ANCIENT WARFARE: Volume 4.5 October 2010
1-954045
Theme: Fighting for the Gods - Warfare and Religion
For the Greeks and Romans of the archaic and classical eras, wars were often fought when oaths and treaties, made sacred from having been witnessed before the gods, were broken. Who won, they believed, was a matter for the gods to decide. Before battle commenced, city states, soldiers and their senior officers actively curried favor with the gods to improve their odds of ultimate victory - or at least of survival. Studying how the Greeks and Romans understood the relationship between gods and men provides a vital glimpse into the mindset of the ancient warrior.
Articles: Inside a temple of Mithras. Secrets of a military cult; Sparta Refuses to Fight - Pious inaction during the Persian invasions; 'Consular suicide - The practicalities of devotio; Epona in Roman service - Military worship of a horse goddess; In the name of Ahuramazda - Darius' wars against the Elamites and Scythians; The Sign of Constantine's Vision: Religion and theLate Roman Shield; The Frankish Constantine - Clovis' Conversion at Tolbiac.
The Debate: Duncan B. Campbell, The fate of the Ninth: the curious disappearance of Legio IX Hispana. In 1954, Rosemary Sutcliff published a novel about Roman Britain. It caught the imagination of an entire generation of readers with its tale of the Ninth Legion, destroyed in the mists of Scotland. A BBC dramatization captivated a fresh generation in 1977. And now a new motion picture is set to revive interest in the fate of the Lost Legion. But was it really destroyed in Britain during the reign of Hadrian? Or have we fallen for a myth that should have been laid to rest fifty years ago?
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Updated as of 5/16/2024
ABBREVIATIONS: dj-dust jacket, biblio-bibliography, b/w-black and white, illust-illustrations, b/c-book club addition.rct - recent arrival or pending publication, spc - OMM Special Price