Special Feature -- Book Reviews
John Warry's Warfare
in the Clasical World
(Part III)
Reviewed by Paul Rice
 Warfare in the Classical World : An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Weapons, Warriors and Warfare in the Ancient Civilisations of Greece and Rome, by John Warry.
Chapter X -- Pompey and His Epoch
Warry's sources are Plutarch and Cicero.
Sulla, a strong constitutionalist -- as long as he got to write it -- had
created a system whereby a man couldn't become proconsul until he had been
consul, and couldn't be consul until he had been quaestor, and then
praetor. Pompey bypassed all this by being both consul and proconsul at the
same time. There were other ways around it as well. Clearly, the days of
"two consuls elected for one year" were long gone, and dictatorship was
around the corner. You'll recall Pompey was a legatus under Sulla. In
Africa he had defeated the (Marian) Populist party in 80. Through some
technicalities, he managed to get a triumph out of it, probably the first
legate to get one.
The nervous Senate shipped his ass off to Hispanica in 76, where Sertorius
(pro Cinna, anti Sulla) had basically established his own independent
Hispano-Roman state. Pompey won and remained powerful in Spain for many
years. (DBA optional army # 52a)
Here we have the first mention of gladiators. In 73, Spartacus, a Thracian
slave trained as a gladiator, revolted with a handful of comrades. They
first armed themselves with kitchen tools, then broke into the gladiator
armory. The gladiators destroyed the first army unit sent against them, and
took their professional weapons. Runaway slaves flocked from all over, and
Spartacus's army swelled to 90,000. The slave army was a particularly
unruly and undisciplined one. Trained leaders were in short supply. There
had been two previous slave revolts in Sicily in the previous century, and
Spartacus hoped to invade Sicily and find popular support, but his Pirate
naval support (see below) double crossed him, and he never made it.
Crassus started off with two legions against Spartacus. In his first
attempt his legions broke and ran, abandoning more weapons to the slaves.
Crassus decimated his legions as punishment. Several battles later, Crassus
won a decisive victory in 71, crucifying the survivors. 5000 escaped into
Etruria, where Pompey and his legions returning from Spain crushed them.
2000 years later Stanley Kubrick made a movie out of it.
Warry shows the evolution of the scutum (shield).
Meanwhile, Mithridates had once again taken advantage of Rome's other
commitments to reestablish his sphere of influence over Roman colonies,
mostly in Asia minor (Bithynia and Cillicia) and the Aegean. He remodeled
his army more to the Roman style. In 74, Lucullus (you'll recall he was
Sulla's admiral) relieved these colonies and pushed Mithridates eastward.
He won a victory at Tigrancerta in 69, well into Armenia and dang near into
Mesopotamia. After this Mithridates allied himself with King Tigranes of
Armenia (his son-in-law), outmaneuvered the Romans, and Lucullus's star
faded. Meanwhile, in Egypt, the last Ptolemaic leader was born, a baby girl
named Cleopatra.
You've heard of Terry and the Pirates? How about Pompey and the Pirates?
By this time the Pirates may have had 1000 ships and freely raided 400
cities. (Julius Caesar, a young man about this time, has some minor
adventures with pirates, wins, and crucifies many of them.)
To combat this rising menace, the Senate granted all sorts of powers to
Pompey, authorizing him to raise up to 125,000 men and 500 ships. In 67,
Pompey conducted one of the great naval campaigns in history. In only 40
days he cleared the western med of pirates. Pompey then went after the
pirate's land bases in the east. After smashing their bases in only three
months, he offered an amnesty, and resettled the ex-pirates as farmers. His
project came in under budget, ahead of schedule, with resources left over.
He received the unofficial title Pompey Magnus.
There were few if any set piece land battles against the Pirates.
With his Pirate success under his belt, Pompey was appointed to go after
Mithridates. Lucullus went home to Rome, received a triumph in 63, retired,
and was never a "wheel" again.
Pompey chased Mithridates, and fought a full scale night battle at
Nicopolis in Greece. By now Mithridates had lost support of his own sons
and the populace. In 63 he killed himself, and the Pontic empire was over.
