Ancient Warfare Podcast

Latest Episodes:

AW249 - The 19th-century foundations of Classical Greek warfare, with Roel Konijnendijk Apr 21, 2023

Show notes

Murray talks with Roel Konijnendijk about his recent work on 19th-century German language scholars and how they laid the foundations of much of the 20th century's understanding of Classical Greek warfare.

Giants like Moltke, Delbrück, Kochly and Rustow's foundations were, however, based on 19th-century understandings of how war worked, and their views (rightfully) have been challenged. This only began in earnest in the late 20th century, and overcoming the dominance of these 19th-century thinkers is still a mountain to climb.

AWA248 - What if Alexander had turned west? Apr 14, 2023

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Curt wonders why did Alexander the Great not look westwards, starting with Rome during his conquests? There are a lot of 'what if's' here for Murray to deal with.

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AWA247 - What do we know about the Skiritai? Apr 07, 2023

Show notes

Samuel points out that Xenophon makes reference to the Sciritai as part of the Spartan army foray into Boeotia during the mid-370s). And the sources are a bit patchy.

He asks do we know/can we infer anything about the Sciritai? How did they fit into Spartan society as a whole? What roles did they perform within the Spartan army (on and off the battlefield)? How were they armed?

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AWA246 - Can AI help translate ancient manuscripts? Mar 31, 2023

Show notes

Mark, one of our patrons, wonders if Murray sees a place for AI in helping to translate ancient manuscripts. Could AI step up to help with this and help sort and categorise through keywords, names, etc.

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AWA245 - Why did the sarissa fall out of use until the late medieval period? Mar 24, 2023

Show notes

Listener Andy Shaw wonders why the sarissa 'seems to fall out of use between the two periods even though protecting infantry from cavalry remains a consistent problem across ancient and medieval warfare'?

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AWA244 - Did the quality of Hellenistic cavalry decline? Mar 17, 2023

Show notes

Murray gives this thought on this question sent in, 'is the supposed decline in the quality of Hellenistic cavalry true or is that exaggeration with Hellenistic cavalry remaining elite well into the conquest of said Hellenistic kingdoms by the Romans?'

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AW243 - The Coming of the Hoplite Mar 10, 2023

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When did the phalanx become the fully-developed formation we imagine? In this issue of Ancient Warfare, we explore the various changes and developments in the seventh through fifth centuries BC that eventually led to the emergence of the 'Classical' Greek hoplite.

The Ancient Warfare team discuss issue XVI.2 of the magazine, The coming of the Hoplite: Shields, spears and shining bronze.

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AWA242 - How were enemy casualty figures calculated? Mar 03, 2023

Show notes

Murray ponders why Macedonian casualty figures were low and how enemy casualty figures might have been calculated. Did someone go around counting all the dead Persian bodies, or did Macedonian soldiers get to estimate how many Persians they had killed?

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AWA241 - Why did the sarissa fall out of use until the late medieval period? Feb 24, 2023

Show notes

Following his last question from Murray a few weeks ago, Andy asks, 'the question I've always wondered is why it seems to fall out of use between the two periods even though protecting infantry from cavalry remains a consistent problem across ancient and medieval warfare'?

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AWA240 - Why did the Successor kingdom companion cavalry fair so poorly against the Romans? Feb 17, 2023

Show notes

"Alexander's Companion cavalry seemed to be the premier cavalry of its age, and was instrumental in the battles against the Persian empire. Why is it then, under the Successor Kingdoms' Generals, that they faired so poorly when confronting the inferior Roman cavalry? Was it due to the lack of Alexander himself, poor training, or just the professionalism of the Roman Legion?"

Murray gives us his thoughts...

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