Ancient Warfare Magazine Vol VIII-1 - Deserters, Deserters, Traitors

Give away Ancient Warfare Magazine Vol VIII-1 - Deserters, Deserters, Traitors

ancient warfare magazine vol viii-1

Written by Christy Beall



Topic: Deserters, Defectors, Traitors: Betrayal in the Ancient World



Introduction: josho brouwers, 'historical introduction - betrayal in the ancient world'.



The ancient world had its fair share of brave and courageous men, who stayed the course despite profound adversity or who seemed to laugh in the face of death. However, our sources also include accounts of people who, out of fear, for personal gain, or some combination of these and other factors, decided to betray their friends, their country, or their principles.



Source: Mark McCaffery, 'How Cicero was Announced Pater Patriae - The Catiline Conspiracy'.



On 31 December 63 BC, Marcus Tullius Cicero declared from the Rostra in the Roman Forum that the state had been saved by his efforts and his alone. The fifth tribune Metellus Nepos prevented him from uttering anything more than this customary oath. Another of the tribunes, Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis, later gave his approval to Cicero's actions during the previous year. In the process of eulogizing, Cato referred to Cicero as pater patriae, "father of the country."



Subject: Sidney E. Dean, 'David's Insurgency Against Saul - The Man Who Would Be King'.



The biblical character david is popularly known as a shepherd boy who became king saul’s military champion and later king, defeating the philistines and capturing jerusalem. but this is only a partial picture. the primary source of information about david, the old testament book of samuel, also describes how david fled from saul’s service, raised a private army, and waged an insurgent war against his king. david subsequently entered the service of the philistine king of gath, one of the jewish people’s greatest enemies. while samuel attempts to portray these actions as favorably as possible, modern biblical scholars, historians, and archaeologists have been examining david more closely. an alternative picture increasingly emerges: that of an ambitious, power-hungry officer who turned against his own people to further his personal ambitions.



Topic: Barry Webb, 'Jeremiah and Josephus: Brothers in Betrayal'.

Illustrated by Jason Juta.



One man has been vilified throughout history as an example of the classic traitor to his country. The other man has been recognized throughout history as a patriot and a great prophet. However, the similarities in the positions of Jeremiah and Josephus in the face of their countrymen’s revolts against their respective imperial overlords are too striking to ignore. Both men were against these respective rebellions and, although later history has exonerated one of them, both were called traitors and collaborators by their countrymen of the time for their positions of appearing to favor the enemy over their own country. But were they really traitors? Or did they have a larger purpose in mind?



Subject: gareth williams, 'the disappointed deserter - demaratus'.



The dual kingship of Sparta created certain tensions, none more infamous than the bitter feud between Demaratus and Cleomenes I (Herodotus 6.64). Because Demaratus won glory among the Lacedaemonians time and again for his actions and intelligence (hdt. 6.70), some apologists have tried to excuse Demaratus’ eventual flight to Persia. But is there evidence of a pro-Persian stance on the part of this Spartan king?



Subject: Sean Hussmann, 'Lover of Outrage and Scandal - Alcibiades'.

Illustrated by milek jakubiek.



Throughout history, some people became disloyal not for any material gain, but simply because they perceived betrayal as their best (and often only) bet for survival. One of the most outlandish examples of a politician embracing outrage and scandal that antiquity has to offer is the Athenian Alcibiades, son of Cleinias.



Topic: arnold blumberg, 'alexander the great's most formidable opponent: memnon of rhodes'.

Illustrated by Radu Oltean.



Soldier, sailor, and statesman, he was, as recorded in the historical library of Diodorus Siculus, renowned for his military prowess (17.18. 2). A contemporary of Aristotle, Philip II of Macedonia, and Demosthenes, Memnon of Rhodes rose from humble origins to command all of Western Asia in the service of the King of Kings, Darius III of Persia, at a time of great danger and conflict. His extraordinary courage and military knowledge gave him the only hope of saving the Achaemenid state from destruction at the hands of the expansionist Kingdom of Macedonia.



Topic: Michael J. Taylor, 'Rebellion in the Seleucid Empire: Antiochus and Achaean'.



In 223 BC, King Seleucus III was assassinated in Asia Minor while on campaign. In the chaos that followed the assassination, a high-ranking lieutenant named Achaeus took charge of the situation. He executed the assassins, sent a loyal officer marching with mutinous elements of the army back to Syria, and carried out operations. Meanwhile, in Babylon, the cadet prince was elevated to become Antiochus III. The teenage king was crowned amid a series of crises.



Characteristics



Special: Steven Weingartner, 'Suppiluliuma I and His Time: Great King and Conqueror'.

Illustrated by Angel Garcia Pinto.



Each spring, with the arrival of warm weather in the highlands of the Hittite kingdom, came violence and terror in the form of marauding Kaska warriors from the Pontic Mountains to the north. They were a tribal people of uncertain origins, primitive by the standards of Hittite civilization, spread across the countryside in forces of varying sizes, from small war parties to substantial armies. Typically, at the end of the campaigning season, they would withdraw to their mountains with their ill-gotten gains. However, one fateful year during the reign of Tudhaliya III (ca. 1380–1350 BC), they came in droves and came to conquer.



The debate: Duncan B. Campbell, 'Where was the battle of Mons Graupius? Searching for a lost battlefield'.

Illustrated by Maxime Plasse.



We are unusually well informed about the first 40 years of Roman occupation of Britain, thanks to the writings of the Roman historian Tacitus – in particular, the biography of his father-in-law, Agriculturist, whose seven-year rule saw Roman arms reach Caledonia, in present-day Scotland. Agriculturist’s greatest achievement was his victory over the Caledonian warlord Calgacus at the Battle of Mons Graupius, which forms the centrepiece of Tacitus’s account. Yet although Tacitus paints a moving picture of the battle’s ebb and flow, its precise geographical location remains elusive. Even with the growing contribution of archaeology, scholars still cannot agree exactly where the Battle of Mons Graupius was fought.
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