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This portal is dedicated to the knowledge of ancient warfare in ancient times, focusing on the early antiquity up to the fall of the Western Roman Empire, roughly 3500 years of warfare. With the help of the best web sources, ancient authors, archaeological evidences, recreations, illustrations, maps, animations, and screenshots from the highly praized Total War video game serie, choosed by history channel (Sega(r) - Creative assembly(r))

Ancient-battles peeks into the ancient "sea peoples" or the achaeans and minoans from the bronze age and homeric times, but also the Mauryan empire and T'sin armies, the steppe peoples, the Celts, as the early, or at the opposite, very late romans, like the western "barbarized" ones, or the Byzantine, "Hellenized" romans. What we know apart the famous "triplex acies" of pre-marian times, triarii, principes, hastati, equites, and velites? Before this was the very early roman army composed of aristocratic cavalry or Celeres, derived from the Etruscan nobility, and a heavy phalanx composed mainly on spearmen by classes, and a reformed army by Dictator and general Marcus Furius Camilius, with six Censes classes, with rorarii, leves and accensii...

casque d'Agris

Two splendid examples of cross-culture in the IVth Century BC, two ceremonial Gallic helmets of the era, widely decorated in Greek and Celtic patterns.

And what we know about the greek classic armies at this time, with hoplites and meprised psiloi and hippiko, and their opponents, the persians, and beyond the sparabara, takabara, kardaka and other troops ? -The greek-city states age became, with the Macedonian rise, the Hellenistic era, which created terms like "phalangitai, hypaspistai, chalkaspidai, argyraspidai, Leucaspidai, akontistai, peltastai, thureophoroi, toxotai, sphendonetai, thorakitai, hetairoi, prodromoi" were known and became a model for all combined army from the Herakles columns to the Indus river... A true encyclopedia of ancient warfare.

Corsican & Sardinian mercenaries

August 2018: Dive into the mysteries of these ancient islanders

Sardinian Archers

There are hundreds of islands throughout the Mediterranean. But a map reveals quickly those who really stand out. Outside the Aegean sea which is dot-erred with small Islands, Cyprus and Crete are the main eastern landmasses in this category. In the center lays Sicily, the largest and most strategic point, the "hinge" of the Mediterranean, controlling access West to East. But in the West, three islands dominated the area between ancient Iberia and Italy. Immediately west of the Ilercavone coast lays the Baleares, home of slingers quite famous in ancient times. They were the best mercenary slingers available to the Carthaginians, and soon entered history. However the Carthaginian also had special interest to other, larger Islands that could control trade between the powerful city-state of Massilia, Iberia, and Italy. These were Corsica and Sardinia. The two islands were rocky stretches of land with central mountain peaks, north to south. Both housed ancient cultures, like the Nuragi (Sardinia) and Korsai (Corsica) civilizations. The Carthaginians eventually settled in the coastal area of these islands and in their wars against Rome, recruited mercenaries among them...

More on the Corso-Sardinians