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This book looks at the armies fielded by the many different Hellenistic powers, from the Macedonian armies of Philip II and Alexander to the far flung armies of the Indo-Greek kingdom. The world created by the collapse of Alexander the Great’s empire lasted for three centuries before finally being conquered by the Romans and Parthians, and even during their decline the main Hellenistic powers could still field powerful armies.
The same author has produced a series of similar ‘armies of’ books, but I think this is the best of them. Some of the others tend to fall into the trap of turning into a narrative history of the wars fought by the armies being studies instead of a look at the structure of the army itself, but that isn’t the case here. Instead each chapter looks at one of the armies of the period, examining its structure, troop types and equipment, and how they changed over time.
A nice feature of the book is that it covers a wider range of armies than is often the case, going beyond the big three powers of Macedonia, the Seleucids and Ptolomaic Egypt to cover later powers like Pontus and the Attalids, as well as the last independent armies of the Greek cities, and even the Greco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek kingdoms, at the far east of the Hellenstic World.
As with the other books in this series the text is supported by excellent photographs of modern re-enactors, which illustrate the many and varied troop types known to have existed in this period. The book is lavishy illustrated, with colour photos on almost every page, including some good maps.
The result is an excellent, colourful guide to the many and varied armies of the Hellenistic World.
Chapters
1 – The Military Revolution of Philip of Macedon
2 – The Macedonian Army of Alexander the Great
3 – The Succession to Alexander and the Wars of the Diadochi
4 – The Wars of the Hellenistic World
5 – The Armies of the Early Successors
6 – The Antigonid Army
7 – The Ptolemaic Army
8 – The Seleucid Army
9 – The Attalid Army
10 – Hellenistic Anatolia
11 – Pontus, Armenia and the Bosporan Kingdom
12 – The Epirote Army
13 – The Greek Cities
14 – Hellenistic Israel
15 – The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and the Indo-Greek Kingdom
Author: Gabriele Esposito
Edition: Hardcover
Pages: 176
Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
Year: 2019