THE ART OF SIEGE WARFARE

Abstract

determining how sieges may have unfolded. In Chapter 12, ‘Roman Military Communities and the Families of Auxiliary Soldiers’, E.M. Greene focuses on the social side of Roman military life in the first and second centuries AD: more specifically, she provides a complete analysis of the role of families in camp life in Roman Britain and German provinces. In combining archaeological, epigraphic and literary sources, Greene stresses the importance of women and families, often neglected ‘actors’ in Roman military history, and offers a new way of understanding the material evidence found in military settings. Chapter 13, ‘Approaching “Ethnic” Communities in the Roman Auxilia’ by A. Meyer, focuses on the ‘ethnic’ composition of Roman auxilia, arguing against the traditional view that auxiliary units lost their ‘ethnic’ character by the end of the first century AD. In fact, according toMeyer, epigraphic evidence seems to show that tribally based groups persisted among Roman auxilia and continued to express their own identity in order to self-identify as a group. In the final Chapter, ‘Health, Wounds, and Medicine in the Late Roman Army (250– 600 CE)’, P. Rance prudently approaches the written sources relating to medical provision and personnel in Roman armies from the late third to the early seventh centuries, a period in which archaeological and epigraphic evidence is sparse, in part as a result of the distinction between limitanei and comitatenses and of the subsequent demise of large-scale valetudinaria. Rance points out an apparent substantial continuity in institutional treatment of soldiers’ wounds and health in the late Roman army, even if much remains obscure and future inquiry is needed. By assembling an interesting collection of contributions devoted to a wide range of topics often neglected by previous studies, the major merit of this volume is to bring to the attention of the (not only scholarly) public the possibilities involved in merging old and new approaches in the fascinating field of ancient warfare studies. Except in a few cases, in fact, novelty can be detected in the approaches and methodologies adopted by the various contributors, more than in the outcomes of their essays. Although many of the contributions are based on predominantly English scholarship, the references provide an excellent starting point for further studies of specific topics, also thanks to the bibliographical updates made throughout the publication work. In addition, the brief suggestions for further reading are particularly useful, as it enables non-experts and students to get deeper into the topic.