Roman siege warfare / Joshua Levithan.

By:

Levithan, Josh, 1976-

Material type: Text

TextPublisher: Ann Arbor, [Michigan] : University of Michigan Press, [2013]Description: 1 online resourceContent type:

text

Media type:

computer

Carrier type:

online resource

ISBN:

9780472029495
0472029495

Subject(s): Genre/Form:

Additional physical formats: Print version:: Roman siege warfareDDC classification:

355.4/40937 23

LOC classification:

UG443

Other classification:

HIS002020 | HIS027000

Online resources:

Click here to access online

Contents:

1. Introduction; 2. The Moral Contexts of Siege Warfare; 3. The Siege Progression; 4. The Republic; 5. Siege Warfare in Caesar's Commentaries; 6. Josephus and the Siege of Jerusalem; 7. Siege Warfare in Ammianus Marcellinus; Epilogue: The Sack; Bibliography; Index.

Summary: "Roman siege warfare had its own structure and customs, and expectations both by the besieged and by the attacking army. Sieges are typically sorted by the techniques and technologies that attackers used, but the more fruitful approach offered in Roman Siege Warfare examines the way a siege follows or diverges from typical narrative and operational plotlines. Author Josh Levithan emphasizes the human elements--morale and motivation--rather than the engineering, and he recaptures the sense of a siege as an event in progress that offers numerous attitudes, methods, and outcomes. Sieges involved a concentration of violent effort in space and the practical challenge posed by a high wall: unlike field battles they were sharply defined in time, in space, and in operational terms. Chapters examine motivation and behavior during a siege and focus on examples from both the Roman Republic and the Empire: Polybius, Livy, Julius Caesar, Flavius Josephus, and Ammianus Marcellinus. Levithan examines the "gadgetary turn," during which writers began to lavish attention on artillery and wall-damaging techniques, fetishizing technology and obscuring the centrality of the assault and of human behavior. This volume speaks to classicists and historians of all stripes. All passages are translated, and references are accessible to nonspecialists. Military historians will also find much of interest in the volume, in its treatment both of Roman military conduct and of wider military practice"-- Provided by publisher

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Includes bibliographical references (pages 229-238) and index.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher.

"Roman siege warfare had its own structure and customs, and expectations both by the besieged and by the attacking army. Sieges are typically sorted by the techniques and technologies that attackers used, but the more fruitful approach offered in Roman Siege Warfare examines the way a siege follows or diverges from typical narrative and operational plotlines. Author Josh Levithan emphasizes the human elements--morale and motivation--rather than the engineering, and he recaptures the sense of a siege as an event in progress that offers numerous attitudes, methods, and outcomes. Sieges involved a concentration of violent effort in space and the practical challenge posed by a high wall: unlike field battles they were sharply defined in time, in space, and in operational terms. Chapters examine motivation and behavior during a siege and focus on examples from both the Roman Republic and the Empire: Polybius, Livy, Julius Caesar, Flavius Josephus, and Ammianus Marcellinus. Levithan examines the "gadgetary turn," during which writers began to lavish attention on artillery and wall-damaging techniques, fetishizing technology and obscuring the centrality of the assault and of human behavior. This volume speaks to classicists and historians of all stripes. All passages are translated, and references are accessible to nonspecialists. Military historians will also find much of interest in the volume, in its treatment both of Roman military conduct and of wider military practice"-- Provided by publisher

English.

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