In DBA terms I'd call a later Pontic army: 1xKn, 1xCv, 2xLH, 1xSCh, 3x3Bd, 3xAux, 1Ps
If I hadn't pointed it out before, in the majority of the Roman campaigns
in Greece, they don't march over through Illyria, but take the boat from
Brundisium.
Crassus, by the way, is financing Caesar, who is heavily in debt to him.
Back in Rome, Cataline tried to overthrow the government in 65. The first
attempt was bloodless and everybody remained in position. He tried again in
63, and this time he and his force were executed or killed in battle. The
problem Rome faced was since they maintained no standing army in Roma, they
were vulnerable to internal rebellion.
Warry takes a snapshot of the Roman army at this point. He claims the
first four cohorts had six centuries each of 80 men, and cohorts 5-10 had
six centuries each of 72 men, for a total of 4512 men before supernumaries.
[I am dubious of any differences between cohorts 2-10.] There was still a
vague maniple feel in that centuries formed up behind each other if
necessary to let cavalry or light troops pass through.
He gives an example of (early) Caesar in Gaul. He had four legions (since
the former Italian allies were now Roman citizens, their troops were
considered legion), 2-3000 Balearic slingers and Cretan archers, and 2000
Spanish and Gallic cav. The first four cohorts of each legion formed row
one. Cohorts 5-7 formed the second line, and 8-10 the third line. (I am
dubious.) This gives a total depth (once maniples are closed) of 20 men.
The skirmishers still lined up in front of the legion, and the horse on the
flanks. If those cohort numbers are accurate, these numbers yield about
22,900 men:
- 80% -- Blade
- 11% -- Psiloi
- 09% -- Cavalry
Or 10xBd, 1xPs, and 1xPs. Caesar eventually had 10 legions in Gaul.
What with fighting a Roman rebellion in Spain, slave rebellion in Italy,
Mithridates in the northeast, the Parthians in the southeast, and pirates
at sea, there was no shortage of employment for men who were willing to be
soldiers.
In 62 Pompey divorces Mucia because she is having an affair with none
other than Julius Caesar. Caesar received his first military command in
Spain in 61. In 59 Caesar's daughter Julia marries Pompey. Caesar campaigns
in Gaul 58-51, which are covered in the next chapter. In this army are
Decimus Brutus and Pompey's son Publius, and Caesar's 2-in-C, Titus
Labienus.
Sulla, Lucullus, and Pompey had all contacted the Parthians, but it never
amounted to much. Warry dedicates several pages to the Parthians. He goes
into detailed sketches of their tactics, mostly unarmored light horse with
bow, and knights (cataphractoi). These bowmen are the origin of the phrase
"the Parthian shot." Perhaps this is a phrase used in England. In America
we've corrupted it to "the parting shot". The Parthians were a fine army.
You'll recall Crassus from the Social War. Did I mention he, Pompey, and
Caesar formed the first triumvirate in 59? Warry completely ignores this.
Crassus had the east, Pompey Spain, and Caesar Gaul.
In 54, Julia died, further straining the Pompey / Caesar relationship.
In 53 Crassus invaded Parthia at the head of 7 legions. On his march to
Seleucia, the Parthians jumped him at the 3 day battle of Carrhae.
Rome under Crassus (34,500 men)
- 77% -- Blade
- 12% -- Psiloi
- 03% -- Cavalry (Gallic)
- 09% -- Light Horse (Arabic)
Total casualties: 20,000 killed, 10,000 captured.
Parthians under Surena (8,000 plus full logistic support):
- 12% -- Knights
- 88% -- Light Horse
No terrain to speak of. To game this I would recommend rules for horse
archers, and "infinite" board for the Parthians. [Again I caution readers
not to think they are simulating this battle by immediately putting a DBA
Parthian army against a Roman army. Note that (according to this one
source), the Romans outnumber their foe by 4:1, yet the underdogs have no
limit in ammo.]
