Ancient Warfare Magazine Vol X.2 - Wars in Hellenistic Egypt

Enjoy Ancient Warfare Magazine Vol X.2 - Wars in Hellenistic Egypt

Ancient warfare magazine vol x.2 - wars in hellenistic egypt

Topic: joshua j. mark, kingdom of the ptolemies - historical introduction

Egypt had been dominated by a foreign power since it fell to the Persians in 525 BC when Alexander the Great conquered
Persian Empire in 331 BC, founded the city of Alexandria as the new capital of Egypt. After his death, one of his generals, Ptolemy Lagides - later known as Ptolemy I Soter ('the Savior') - took control of Egypt and He founded the Hellenistic dynasty that would bear his name. This Ptolemaic dynasty would last until Egypt was taken under Roman rule in 30 BC.

Source: Michael J. Taylor, Ptolemy the Pharaoh - The Raphia Decree

The Battle of Raphia was one of the largest battles of the Hellenistic world (see Ancient Warfare iv.6). Ptolemy IV, otherwise known as a lazy alcoholic, played an unexpectedly important role, personally rallying his phalanx to crush the Seleucid centre. To celebrate the triumph, a group of high-ranking Egyptian priests, no doubt with the open encouragement and warm approval of the palace, erected a series of commemorative stelae, written in Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphs and Demotic.

Subject: Mateo Beazley, Thorakitai - Armed in the Roman Way

All successor kingdoms carried out military reforms in response to external threats. By the late 3rd century BC, a new type of soldier appeared in written accounts. Ancient writers such as Polybius referred to these soldiers as thorakitai ('armoured men'). They were heavy infantry employed in situations that would have been disadvantageous to a phalangite force.

Subject: arnold blumberg, stratiotes hos euergetai - army and temple building in ptolemaic egypt

During the roughly 300 years that the Ptolemies ruled Egypt, the nation's military played a pivotal role in shaping the kingdom's economic development as well as creating a more ethnically integrated society. During the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, this relationship was marked by, among other things, the funding, construction, and dedication of religious temples by officers and enlisted men of the Egyptian army.

Subject: marc g. desantis, egyptian leviathans - the battle fleet of ptolemy ii philadephus

The fleet of Ptolemy II Philadephus of Egypt (r. 283–246 BC) was an extraordinary array of ships. As Athenaeus of Naucratis reported in his Deipnosophistae, this remarkable fleet contained some 224 ships in the categories of quadriremes, triremes, and lighter vessels, but what is most striking about the Egyptian navy is the large number of large, even gigantic, warships that Ptolemy II possessed.

Subject: Sidney E. Dean, Road to Antioch - The Beginning of the End of Hellenistic Rule in the East

The six Syrian Wars between the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt and the Seleucids of Asia Minor seriously weakened the Hellenistic kingdoms. This benefited Rome, whose intervention to end the last Syrian War in 168 BC left Egypt dependent on the protection of the Senate. The continuation of inter-Hellenistic conflict in the decades following the Sixth Syrian War eventually led to the loss of the eastern satrapies of the Seleucid Empire and paved the way for Roman rule over Egypt and Asia Minor. A crucial moment was the Battle of Antioch in 145 BC.

Topic: alex zakrzewski, to the barricades! urban warfare in ancient alexandria

In late 48 bc, julius caesar arrived in alexandria in search of his great rival pompeius the magnus. although he was horrified to learn that the egyptians had murdered pompeius, he was at the same time intrigued to discover the ruling ptolemies in the midst of a dynastic civil war. the alexandrians had no great love for their royal family, but they absolutely hated roman interference in their affairs. when caesar announced that he would take sides, the entire city rose in revolt. the conqueror of gau suddenly found himself fighting a costly battle for survival on the streets of one of the great cities of the ancient world.

Topic: Sean Hußmann, War of Words: Rome and Egypt in the Time of Mark Antony < br>
We tend to think of political propaganda as a modern invention, a devious method devised by the Stalins and Goebbelses of the industrialized world to influence the masses, incite them against a common enemy, and legitimize their own worldview. Propaganda, however, has been around ever since humans began organizing themselves into political communities.

Special: Paolo Morisi, on behalf of the Roman Empire - Roman military tombstones in Great Britain

Although the Roman army often prevailed, many of its soldiers died by the sword, and their butchered bodies littered the battlefield. Whether Roman soldiers died in battle or of old age, they were often buried beneath colorful tombstones that, along with the remains of forts and artifacts, represent a vital source of information about their war machine. These monuments not only give us a glimpse of what Roman soldiers were like, but they also help us understand the importance of combat and warfare in ancient society.

Special: Jeroen Wijnendaele, The Enemy Within - Barbarian Recruitment in the Late Roman Empire

Generations of historians have often treated the large-scale recruitment of barbarians into the late Roman army as one of the root causes of the decline of the Western Roman Empire. But the evidence from literary and material sources concerning views on this so-called "barbarization" of field armies during the 4th century AD has been exaggerated and misinterpreted. On the contrary, the increasing presence of barbarians in the Roman war machine did not diminish the empire's status as a Mediterranean superpower.

Hollywood novels: Graham Sumner, The Roman Army on Screen, Part 4 - The Tunic (1953) and Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954)

Hoping to capitalize on the success of Quo Vadis, rival studio Twentieth-Century Fox’s entry into the epic genre was The Robe, an adaptation of a best-selling novel by Lloyd C. Douglas. The Robe was also the first film to be released in the new widescreen CinemaScope process, marketed as the miracle of glasses-free entertainment – ​​a sly comment on the then-current fad of 3D movies.

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