Customer Reviews

The Cavalryman (The Roman World Series)

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As usual Peter Connolly produces an excellent little booklet to accompany "The Legionary" and the various other books in this series on the Roman world. Both "The Legionary" and this one deal with the life of Tiberius Claudius Maximus who lived in the time of Trajan. His life in the army comprised both serving as a legionary and then later as a cavalryman in the Emperor's forces in the region of Romania, then called Dacia. This is the second part of his story, this time serving as a cavalryman. Connolly being an experimental archeologist knows what he is talking about and provides detailed reconstructive drawings of his own reconstructed arms, saddles, armour and whatnot required by a cavalryman of the time. In addition he is a good artist and provides some quite atmospheric portrayals of life in the Roman army.

The book is thin but informative and packed with wonderful illustrations. Originally intended for a younger audience it is nevertheless a superb piece of work and is useful for anyone interested in the Roman army whether he/she be a wargamer, modeller or reenactor. Not as serious as the Osprey series or as simple minded (and inaccurate) as much of historical fare now available for children, this book is never far from view on my bookshelf merely for the enjoyment of leafing through its pages.

A wonderful booklet.

Peter Connolloy has again produced a book useful to those engaged in teaching and learning about Roman history. The illustrations are, as usual, both striking and historically accurate.

"The Cavalryman" follows the career of Claudius Tiberius Maximus who was first introduced in Connolly's "The Legionary". In this volume, Maximus has transferred from the Legion to an auxiliary cavalry unit stationed along the Danube during the reign of the Emperor Trajan. The story follows him on Trajan's two campaigns against the Dacians where Maximus gains accolades for hunting down the Dacian King, Decebalus. As with "The Legionary", what makes this a great book is Peter Connolly's beautifully detailed illustrations. The marriage of a compelling story and great illustrations make "The Cavalryman" a must purchase. Highly recommended.

Connoly's book is a good read that is quick and filled with beautiful illustrations. Details are wonderful, you feel like you are there when you read it. This book guarantees that I will collect the rest in the series.

Michael Huye