopatra's son with Julius Caesar, which I guess you could say would make him a step-brother (sort of). Would you kill your father's illegitimate son?

The Empire split into four kingdoms, which would retain their sovereignty in order from least to longest: the Seleucids in Asia Minor and the Middle East, the Antigonids in Macedon (an area partly encompassing Greece), the Attalids in Pergamum (Asia Minor) and the Ptolemys in Egypt.

All four kingdoms were eventually incorporated into the Roman Republic.

After the Battle of Magnesia in 190 B.C., the final major battle in the Antiochan War, Antiochus is defeated by a conglomerate alliance of Rome, Pergamum, Rhodes and the Greek city state of Athens. Relying largely on its military authority and claim of monarchic divinity, the Seleucid Empire loses its power following the Treaty of Apamea in 188 B.C. which entails humiliating terms dictated by the Romans.

The kingdom of Macedon, after a series of four wars with Rome intermittedly spanning from 215 to 148 B.C., becomes increasingly weakened until Macedon loses its political sovereignty and becomes the Roman Province of Macedonia in 148 B.C.

The Kingdom of Pergamum in Asia Minor, founded by the Attalid dynasty, is peacefully left to Rome in 133 B.C. by Attalus III.

The Ptolemic dynasty in Egypt enjoys good relations with Rome until it is marred by the civil war between Caesar and Pompey, during which the advisors of the Ptolemic dynast execute Pompey, believing this will grant them favor with Caesar. Caesar, however, is infuriated at the execution of a worthy Roman citizen (a consul and military hero no less) at the hands of foreigners, and, trying to establish Cleopatra's faction on the throne, comes under serious assault by rioting crowds and hostile Egyptian forces in Alexandria until reinforcements arrive from across the Mediterranean. The independence of Egypt, with its massive agricultural potential for grain production, comes to an end when it becomes acquired by Gaius Julius Caesar Octavius (Octavian; Augustus following 27 B.C.) following his defeat of Marcus Antonius (Marc Antony) and Cleopatra's fleet at the naval Battle of Actium in 31 B.C. (off Greece's Eastern coast near the opening of the Ambracian gulf). Octavian then acquires hegemony over Egypt, marking an end to its political independence.

The Spartan-led alliance defeated the Athenian alliance.

However no one won - the Greek cities continued on sporadic fighting amongst each other, Persia imposed the King's Peace on the cities to stop the warfare spilling over into it's empire, and retook control of the Greek cities in Asia Minor it had lost after the Persian War, and all this paved the way for Macedonia to establish hegemony over the Greek cities of mainland Greece which were too weakened and divided by their warring to resist effectively.

To stop the Persian land advance in order to force them into a sea battle in narrow waters in the nearby strait.

The Persian navy threatened the Greek cities, and these cities kept their armies at home to counter the threat. By defeating the Persian navy the Greeks hoped to end this amphibious threat and so allow their city armies to concentrate against the Persian army, rather than the cities being picked off one by one.

The Persian navy also protected the supply fleet on which it's army depended as a poor country like Greece could not support it.

The naval battle failed, so the Thermoplyae blocking position was to no avail. However a second naval battle at Salamis destroyed the Persian naval power. With the supply lines now exposed, and the Greek countryside unable to provide food during the upcoming winter, half the Persian army was sent home. With the amphibious threat gone, the following year (479 BCE) the Greek cities concentrated their armies at Plataia and defeated the remaining half of the Persian army and its Greek allies.

She won three battles with her army of 100,000 in the Battle of Camulodunum, Battle of Londinium (London) and then the Battle of Verulamium (St. Albans). By this time the Romans had begun burning their stores and crops, which Boudicca's army relied upon to supply her army. Her army tired and weakened fought one more battle, her army of 100,000 faced off against a Roman Army of 1,200. Boudicca's exhausted and tired army had fight uphill, which resulted in the rout of her army, which suffered 80,000 casualties by the end of the battle.

They fought and held the pass until outflanked .

Many groups attacked the western part of the Roman Empire from the 1st to the 5th century AD: the Cherusci, the Bructeri, the Chatti, the Marsi, the Chauci, the Scambri, the Marcomanni, the Quadi, the Cauchi, the Hermunduri, the Lombards, the Buri, the Naristi, the Cotini, the Garamantes, the Alemanni, the Juthungi, the Franks, Radagaisus, an (Ostrogoth king) The Huns, and the Gepids.

The invasion of the western part of the Roman empire started in 406 when the Vandals the Sueves, and the Alans crossed the frozen river Rhine and invaded Gaul. The Alemani took advantage of this to take over Alsace (in northwestern France) and most of Switzerland. The Angles, the Saxons, the Jutes and the Frisians migrated to Britannia in waves and took it over.

