Ancient Warfare Podcast

Jsoth, wonders what account of the battle of Milvain Bridge does Murray find most convincing, and what supporting evidence is of the battle? Join us on Patron patreon.com/ancientwarfarepodcast  

'A general for his stepmother Hatshepsut from a young age, Thutmose III conducted dozens of campaigns into the ancient Near East and Nubia, leaving extensive records.' In this episode of the Ancient Warfare Magazine podcast, the team discusses XVI.4 New Kingdom Empire Builder: Pharaoh Thutmose III goes to war . Join us on Patron patreon.com/ancientwarfarepodcast  

After recently rereading Thucydides, GC asks, "Fire-signals of an attack were also raised towards Thebes; but the Plataeans in the town at once displayed a number of others, prepared beforehand for this very purpose, in order to render the enemy's signals unintelligible."  I would have imagined that a fire signal was quite simple, fire or no fire. This implies much greater sophistication.  What is...

In this week's Any Warfare Answers , Murray answers this question sent in by Jamie. 'The rest of the guys on the podcast all have their areas of expertise and are each an expert in a different, very specific aspect of ancient history, whereas you seem to have a grasp of all of it. How did you become such a generalist?' Join us on Patron patreon.com/ancientwarfarepodcast  

Kyle asks, 'What was the mechanism that Carthage (or really any ancient power) used to recruit mercenaries? Were there people whose job it was to travel Gaul, Iberia, Greece, etc., recruiting, or was the sending of mercenaries part of political negations?' Join us on Patron patreon.com/ancientwarfarepodcast  

Something slightly different for this episode of the Ancient Warfare podcast. Regular of the podcast Marc De Santis talks to Murray about his work, focusing on the books Murray has written for Osprey , specifically his four books for the Combat Series. Join us on Patron patreon.com/ancientwarfarepodcast  

In this episode, Murray muses on a question sent in by Nathan asking if, in the ancient world, there was some sort of volley fire such as we see in the 19th century with ranks of infantry. Join us on Patron patreon.com/ancientwarfarepodcast  

Andy has been listening to rival podcasts as points out that 'the term assassin does not turn up until after the crusades. My understanding is there were plenty of assassinations before this. What term did the Romans use? Where these people specially trained?'  Join us on Patron patreon.com/ancientwarfarepodcast  

Curt asks Murray, 'did Alexander The Great's army introduce Pankration to India? If so could Pankration have contributed to the future expansion of martial arts from India to China & other Asian countries?' Join us on Patron patreon.com/ancientwarfarepodcast  

Jasper, the editor of Ancient Warfare Magazine , asked on social media what themes readers felt the magazine had not covered but should or themes it should revisit. The team look at what suggestions were sent in and give some thoughts of their own.   Join us on Patron patreon.com/ancientwarfarepodcast  

Jacob wonders, 'if field artillery was ever used against a Macedonian-style phalanx? If not, why not? The close formation and immobility of the phalanx would leave it extremely susceptible to scorpion, ballista, etc fire.'  Join us on Patron patreon.com/ancientwarfarepodcast  

Carlos asks, 'in the current war in Ukraine, we've seen Ukrainian soldiers write insulting messages and trolling ones on artillery shells before firing them at Russian forces. Did a similar practice exist in the ancient Mediterranean world with soldiers writing insults and or the use of verbal insults.' Join us on Patron patreon.com/ancientwarfarepodcast  

Wyton asks, 'During the republic, what were the Romans Italian allies armed with, and how did they fight? As legionaries or some other method?'   Join us on Patron patreon.com/ancientwarfarepodcast  

' E v e n b e f o r e t h e e m p i r e s p l i t i n t o t w o s e p a r a t e h a l v e s , t h e A u g u s t i i n t h e E a s t h a d t o c o n t e n d w i t h d e v a s t a t i n g G o t h i c r a i d s a n d n e a r - c o n s t a n t w a r s w i t h t h e S a s a n i a n E m p i r e . '   The team discuss issue XVI.3 of the magazine G o t h s , S a s a n i d s a n d R o m a n s : T h e R o m...

Robert asks, 'Why javelins? It seems that a bow would be a much better weapon for a skirmish in the ancient world, but it seems that javeLin armed light troops may have been the most common type in Europe. Additionally, if using javelins, why not an atlatl to throw them with? This would make a difference in hitting a target, but one has to believe that range would be an important factor while skir...

'Is there today or has there been anyone trying to conduct larger-scale experimental archaeology to try and answer some of the common questions about certain infantry tactics/tropes such as the othismos and open vs closed order legions?'  Murray tells us about experimental archaeology. Join us on Patron patreon.com/ancientwarfarepodcast  

Alex asks, 'When is the last documented evidence of one of the original Roman Legions being in existence? I remember reading about Legio V Macedonica being based in Egypt just before the Arab Conquests in the 640s, but I am unsure if this is factually correct'. Murray lists us the last documented evidence for the Legions.   Join us on Patron patreon.com/ancientwarfarepodcast  

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...

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. Join us on Patron patreon.com/ancientwarfarepodcast  

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?  Join us on Patron...

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. Join us on Patron patreon.com/ancientwarfarepodcast  

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'? Join us on Patron patreon.com/ancientwarfarepodcast  

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?' Join us on Patron patreon.com/ancientwarfarepodcast  

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 .   Join us...

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?  Join us on Patron patreon.com/ancientwarfarepodcast