The Armies of Ptolemaic Egypt -First Impressions

 

More properly The Armies of Ptolemaic Egypt - Cleruchs, Mercenaries and Machimoi by Stéphane Thion. New and expanded and in English for the first time. A book then, from Helion.  Why First Impressions? Because there is an awful lot here. I cannot hope to review with justice the scholarship therein. Space prohibits it.

I can say if you fancy doing a Ptolemaic Army this book will see you alright  for the early, middle and last armies. The page count is 151, a paper back with 30 pages of full colour  illustrations by the author. 

The style is reminiscent of the old WRG books if your memory stretches that far. The illustrations are first rate and the product of diligent research. Mind you, conjecture finds its place too.  You see two plates from the book on this page.

For example we have a page showing the colours of soldiers chitons and chlamydes (tunics and cloaks) incredibly useful.

There are other photographs and black and white drawings of surviving depictions and reconstructions of the Ptolemaic soldiers. You can see some of mine on this page.

Here are the chapter headings ignoring the dedication (to Angus McBride) acknowledgements, sources and intro etc.

The Ptolemaic Dynasty

Main Components of the Ptolemaic Army

Organisation of the Ptolemaic Army in the Third Century BCE

Ptolemaic Army in Battle Gaza, Raphia and Panion

The Transformation of the Ptolemaic Army in the second century BCE

The Fall the first century BCE

Military and Civilian Dress

An opponent of the Ptolemaic Dynasty: The Jewish Army of the Second and First Century BCE

Conclusion and Appendix: Numbered and ethnic evidence of hipparchies.

I paid less than £20 for my copy including postage. Money well spent. If you are interested in the Diadochi or Ptolemaic Egypt this book will not disappoint.

We will be back at Balaclava next week.

Raw Generals and Green Soldiers-A Review

 

I first came across Padraig Lenihan's work decades ago when I bought a copy of his Catholic Confederates at War.  

I recall there was minor confusion at the time with some expecting a tome on Dixie. Lenihan's Confederates were of course the Armies of the Irish Confederation in the War of Three Kingdoms. No Emerald Guard or Louisiana Tigers then. 

I found Catholic Confederates at War interesting but something big was missing.  I still have my copy.  In Raw Generals and Green Soldiers he offers a retrospective explanation. Here we go:

" Thirty years ago, when I wrote Catholic Confederates at War, I was certain that class was the key to unlocking the meaning of the 1641 rising." 

He continues "Today I would give more weight to recent experience of official expropriation and to religion, a bitter grievance in itself, and a badge of convenience for other issues."

Quite so and who knew? Not to mention the ongoing destruction of the native legal and social structure. To put it plain Ireland was in the process of becoming an imperial colony and the majority of the Irish of all classes resolved to resist that outcome. We might call this context.

Enough of that then. To Raw Generals and Green Soldiers, which is rather good.

Should you want a handy volume to introduce you to the Confederate War this is it. While maintaining a national overview Lenihan gives us tasty chunks of local detail. The footnotes and bibliography bespeak of a serious endeavour.  They are also very useful should you wish to pursue the subject further.

Obviously this is a relatively slim volume compared to the hefty books of old.  There must have been hard choices for the author on what to include and exclude.  What he gives us is accessible and well written.

Not least of Raw Generals and Green Soldiers attractions are 8 colour plates. these are by Seán Ó Brógain and are very good indeed.  If you want to know how the soldiers of the Confederacy looked Seán shows you here. Think Trews not Breeches. 

Should you have wondered Khurasan Miniatures capture it best.  Even then you will have to press some Tyrone's War Irish Light Cavalry into the ranks to best represent the Irish cavalry. Not an ideal match but close. I'd like to think Peter Pig would do an Irish Lancer based on Seán's illustration.

There are black and white illustrations too. This sort of thing below is very good.

A useful book to have if you are interested in the period. Published by Helion and widely available as far as I can ascertain.

Next week we are back in the Sudan.