Greek culture was not spread by the Peloponnesian War. That war involved the already-spread Greek world which existed from Spain through the Mediterranean to Asia Minor and the Black Sea. The aftermath of the war left the Greek world badly weakened, not strengthened. And it opened the way for the re-mergenc of Persia as a major player, imposing the King's peace to stabilise the eastern Mediterranean, and the emergence of Maedonia as another major player, but that was over half a century later.

The battle site is unknown. The western Midlands are considered the general area. Boudica was defeated at the Battle of Watling Street. Watling Street was a Roman road close to High Cross in Leicestershire. Source of this answer is Wikipedia.

Retirement from the Roman army was not a matter of age, it was a matter of service. When a man's enlistment time was up he could either reenlist or retire. There was no actual age limit for reenlistment either. There is a record of a centurion who had retired, missed the army so much that he reenlisted and was still serving at the age of 80!

First as co-emperor with his father Marcus Aurelius 177-180 CE, and after his death, 180-192 CE.

The city-states of Athens and Sparta and their allied cities on both sides.

Mulan Jameela was born in 1982.

There was no Greek empire. The Greek (Hellenic) world comprised hundreds of independent city-states stretching from Massilia (modern Marseilles) through Sicily, southern Italy, Peninsular Greece, north Africa, Asia Minor and around the Aegean and Black Seas.

There was, however, an Athenian Empire, a Byzantine Empire and a Macedonian Empire, all of whom have been incorrectly referred to as Greek Empires.

The Persians won the Battle of Thermopylae, led by Xerxes I. But Greece won the war.

The Battle of Thermopylae happened in ancient Greece where 700 men made their final stand against the 300,000 Persians there were 300 hundred Spartans as well as 400 Greek soldiers from other city states.

It is important to note that the Persian Victory came at a very high price. The Thespian and Spartan troops that fought and sacrificed their lives at the Battle of Thermopylae successfully weakened the Persian land forces to such an extent that naval victories like Salamis were able to convince the Persians to retreat.

The number of troops changed over time. In the Old Kingdom there is no evidence for a professional standing army of any kind - when the need arose, temples, provincial governors and large estates called up local male workers and formed them into military units under local officials. Military training must have been limited and low in quality.

In the 1st Intermediate Period the earliest professional army units were formed and by the Middle Kingdom a permanent royal army under professional officers was established. We do not have any reliable figures for the number of men involved; the size of the army probably changed depending on the whim of the king.

It is known that under Sethos I there were three native Egyptian divisions of around 5,000 men each; under Ramesses II there were four divisions. There were also many units of mercenary, auxilliary and allied troops - Libyans, Medjay Nubians, Sherden and others. Their numbers are not known.

It has been estimated that at no time did the standing army consist of more than three per cent of the male population, so it was always fairly small in numbers compared with other nation's armies.

The Peloponnesian war was over two thousand years ago, and had no real effect on today's world. Its principal legacy to us is two accounts of it by Thucydides for the first half of the war and Xenephon for the final part, which provide a record for study by ancient history students.

Sparta had the largest area after it conquered the southern Peloponnese, while Athens had limited land in Attica, until it created an empire for 50 years of the GREEK cities in the eastern Aegean Sea littoral.

• Athens' dominance of the Greek world was shattered. It lost its empire and the tribute it exacted therefrom, so its financial superiority and consequently maintain the largest war fleet collapsed. In the short term it went through a period of internal political instability.
• Sparta became the dominant power for three decades until this was broken by Thebes, after which is was not a major player.
• The Greek world suffered great destruction, which allowed Persia to have a dominating say in Greek affairs.
• Macedonia progressively improved its position until it became dominant, with Philip and then his son Alexander becoming Hegemon of Greece. From this platform, the destruction of the Persian Empire was launched, and Hellenisation was extended in the east.
• After Alexander's death most of the Greek and Persian worlds were partitioned between Alexander's generals as Hellenistic kingdoms which spread Greek culture through the Middle East. These kingdoms lasted until absorbed into the expanding Roman Empire in the 2nd and 1st Centuries BCE.

The sea battle which it was designed to precipitate, having failed, the reason for holding the land pass ceased. The Spartan commander sent his supporting citiy contingents off to seek the protection of friendly city walls, and to give them a clean break, continued to hold the pass with his 300-strong badoguard and 2,000 light infantry. They died in securing the safety of their allies.
The Spartan sacrifice of The Three Hundred held up the Persian advance long enough for the various city-states to coalesce a unified resistance. The Athenian Fleet destroyed the Persian Fleet at Salamis, forcing the Persians to retreat overland, subjected to guerrilla raids until all the armies, under Spartan leadership, joined together to crush the Persians at Plataea.

Well, when considering the often cruelty bestowed upon even the sucessfulest members of roman society, many would consider the treatment of roman soldiers to be relatively good. They recieved ample food and resources and did still gain enough 'renewable' resources from the tribal villages they often invaded. As far as pay goes, the blood of their victims was more then enough.