Hollywood has gone to elaborate lengths to recreate the violence and mayhem of ancient warfare in movies such as Gladiator and Troy. But what were ancient battles really like? What weapons, tactics, armor, training, and logistics were used? In this course, Professor Garrett G. Fagan takes you into the thick of combat in some of the most notable battles fought in the Mediterranean region from prehistoric times to the 4th century CE.
Great Battles of the Ancient World
Join estemed Professor of Ancient History Garrett Fagan, and together travel into the thick of combat in some of the most notable battles fought in the Mediterranean region from prehistoric times to the 4th century CE.
Overview
About
Garrett G. Fagan (1963–2017) was a Professor of Ancient History at Pennsylvania State University. He was born in Dublin, Ireland, and was educated at Trinity College. He earned his PhD from McMaster University and held teaching positions at McMaster University, York University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also gave many public lectures to audiences of all ages. Professor Fagan had an extensive research record in Roman history and held a prestigious Killam Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship at the University of Cologne. He published numerous articles in international journals, and he wrote Bathing in Public in the Roman World. He also edited a volume on the phenomenon of pseudoarcheology.
01: Why Study Battles? What Is War?
Professor Garrett G. Fagan addresses the importance of studying battles and surveys the changing scholarly approach to the subject since the 19th century. He concludes by looking at different definitions of warfare, particularly the "operational" and "social-constructivist" models.
32 min
02: The Problem of Warfare’s Origins
Three types of evidence shed light on origins of warfare: human remains bearing evidence of trauma, artifacts that function primarily as weapons, and monuments such as fortifications or depictions of warriors painted on cave walls. Their interpretations are far from straightforward.
31 min
03: Sumer, Akkad, and Early Mesopotamian Warfare
You enter the historical era when written records first become available. Such evidence allows us to reconstruct the conventions and conditions of warfare among the first cities in Sumer in c. 3000 BCE and to explore the nature of Sumerian armies, weapons, and battle tactics.
31 min
04: Egyptian Warfare from the Old to New Kingdoms
Evidence of warfare in Old Kingdom Egypt is ambiguous, but it is much more plentiful in later periods, when the pharaoh's role was increasingly that of a war leader. Egyptian warfare was transformed by the introduction of the chariot.
31 min
05: The Battles of Megiddo and Kadesh
With New Kingdom Egypt you get the first fully recorded battle in history: the Battle of Megiddo. You also cover the later Battle of Kadesh, which is attested in both Egyptian and Hittite accounts.
30 min
06: The Trojan War and Homeric Warfare
The reality of the Trojan War has been debated since ancient times. In this lecture you survey the archaeological evidence for Troy and for warfare among the mainland Greeks, called Mycenaeans.
31 min
07: The Assyrian War Machine
The Assyrian military model of multiethnic, highly mobile armies relying on missile weaponry and chariots was to characterize major Near Eastern powers for centuries. You study the nature of the Assyrian army, the unique features of the empire it created, and the place of warfare in Assyrian imperial ideology.
31 min
08: The Sieges of Lachish and Jerusalem
You examine the art of ancient siege warfare by considering the two great sieges at Lachish and Jerusalem during the third campaign of Sennacherib (701 BCE). The sources for these events include Assyrian written and iconographic records, accounts in the Bible, and archaeology.
31 min
09: A Peculiar Institution? Hoplite Warfare
The Greek hoplite was a heavily armed and armored infantryman who fought in a formation called the phalanx, dominating battlefields of the ancient world for almost four centuries (c. 700 to 338 BCE).
32 min
10: The Battle of Marathon
The Battle of Marathon saw the forces of the Persian superpower defeated in the first major confrontation between Greeks and Persians on the Hellenic mainland. The battle itself was strategically indecisive and set the stage for the serious clash of Greek and Persian armies a decade later.
30 min
11: The Battle of Thermopylae
In the second Persian invasion of Greece, 300 Spartans with allied troops were charged with stopping an enormous Persian force at the narrow pass of Thermopylae, while Greek armies mustered in the rear. Astonishingly, the fight lasted three days before the defenders were betrayed and then massacred.
31 min
12: Naval Warfare and the Battle of Salamis
You survey the naval developments that led to the trireme in the late 6th century BCE and then focus on the Battle of Salamis, which saw the Persian fleet defeated by Athens. The lecture ends with the Battle of Plataea (479 BCE).
31 min
13: The Athenian Expedition to Sicily
The Athenian assault on the heavily fortified city of Syracuse in Sicily represents one of the greatest military follies in history. The ensuing disaster was a turning point in the wider Peloponnesian War with Sparta (431 to 404 BCE).
31 min
14: The March of the Ten Thousand
You follow the exploits of the "Ten Thousand," a contingent of Greek mercenaries caught deep in hostile Persian territory around 400 BCE Their fighting retreat, conducted over 1,500 miles, demonstrated the superiority of Greek hoplites and later inspired Alexander the Great's conquest of Persia.
31 min
15: Macedonian Military Innovations
Warfare among Greek city-states in the 4th century BCE led to a new style of hoplite combat using a refined version of phalanx. Adopted by King Philip II of Macedon, these tactics helped create a fearsome military machine that was to dominate the eastern Mediterranean and Asia for more than two centuries.
31 min
16: Alexander’s Conquest of Persia
Using the Macedonian phalanx, Alexander the Great invaded the Persian Empire in 334 BCE, winning major battles against overwhelming odds at Granicus (334 BCE), Issus (333 BCE), and Gaugamela (331 BCE), making him ruler over all of Persia.
31 min
17: The Legions of Rome
Abandoning the Greek-style phalanx, the Romans created an army that would conquer the known world within two centuries. The essential elements of Roman legionary equipment and tactical formations are examined.
31 min
18: The Battles of Cannae and Zama
An examination of Roman battles begins with the worst defeat in Roman history, the disaster at Cannae, inflicted by Carthaginian military genius Hannibal. The routed Romans waited 14 years for their revenge against Hannibal at the Battle of Zama in 202 BCE.
31 min
19: Legion versus Phalanx—Six Pitched Battles
The two greatest tactical systems of the ancient Mediterranean were the Macedonian phalanx and the Roman legion. They met in battle at several engagements, allowing us to weigh their relative advantages. You consider the results of six battles.
32 min
20: The Sieges of Alesia and Masada
You look at developments in siege warfare during the Hellenistic and Roman eras, examining in detail two great Roman sieges: Alesia (52 BCE) and Masada (72-73 CE). Both required enormous networks of camps, towers, moats, and palisades to seal off the besieged.
31 min
21: Caesar’s World War
Between 49 and 45 BCE, Caesar fought a civil war across the empire against his Roman rivals. You examine the battles of Pharsalus, Zela, Thapsus, and Munda, paying particular attention to what allowed Caesar to win in each case, especially since he was often outnumbered.
31 min
22: The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
In 9 CE, three Roman legions were ambushed and massacred in the Teutoburg Forest by Germans under Arminius, a former auxiliary in the Roman ranks. You explore accounts of the battle and the remarkable archaeological discoveries that have shed new light on German tactics.
30 min
23: Catastrophe at Adrianople
The Roman defeat at Adrianople in 378 CE was only the second time in Roman history that an emperor was killed in action against a foreign foe. Assessing the battle, you survey the Goths and the threat they posed in the 4th century, and you examine the military organization and equipment of the Later Roman Empire.
31 min
24: Reflections on Warfare in the Ancient World
You address two final questions: (1) Why did warfare play a central role in the societies of the ancient Mediterranean? (2) Was the so-called "Western way of war" invented in Archaic Greece and has it been continuously practiced up to the present?
31 min