It started with harassing fire from the horse archers. Surena had 200
wagons and 1000 camels bringing up a steady supply of arrows and other
supplies. Crassus immediately formed a square, similar in function to a
Napoleanic one, but with 30,000 men! The square slowly tried to shuffle to
safety. After hours of this, his son Publius made a sally with some 5000
combined arms. The Parthians wisely let them get a long way from the
square, and then pounced. The force was annihilated. The Romans retreated
that night, abandoning 4000 wounded, who were slaughtered.
The Roman column splits (why?) and Gaius Cassius, who you may remember
from Shakespeare, leads 10,000 men back to Carrhae. After resupply, 5,000
of them set off the next day to rescue Crassus and his column, holding up
in the mountains. On day 3, Crassus attempts to parley, but is killed.
The Parthians knew the terrain was their greatest ally, and made no
attempt at expanding their empire after annihilating the Roman army.
BTW, Surena supposedly had 200 concubines -- busy man! No wonder he never
went on the offensive against Rome.
Chapter XI -- Julius Caesar
Warry's sources are Caesar himself, Hirtius, Plutarch, the younger Pliny,
Cicero, and Sallust. The life and career of JC are so well known I needn't
repeat them here. Indeed, the previous sections have already mentioned him a
bit.
Warry is the first author I've read who states (several times) Caesar had
a homosexual relationship with the Bithynian king. One must factor in that
most sources attribute Caesar to have been quite the ladies' man.
Warry covers in great detail Caesar's campaigns in Gaul, Germany, and
Britain, for several pages. He lists the force levels at Alesia as 50,000
Romans, 353,000 Gauls. 7:1 ! German cav consists of two-man teams: a
horseman and an infantryman who hangs onto the horse's main and rides into
battle. The Celts and Picts were the last to use chariots in Europe.
After Alesia (52 BCE) came a little mop-up. With Crassus dead and Julia
dead, there wasn't much holding together the Pompey/ Caesar relationship.
By 50 Caesar's opponents in the Senate were ready to play their cards. In
49, Caesar was forcibly recalled to Roma. Had he disobeyed, he would have
been outlawed. Of course, no Roman consul could enter Rome at the head of
an army (Sulla is perhaps the only one who did, illegally, committing
wanton slaughter). The terms for Caesar were to enter without so much as
even a bodyguard. One imagines much thought went into his decision.
In 49 BCE, Julius Caesar crossed the Ria Rubicon at the head of his army,
stating, "The die is cast". Pompey left Italy and consolidated his forces
in the east. Caesar entered Rome without a fight, and he did not massacre
his opponents, as had Sulla, twice, and Marius to a lesser degee. Caesar
turned his attention to Pompey's western forces in Hispanica and Gaul,
converting who he could and wiping out the rest.
In 48 the two big boys squared off at Dyrrhacium on the Greek Adriatic
coast. Pompey had 36,000 plus strong cavalry, Caesar 25,000 plus some
allies. Pompey won, but Caesar was able to extract his army in good order
and Pompey could not follow up.
The next battle was Pharsalus, which might be good for gamers looking for
a Roman civil war.
Caesar (31,900 total, representing parts of 9 legions comprised of 82 understrength cohorts):
- 72% -- Blade
- 23% -- Aux
- 03% -- Cav
- 01% -- Psi
1200 killed.
Pompey (56,200 total, representing parts of 13 legions (with understrength cohorts) minus combat losses):
- 80% -- Blade
- 07% -- Aux
- 12% -- Cav
6-10,000 killed.
A river anchors Pompey's right and Caesar's left. Pompey has a three fort
line stretching across his right to his camp in the rear in the mountains.
The mountains run diagonally toward Caesar's right. Caesar's troops were
probably of higher quality. Pompey has a 7:4 advantage and better terrain.
The two main lines of legionaries pushed without any effect. Caesar put
all his cav and light foot, along with 8 solid cohorts, on his right. They
were able to push back Pompey's cav, and then the 8 cohorts wrapped around
Pompey's left flank.
Pompey fled to Egypt, where he was killed. Caesar followed him, and met a
22 year old queen looking to expand her power base. Warry subtly hints the
child may not have been Caesar's: Cleopatra was not exactly a stranger to
men.
