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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...

Agris helmet

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.

Illyrioi

November 2018: The Illyrian warriors

Illyria was a set of tribes and small kingdoms rather than an Empire of some sorts, like the Thracians and Celts. They wre already known from the Greeks since a long time. Both the Epirotes and Macedonians had to deal with their raids and ambitions of kings such as Agron and Bardilys; the latter almost succeeding to create a united kingdom stretching from the Epirus border to the South to Paonia in the North. There were considerable disparities between Northern and outhern Illyrians and their location. Coastal illyrians used to practice Piracy and their fast and nimble boats were copied by the Hellenistic powers (Lembi) while the Romans adopted the Liburna. The latter were indeed driven to this area to fight queen Teuta over piracy and raiding, and after two wars, eventually subjugated the whole region which was turned into Roman provices. This was significant as the first step towards an overseas "Empire". Illyrian warriors from Dardania, Dalmatia, the Talantians or Ardiaei used a primitive Greek helmet, the aspis, pelta, the celtic wooden oblong shield, and various weapons ranging from the typical Sica to greek and thracian weapons. They even experimented with hoplitic warfare but preferred light troops, ambushes, raids and guerilla warfare in general.

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