Ancient Warfare Podcast

Responding to a recent episode of the main Ancient Warfare podcast, Eric writes in to ask about the purpose of the crest on helmets worn by ancient Greek and Roman soldiers.
 
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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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