0
Ancient Wars
The Ancient period is generally accepted as being 600 BCE to 500 CE, before which was the Archaic period, and after which began the Medieval period. However as there is not an Archaic Wars category, it is acceptable to post pre-500 BCE military questions in this area.
1,657 Questions
How did Athens involvement in the delian league lead to the start of the peloponnesian war?
It gave Athens the resources to adopt an expansionary and aggressive policy in the Eastern Mediterranean. The Peloponnesian League led by Sparta was formed to counter this, and the inevitable result was war between the two blocs - a 27 year war which devastated Greece.
Why did the people refuse to go into the land after they reached Kadesh Barnea?
Another answer from our community:
Fear. After spying out the land, they failed to put their trust in God to deliver the land to them as He promised, and considered only their own strength (or lack thereof). Thus, they faithlessly reasoned that they were not able to take the land from its current inhabitants. See Numbers chapters 13 and 14.
How did the emperors deal with Goths?
Very carefully. Rome was defeated by the Goths and the city of Rome was sacked by the Visigoths in 410. The Goths in a short time controlled all of Italy. The goths became the concern of the eastern emperors who were wary of them both militarily and religiously, as the Goths were Arian Christians.
How does the battle of Thermoplyae still influence today's world?
It lives on in a myth which glorifies the Spartans and war and pretends that it was a significant battle rather than a short delaying action to force a naval battle.
Why did the Persians not fully destroy Athens?
The Persians never fully destroyed Athens because, in truth, they never entered or even captured the city of Athens. If your asking why Persia never destroyed Greece- they did try. The battles of thermopylae, marathon, and plataea were just a few examples. They were crushed when the Greeks banded and united together for the first time in their history under the Spartan Banner.
A realistic view:
The Persians did capture Athens in autumn 480 BCE. They returned after wintering in northern Greece and reoccupied it in spring 479 BCE.
This was a return visit - Athens had defeated and repelled a Persian punitive expedition ten years earlier at Marathon in 490 BCE, so there was a debt still to be paid off: the Athenians had been involved in supporting a Greek revolt in Asia Minor in 498 BCE, and in the process burnt the Persian provincial capital of Sardis, including the temples and statues of their gods.
During the Persian advance 18 years after their Sardis raid and 10 years after the Marathon success, the Athenians evacuated Athens and joined the other Greek cities to fight off the invasion, as they could not defend the city. The Persians took the city, looted it and destroyed the gods in payback for the destroyed Sardis gods. They did not destroy the city as it was their aim to incorporate the Greek mainland cities into their empire, not to destroy them, so they did not engage in unnecessary destruction. They also used the houses as accommodation for their army in both 480 BCE and on their return in 479 BCE.
Interestingly, the broken Athenian statues were rediscovered by archaeologists in 1923 CE in a ravine beside the Acropolis. When the Athenians returned after the Persians withdrew, they didn't know what to do with the broken gods, so they stashed them in the ravine to wait for instructions from the gods. In time, they were forgotton and covered with debris and lay there for over two thousand years. Their discovery also shattered the idea that Greek statues were pristine marble. They were covered in gaudy paint - the Greeks lived in a riot of colour - their statues and buildings were painted reds and blues. Our buildings today with Greek-style stone facades and columns which people imagine are the same as the Greeks used are very dull compared to the originators' tastes. And the Romans copied the colours too.
Who ruled Athens during the war between Sparta and Athens?
The assembly of the people for most of the time, and for shorter periods a broadly-based oligarchy eg 'the 5,000'.
What are the main events in Hannibals route?
Leaving Spain
Crossing the Rhone
Crossing the Alps
Arriving in Cisalpine Gaul.
Was Masinissa a Roman puppet vassal king?
The term was Client King - he accepted Rome's hegemony, and paid tribute to Rome. He was initially an ally of Carthage, and fought with them in Spain and Africa, but became disillusioned and switched to the Roman side, his cavalry being decisive in Scipio's defeat of Hannibal at Zama, which ended the Second Punic War. After that he became king of Numidia and, as a Roman ally, was used clandestinely by Rome (which had a peace treaty with Carthage) to provoke and harrass Carthage. Eventually the Carthaginians responded in force to defend themselves, and this gave Rome the excuse, that Carthage was attacking a Roman ally, to open the Third Punic War and destroy Carthage utterly.
A scorpion bomb is exactly as it sounds. It is believed that its first use was in 198 AD by the people of Mosul, Iraq to fight back Roman invaders.
The actual scorpion bomb consisted of a terracotta vessel roughly the size of bowling ball. The vessel was then filled with scorpions and sealed. The "bomb" could then be thrown at the invaders. The vessel would break and several very irritated scorpions would go to work.
There are several references that you can check out if you are still interested in more information. National Geographic ran an article on them at one time. You can also check out a really interesting book titled Greek Fire, Poison Arrows & Scorpion Bombs that was written by Adrienne Mayor.
How did Claudius deal with Caractacus?
When Caractacus was captured along with his wife and daughter, they were brought back to Rome as Prisoners, Caractacus was allowed to speak before Caesar and the Senate before being Executed, His speech was so moving that he and his family were spared, granted freedom and given the rights to live in Rome.
What were Alexander the Great's tactics to win wars?
Alexander the Great built a huge empire, rather quickly by using the strategies and tactics that fit any war or battle situation. Based on the terrain and the army he faced, he had to be flexible with both of the two major components he found successful. Alexander's tactics most often involved the combination of Greek and Persian armies that came before him. With the term of flexibility in mind, Alexander's tactics consisted of the following:
1. The integration of four different weapon systems;
2. Essentially using a professional and well trained army;
3. Heavy cavalry;
4. Heavy infantry;
5. Use of the phalanx battle formation; and
6. The envelopment tactic.
Depending on the circumstances, Alexander sometimes used chariots and war elephants, but this was rare. Additionally, Alexander also personally led his cavalry into battle.
