Battles of the Greek and Roman Worlds: A Chronological Compendium of 667 Battles to 31BC, from the Historians of the Ancient World [Hardcover]

John Drogo Montagu (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2000

15 maps 18 battle plans 8 x 10 * The best single-volume reference book for classical battles
* Brings together the accounts of the ancient historians

This comprehensive reference book on the battles of the ancient world covers events from the eighth century BC down to 31BC, when Octavian defeated Antony and Cleopatra at the battle of Actium. The author presents, in an exciting and vivid style and complete with battle plans and maps, all of the land and sea battles of the Greek and Roman worlds, based on the accounts by historians of the time.

John Drogo Montagu's love of classical history was fostered in childhood by an inspiring teacher. After a career in medicine, Montagu returned to the classical world and wrote this book.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

This work is a chronology of ancient battles from earliest recorded Greek history to the end of the Roman Republic. Only battles that have a recorded date and location and also took place in the open are mentioned. Thus, sieges are eliminated unless sallies resulted in an open confrontation, and some famous battles, such as the victories of Spartacus over the Roman legions, are omitted because of a lack of information about date or place or both. A useful table of contents and a list of 14 maps and 18 battle plans begin the volume, which is then divided into three parts. Part one provides background information on the Greek and Roman armies and navies and the reliability of data. This is accompanied by a listing of 32 primary sources and a glossary of 47 terms. Part two is composed of a chronological table of battles of the Greek world and a text section providing descriptive information. The chronology gives date and place of the battle, name of the war or conflict, and the names of the victors and losers. A helpful abbreviation key denotes geographic features and indecisive battles. Most entries in the text section are only a few paragraphs long, although some (e.g., Marathon , Thermopylae ) are a full page in length. A typical entry gives the name of the battle, date, location, name of the conflict, and a description of the event. Each entry has a citation at the end noting the original source. Part three is organized in the same manner as part two but covers the Roman world. Occasional battles taking place where the Greek and Roman worlds intersected are covered in the text of the Greek section and designated in the Roman chronology by an asterisk. Rounding out the volume are a short bibliography, an index of persons, and an index of places. This is a unique resource for which there are no comparable works. It will be useful to students, scholars, and enthusiasts of war gaming. Academic and large public libraries with an interest in ancient history should consider this monograph for inclusion in their reference collections. REVWR
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Greenhill Books (April 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1853673897
• ISBN-13: 978-1853673894
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,689,295 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nothing but battles, April 22, 2000

By 

Anthony L. Edwards - See all my reviews

This review is from: Battles of the Greek and Roman Worlds: A Chronological Compendium of 667 Battles to 31BC, from the Historians of the Ancient World (Hardcover)

This book is sure to become a gem someday, at least for wargamers.

Right from the start the author lists all the major and minor battles from the Persian Wars through to the end of the Roman Republic. When he can he lists the size and composition of both armies involved, a little background to the particular battle, what happened, and the end result. He also makes a mention of how "trusted" his data is for each battle. The battles are listed in chronological order, with a heading of each campaign or war they occurred. After each description are references to some more common original sources (Thycudides, Xenophon, etc) for those that wish more detail.

He has some excellent geographical maps for the Hellenestic world, marking most major cities (on some level) involved or mentioned in this book. Montagu provides some excellent indicies & timelines of the battles, the partcipants, and the outcome. He also has a good discussion of the validity of his reported "facts" right at the start.

This book could be helped out with more diagrams of individual battles - there are precious few of these. And this book is also not the end-all of information about any particular battle or war.

But it will be an invaluable reference for me, and it contains more than enough information and references to be an excellent starting point for further research. This book is sure to grace the shelves of most wargamers' and military historians' libraries.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good but not Superlative, May 21, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Battles of the Greek and Roman Worlds: A Chronological Compendium of 667 Battles to 31BC, from the Historians of the Ancient World (Hardcover)

Montague's book is great as a definitive compilation of the wars of the classical Greco-Roman world. I, however, found it lacking because the author did not go into depth in any particular battle. Battlefield schimatics, which would bring an entirely more comprehensive depth to the text, are rare, and the military tactics of some of the world's greatest generals find themselves subordinate to the breadth of the subject itself.