Meanwhile Mithridates' son Pharnaces starts to cause trouble in the east.
Caesar put a stop to that at Zela on the Black Sea in 47, and wrote "Veni,
vidi, vici."
In 46 he becomes dictator. Warry doesn't go into Caesar's various good
works back at home; after all, this is a military history book.
Titus Labienus and the sons of Pompey had reformed an army in Spain, which
Caesar crushed at Munda in 45.
In Feb 44 he was appointed dictator for life, and a month later, met his
fate.
Warry spends a page on the officer structure within a Caesarian legion.
Chapter XII - The Wars of the Triumvirate
Warry recognizes only one triumvirate. He doesn't recognize the (first)
one between Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus, but only the (second) one between
Antony, Augustus, and [I'll bet you a beer you can't remember the name of
the third guy, can you? It's really hard. Nobody can remember the name of
the third guy of the second triumvirate. Still, don't have it yet, do you?
I told you so. How long can I drag this on? Give up? ] Lepidus. Warry uses
the name "Octavian" instead of "Octavius" or "Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar
Octavianus."
Warry's sources are Livy, Augustus himself, Plutarch, Appian, and Cicero.
The chapter starts with Caesar lying dead on the Senate floor. You
probably know the whole bit about Caesar's will to the people, Antony
rallying the people (he allied with Lepidus), Octavian named as heir, and
Brutus and Cassius having to high-tail it out of there.
The battle at Mutina featured four sides. Successions tend to be like
that. The assassins were one. Cicero represented (what we would call) the
voice of moderation, the non-violent constitutionalists, weakly supporting
the assassins. Number three was Antony, and Octavian the fourth. When
Octavian and Antony were in conflict, Octavian weakly supported Cicero.
Cicero's henchmen were the new consuls Hirtius and Pansa. Octavian received
the title of propraetor, and led Caesar's veterans. At Mutina, they battled
Antony, who was seiging Decimus Brutus (not Marcus Brutus). Both consuls
died fighting, but Antony's forces got the worst of it. Antony retreated,
lifting the siege. Octavian had just liberated the men who killed his
great-uncle, mentor, and benefactor. Politics does indeed make for strange
bedfellows.
Antony allied with Lepidus in Gaul. Decimus' troops went over to
Octavian. The Senate leaned towards the assassins and granted them titles
and land, and outlawed Antony. The politics got ridiculously thick.
Cassius took Rhodes through a naval battle. Brutus and Cassius combined
forces in Thrace, with 19 legions.
In 43, Antony, Octavian, and Lepidus put aside their differences and
formed the second triumvirate. Cleopatra tried to send her fleet in 42, but
it was wrecked. Although out-boated, the triumvirs managed to get across
the Adriatic.
Antony and Octavian sailed 28 legions into Macedonia, to battle Brutus and
Cassius's 19 legions. Lepidus kept 15 legions defending Italy. There
followed an interesting campaign through Thrace. The conspirators had the
supply advantage, and the triumvirs were running out of food. The battle of
Phillipi (42), near the east coast of Thrace, is interesting, with much fog
of war. The conspirators hold a pass. Both sides stare at each other from
fortified positions, and occasionally sally forth for combat. At one point
Antony held Cassius's camp and Brutus held Antony's camp! Apparently,
Cassius didn't get the word that things were going well for Brutus's
troops, and so killed himself, or was killed. The deaths of Brutus and
Casius are certainly not the way Shakespeare portrayed them. Both sides
heard their own camp was in danger, and withdrew (more likely they had as
much booty as they could carry, so why not go back to camp?).
Meanwhile, back in the Ionian, the triumvirs fleet was destroyed.
"...but as the hill was within bowshot of the camp, and therefore
difficult for an enemy to hold..." This implies they had sufficient bows
for massed fire, as does this quote, "...four legions, who protected
themselves against arrows with screens of wicker and hide."
Although Antony and Octavian's army was running low on food, Brutus's army
was running low on morale. The final day of battle was one of little
maneuver, and basically a classic swordfest. The triumvirs won. Brutus
escaped north with only 4 legions. When morale slipped even further, he had
a staff member kill him.
