Ancient Warfare Podcast

Bronze helmets, greaves, armour, and bronze-faced shields make for an impressive army, but who fought in all that kit, next to whom, and how?
In the latest episode of the Ancient Warfare Magazine Podcast, the team discusses issue 106 of the magazine, Greece in the late Archaic period.
 
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Following an earlier episode in which Murray suggested that warfare was often conceived as frontal and honourable, Peter writes in with a response. He reflects on the idea that outflanking an opponent may once have been seen as poor form, even cowardly or lacking heroic virtue, and asks when outflanking became a tactical innovation deliberately employed in battle.
 
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John asks whether there are historical examples of a formation being outflanked where the troops on the threatened flank turn to engage the attacker, while the main line remains engaged to the front, effectively fighting on two faces at once while maintaining cohesion.
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Samuel asks about Athenian archers at the start of the Peloponnesian War. Thucydides lists significant numbers of them in 431 and it raises a series of questions. How were these archers equipped Were they citizens, metics or the famous Scythian archers Did they serve aboard triremes or mainly in garrisons Were they poorer citizens unable to afford hoplite equipment, or were they specialists and mercenaries.
Murray looks at what we know from the sources and archaeology about Athenian archers.
 
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What counts as a true revolution in warfare? In this episode, the panel tackles the idea of sudden and radical change on the ancient battlefield. Rather than slow evolution, they ask which developments transformed how wars were fought almost overnight.
From the emergence of the phalanx and the impact of the trireme at sea, to the spread of cavalry, chariots, and new ways of organising troops, the discussion ranges across the ancient world. The panel also considers technological shifts, including the move from copper to bronze and later to iron, and whether these really changed warfare in a single moment or over longer periods.
Is there such a thing as an ancient equivalent to modern drone warfare, or are even the most dramatic changes the result of adaptation and learning? As ever, the panel bring different perspectives to a lively debate about what really counts as a revolution in warfare.
 
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