Customer Reviews

Late Roman Infantryman 236-565 AD

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Do you ever feel frustrated by books which have a lot of illustrations but not sufficient text to explain them? How about books which have plenty of text but lack maps, diagrams, or other illustrations which would really help you understand what the writer is talking about? Well, what I like about the Osprey military books is that they offer a good ballance of text and illustrations which harmonize to convey information to the reader in an efficient and entertaining manner.

This is one of my favorite titles from them. It covers a very fascinating period of transition in Europe -- that of the late Roman Empire. Much of the information in the text is taken from writers who lived around that time, and there are photographs of art works from the period which show us the dress and equipment of the late Roman infantrymen. My only complaint is that these photographs are printed in black & white and are often small, so one can miss much of the spectacular color and detail of these invaluable mosaics and frescos. Printing everything in color would, of course, make the book more expensive, but it still might be worthwhile. Depends on how one looks at it, I suppose. Osprey books do, however, offer a section of full color illustrations in the middle which reconstruct as best as possible the appearance and activities of the troops under study. The color illustrations in this one are superb. They show just how beautiful the uniforms were, and how slick the armor could be in the Roman armies even in the period where everything was declining and falling apart, giving way to a new European order. Though the Dark Ages were coming up, the late Roman period forshadowed aspects of the Medieval period which would bloom like a Phoenix from the ashes of the Dark Ages.

I recommend this title to anyone who is into history or who just enjoys good color illustrations. Those of you who have read my other reviews on Amazon know that I do a lot of research on Arthurian matters, particularly the historical origins of the Arthurian myths. Though this is not a title which focuses on Arthur or even Britain particularly, I still recommend it to anyone who is into Arthurian studies because it covers that general part of the world in roughly the same period.

A very good book about an era that is really fascinating to me. The subject being the change over from the "Classic" era to the start of the "Dark Ages". It is during this time that the Legions change into Field Armies and Garrison Troops because of the pressures of the Barbarians and the ecomonic collaspe of the Empire. (I shall not go into the near constant state of civil wars between the competing thugs, nutters and other sods that wanted to wear the purple.)
The Illustrations alone are worth the price but the text,maps are an added bonus. I have to agree with the other reviewer in the the B/W photos are the only down side of this book. All in all a very good buy for those with a taste for this type of history.

For the novice or the expert, this book gives a nice overview of the transformation of the Roman infantryman from being the heavily-armored core unit of the Imperial Roman army, to the lightly armed auxiliary force of early Byzantine times. As always, the plates in this Osprey book are well done and every attention is paid to getting the details right. A useful list of further reading is included at the end, which is very helpful for those who wish to flesh-out the scanty but tantalizing descriptions in the text with true research material.

All in all, this is a very useful little book and I highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in the military of late antiquity.

I have been interested in this general topic for several years, and have long tried to find a good book on the later Roman army, especially the footsoldiers. Upon the discovery of this book, I had to look no more. This book helped me get rid of some common misconceptions I held, and parts of it introduced me to concepts I had no idea of whatsoever. Using archaeology and Roman literature and artwork, the author paints a detailed picture of the late infantryman's origins, appearance, and experience, tactics, and duties in both war and peace. The soldier is also not portrayed in as negative a light as the later Imperial army usually is; even though the Romans of the 3rd-6th Centuries had fallen so far, their armies could still hold their own against their Sassanid, Germanic, and Hunnish foes. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the late Roman army.

As with all the Osprey series, this book is a good teaser. It lacks the expanded detail to be a good resource. However, it is brief enough, with enough visual information to spark interest for further research. This one c ould be avoided for those looking into the earlier period of it, as it concentrates on the 5/6 Centuries.