Back in Italy, Antony had Cicero executed for some excuse.
The triumvirs divided up most of the Roman world. Octavian got Italy,
Antony Gaul and the east, and Lepidus Africa. Sextus Pompeius, son of the
great pirate hunter, turned pirate. Through extortion, he gained control of
the Italian islands. Agrippa, (Octavian's 2-in-C) created canals which
connected lakes with the sea, and used these lakes for safe fleet training.
After several defeats, Agrippa defeated Pompeius's fleet at Mylae in 36.
Warry gives another 2 pages on Roman ship design and tactics.
In 41, Antony met Cleopatra for the second time, and shacked up with her.
In theory the three triumvirs were equal, (and it doesn't really matter
what the legal status was, since they were pretty much ignoring the Senate
and Assembly anyway -- the Republic was out the window), but Octavian was
in Italy, and Antony was busy playing with the Queen of Egypt, so Octavian
used his power to secure better land and benefits for *his* veterans, and to hoist his men into positions of power at the expense of Antony's veterans and men. (Lepidus knew he was third fiddle, kept quiet, and lived peacefully.)
So Antony's wife Fulvia, no wilting flower, inspired his brother Lucius, serving as consul, to champion his cause in Italy. Her motivation may have been to stir up trouble in order to get Antony back in Italy, away from Cleopatra. Lucius raised a revolt. Octavian defeated him at Perusia in 40, but trying to keep the peace, promoted him to Governor of Spain; hence, out of the picture.
Fulvia died. In 40, Antony, married Octavia, the sister of Octavian, as
they tried to cement their relationship. He had two daughters by Octavia,
and he had twins by Cleo in 37.
Cleopatra was a Ptolemy, and hence a potential successor to Alexander; and
Antony's second wife was Octavia, Octavian's sister. When one recalls that
Caesar's first wife was Cornelia, daughter of Cinna, his second wife was
Pompeia, daughter of Pompey, and he supposedly had an affair with Pompey's
wife Mucia; that Caesar's aunt was married to Marius; that Caesar's
daughter Julia was married to Pompey; that Cleopatra had children by both
Caesar and Antony, and had previously shared the throne with her brother/
husband Ptolemy XIII and then again with brother/ husband Ptolemy XIV, it's
starting to sound like Melrose Place here. These ancients certainly tried
to keep the peace through intermarriages, but it didn't work at all.
Where's Heather Locklear in all this?
Warry gives credit to Cleopatra's feminine "charms and wiles" for changing
the course of world history. Not necessarily the way she wanted.... BTW,
all of Antony's three wives were high born women who got deeply involved in
politics.
Meanwhile, in the east, Quintus Labienus, son of Caesar's 2-in-C Labienus,
had joined the Parthian army after the defeat of Brutus. Alas, he ventured
the Parthian horse archer army out of their preferred terrain, and Roman
efficiency cut them down in 39. So Antony invaded Parthia. Once more on
their home ground, they chased Antony off with minor casualties in 36.
In 36 Lepidus was dropped from the triumvirate and retired. Cleopatra had
Antony's fifth child, her fourth, their third together.
Octavia was no stay-at-home wife either. She arranged for trades and
treaties between her husband and brother, and averted a civil war in 37.
Basically she shifted ships to Octavian and ground troops to Antony, thus
helping to balance the power. She tried hard to get Antony away from
Cleopatra, which of course was an international scandal by then.
Trying to win back her husband, in 35 she personally brought more troops
and supplies east to meet him. Antony rebuffed her, apparently forgetting
she was his legal wife and the sister of the most powerful man in the
world, who happened to be his arch rival. (Cleopatra must have really been
something!) He ceded to Cleopatra all lands under Roman control which were
once Alexandrian, which of course, he didn't have authority to do. To
finalize matters, Antony divorced Octavia and married Cleopatra.
Octavia and Octavian were incensed. They had been publicly humiliated.