Clearly in his battles, various circumstances led him to improvise, however, the resources mentioned in this paragraph is an accurate summation of Alexander's winning tactics.
Who was a better general between Alexander and Hannibal?
A reported conversation between Hannibal and Scipio Africanus, discussing the best general of all times: Hannibal: The best three were Alexander, Pyrrhus, Hannibal, in that order. Scipio: (not mentioned but expecting to be ahead of Hannibal): And what if I hadn't defeated you? Hannibal: Then Hannibal would have been first.
Why did Darius choose Marathon as his battle sight to attack the Greeks?
Marathon was a feint. In order to capture Athens, he had arranged for traitors to open the gates of the city.
The plan was to land at Marathon, drawing the Athenian army there. Then his cavalry re-mbarked and rowed around Cape Sounion to land opposite Athens, then gallop up and seize the city while the infantry kept the Athenian infantry interested at Marathon 26 miles away. With the city lost, the Athenian army would be trapped between it and the Persian infantry.
Unfortunately for this plan, the Athenians saw the cavalry departing. They had been lurking in the foothills waiting for Spartan reinforcement, as they did not want to face the Persian cavalry on the Plain of Marathon which was good cavalry country. Now, with the cavalry embarking embarking, the Athenian heavy infantry ran down and defeated the weaker Persian infantry.
They then realised where the ships were going and ran back over the hills to Athens, just in time to form up in front of the city as the Persian cavalry arrived. The Persians, their infantry defeated and their cavalry stymied, gave up and went home.
This was the origin of today's marathon run - however today's pampered runners get it easier than the 9,000 Athenian infantry, fed on bread, wearing sandals and carrying armour, shields and weapons.
The first Persian invasion of Greece was brought on by what?
The Greek cities in Asia (colonised by the mainland Greek cities) were restive under Persian rule. Miletus revolted, Eretria and Athens sent military assistance, and were over-adventurous in burning the Persian provincial capital Sardis.
After reducing Miletus, in 490 BCE Persian king Darius sent a punitive expedition (not an invasion of Greece) against the two cities to warn the Greeks to stay out of his empire; he also wanted to neutralise the two offenders by installing puppet regimes in them.
Eretria was reduced, but Athens defeated the attack on it. This led Darius to plan the submission of all mainland Greece in order to establish an ethnic frontier of his empire in the west. This led to the invasion of Greece in 480 BCE afterhis death by his son and successor king Xerxes.
The correct spelling is Visigoths. Anyway they were originally an east Germanic tribe whose origins can be traced back to the mid to late 200's AD. The Romans successfully subjugated and employed them in their military until the late 300's AD at which time the Visigoths rebelled and set off on their own. Eventually they settled and built an empire of their own centered in Hispania/Gaul region. However by the early 700's they had lost all their land to other invaders and ceased to exist as a distinct group of peoples.
What were some of the battle tactics Crassus used against Spartacus?
Spartacus was a great leader of the slave rebellion against ancient Rome. Early attempts by small Roman forces failed to end the revolt. Finally Sulla gave to Crassus the main job of ending this large revolt.
Crassus had the power of the legions to use against Spartacus. Over the many centuries that ancient Rome employed the battle tactics of legion warfare, there were many changes in the way the legions operated. At the time of the Spartacus revolt what is outlined below shows the reader many of the basic tactics of the legions at that time. Situations varied however here is an example of how Crassus sent his legions into battle:
A. Each legion formation had 10 cohorts of soldiers to confront Spartacus.
B. The first line of attack had 4 cohorts, when the first 2 rows of soldiers were in striking distance of the rebel army, the Romans hurled their javelins into the front ranks of the enemy, then drew their swords and rushed forward for hand to hand combat.
C. While this engagement stepped forward, the next three lines moved up to the firing lines and hurled their javelins to the rear of the enemies forces. This was meant to confuse the enemy and make it difficult to bring up reserves.
D. These three lines then pushed forward for hand to hand combat. While this operation in action, the second platoons of cohorts 1, 2, 3 & 4 advanced toward the main combat line but were far enough back to cover any emergencies.
E. If the 1st or 2nd initial wave of hand to hand combat seemed to be going well, cohorts 5, 6, & 7 rushed forward in an effort to secure a relatively fast & decisive confrontation.
F. The remaining three cohorts were held in reserve. They were fresh troops. In case of an enemy rally or the enemy had faked a false retreat and had set a trap for the legion, these cohorts were ready to handle it.
The disciplined and well practiced soldiers thus fought in a robot manner and contingent plans were in place to take care of any unexpected problems. The Centurions were the leaders of the cohorts and were in the battle to direct "traffic" in these battle tactics.
The above was the main battle plans for the infantry. I have not taken into account Roman cavalry actions or the important force of men called auxiliaries.
Athens formed an alliance of Greek cities to oppose Persia after the Persian invasion had been repulsed. The alliance was funded by contributions from the league while Athens provided the naval power financed by this.
When peace was made with Persia, Athens continued to levy the contributions, using its navy to do so by force if necessary. This league thus effectively became an empire of Athens.
How many Roman men are in a cohort?
In the imperial period a LEGION consisted of a body of about 5,500 in the imperial period (split into 10 COHORTS of 480 men each, with the first cohort at double strength; the remaining 220 being cavalry and technical staff. Legions were smaller in the Republican era, but they were split into MANIPLES rather than cohorts.
