Collections: How to Raise a Tribal Army in Pre-Roman Europe, Part III: Going To War With the Army You Have

This is the third and final part of our three-part (I, II, III) look at how some 'tribal' or more correctly, non-state agrarian peoples - particularly the Celtiberians, Gauls and also many Germanic-language speaking peoples on the Rhine and Danube- raised armies to fight the Romans (and anyone else who came knocking) in the third, … Continue reading Collections: How to Raise a Tribal Army in Pre-Roman Europe, Part III: Going To War With the Army You Have →

Collections: How to Raise a Tribal Army in Pre-Roman Europe, Part I: Aristocrats, Retainers and Clients

For the next few posts (I, II, III), I want to take a look at how some 'tribal' peoples raised armies, in contrast to the way that ancient (or later) states raised armies. As moderns, we are so familiar with the way that states function that the far older systems of non-state organization and mobilization … Continue reading Collections: How to Raise a Tribal Army in Pre-Roman Europe, Part I: Aristocrats, Retainers and Clients →

Collections: The Journey of the Roman Gladius and Other Swords

This week I want to do something a little different and discuss the evolution and development of a specific weapon, in this case the famed Roman gladius, the sword of the legions. As we're going to see, this is going to entail a journey covering quite a bit of both time and space as the gladius … Continue reading Collections: The Journey of the Roman Gladius and Other Swords →