Octavian now applied his genius and did not declare war on Antony, which
might have divided his public and legionary support, but on Egypt (with
some excuse or another -- declaring war on a foreign nation was a routine
activity for Rome). When Antony, not surprisingly, sided with Egypt, he was
immediately branded a traitor, outlawed by the Senate, deposed of all
titles, and now fair game for The House of Caesars.
In the ugly civil war which followed, each side offered the other battle
at a few places, rejected. They eventually met in a sea battle at Actium,
on the west coast of Greece in 31. The battle was slightly going Agrippa's
(Octavian's admiral) way, when Cleopatra -- in the rear with the gold --
got a favorable wind, broke through the lines, and headed for Egypt. Antony
followed, and of course his forces crumbled. Octavian accepted a massive
surrender from the legions and their ships, and welcomed them back into the
flock.
The two star crossed lovers made their way back to Egypt, and when
Octavian eventually landed in 30, Antony killed himself. Cleopatra was
actually captured, but managed to take her life, all her aspirations ending
with an asp.
There is a full page on ballista, scorpio, cheiroballistra, and onager,
artillery of the time. By the time of Augustus, the TOA is one ballista per
cohort (10/ legion) and one scorpio per century! (60 per legion). Warry
states that they usually only had about 50 pieces total/ legion. That's
still quite a lot.
There are almost two pages of graphics on the equipping and organization
of Augustus' legions -- arguably one of the most effective and successful
armies of all time. Would anyone not include them in their top 5 list?
Warry takes another snapshot of the Roman army. This is the first time in
Warry we see the oversized first cohort. Interestingly, Warry has cohorts
6-10 lining up behind cohorts 1-5, in two lines. A legion has nine cohorts
of 480 men, and one of 800. With supernumeraries we're up to 5200 men.
Trajan's attack on Dacia (101 CE) involved 8-10 legions (40-50,000 men)
"plus 50,000 auxiliaries, cavalry, and allies. The total land forces at
this time numbered 30 legions plus a similar number of auxiliaries giving
250-300,000 troops."
The Romans adopted a practice of "flexibility" (flexible response?)
sending only enough troops to accomplish the task. In DBA world, a legion
proper would be "nothing but blade"; however, it would deploy with an equal
number of auxiliary troops. Warry gives an interesting case study of one
such typical (?) deployment. Note it is pieces of various units, similar to
the WWII approach!
"Cestius Gallus' army against the Jewish Revolt in AD 66:
Legio XII (8 cohorts -- c4000)
Legio III (4 cohorts -- c2000)
Legio XXII (4 cohorts -- c2000)
6 auxiliary cohorts -- 4800
4 alae quingenariae (cavalry) -- 2000
Allied kings:
Antiochus of Commagene: 2000 horse archers, 3000 bowmen
Agrippa of Judaea: 1,500 horse archers, 3,000 bowmen
Soaemus of Emesa: 1,200 horse archers, 1,500 bowmen and 1,000 javelinmen.
This army drawn up as shown would occupy a 2400 yds frontage. (Armies of
this period were normally drawn up in 2 lines. Sometimes the front line
would be auxiliaries, with the legions in a single line of cohorts behind.)
So this would be:
Rome under Cestius Gallus (total 28,000):
- 29% -- Blade
- 27% -- Bow/Psiloi
- 17% -- Auxilia
- 17% -- Light Horse
- 07% -- Cavalry
- 04% -- Psiloi
Which translates into 12 DBA bases as: 1XCv, 2xLH, 3xBD, 2xAux, 3xBw or Ps, 1xPs or Art (you figure they had some artillery).
The author has good words about Augustus's overall beneficence. Ah, the
glory which was Rome.
BTW, I finally found the answer to my old question of Caesar's name. An
cient Civilizations states that Roman nomenclature (pun) was the "second
name, nomen, was the clan name, while the third name, cognomen, was the
name of the particular family in the clan". It was confirmed in a book on
tape, "First Man of Rome." Hence the Caesars were a subset of the Julians.
Hence the family name existed long before he was born, much less took
office.
Ancient Civilizations pointed out that the Gracchi brothers were grandsons
of Scipio Africanus.
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