"A comprehensive guide to this remarkable ancient fighting force: "Groundbreaking insights into the Roman military... sumptuously illustrated." -- Love Reading The Roman military machine was pre-eminent in ancient times, projecting power across the known world over a vast chronology, and an increasingly huge and diverse geography. One of the most powerful instruments of war in the history of conflict, it proved uniquely adept at learning from setbacks,...

A new study that challenges previous interpretations of post-Roman North Africa. North Africa was one of the richest parts of the Roman Empire, the agricultural powerhouse of the Mediterranean. It was also home to some of the emperor's biggest imperial estates, and prosperous cities of all kinds. Its loss to the Vandals in the first half of the 5th century AD was the mortal blow which both precipitated the fall of the western empire, and set the...

A look at the remarkable military career of ancient Rome's most celebrated leader. Born into an aristocratic family, Julius Caesar has been an inspiration to countless military commanders over the past two millennia. His early military campaigns, part of his progression along the cursus honorum, ranged from the East to Spain to the early Roman civil wars. His participation in the Gallic Wars as well as his incursions into Britain are known mainly...

The period covered by the Old Testament—beginning in approximately 3000 BC—was one of great technological development and innovation in warfare, as competing cultures clashed in the ancient Middle East. The Sumerians were the first to introduce the use of bronze into warfare, and were centuries ahead of the Egyptians in the use of the wheel. The Assyrians developed chariot warfare and set the standard for a new equine-based military culture. The...

A sweeping history of the Roman Empire's influence beyond its borders and through time. At its height in the second century AD, the Roman Empire extended across continents, from Hadrian's border wall to the port towns of the Red Sea. But its influence spread even further, with a legacy that lasts to this day. In this brand-new analysis of the world of Rome, award-winning historian, archaeologist and broadcaster Simon Elliott sets off on a grand...

Legio IX Hispana had a long and active history, later founding York from where it guarded the northern frontiers in Britain. But the last evidence for its existence in Britain comes from AD 108. The mystery of their disappearance has inspired debate and imagination for decades. The most popular theory, immortalized in Rosemary Sutcliffe's novel The Eagle of the Ninth, is that the legion was sent to fight the Caledonians in Scotland and wiped out there. But...

The Roman Conquests series seeks to explain when and how the Romans were able to conquer a vast empire stretching from the foothills of the Scottish Highlands to the Sahara Desert, from the Atlantic to the Persian Gulf. How did their armies adapt to and overcome the challenges of widely varied enemies and terrain? In this volume, Dr Simon Elliott draws on the latest research and archaeological evidence to present a new narrative of the conquest (never...