Author: Don Taylor
Softcover (6.2×9.2 inches). 216 pages. 2022 reprint of 2016 book.
Subtitle: A Compendium of Battles From 31 BC to AD 565
Back in 2000, Greenhill Books published Battles of the Greek and Roman Worlds by John Montagu that offered encyclopedia-like entries of 667 battles up to 31 BC (BCE), including 33 black and white maps and battle plans. Roman Empire at War duplicates the format, bringing the chronology forward to 565 AD (CE) and concentrating on only the Roman Empire battles. Indeed, even the “battle plans” are identical in format — colored rectangles and bars on minimalist (if any) terrain.
The 243 battles (p46 to p187) begin after a nice overview of the changes to the Roman Army and Navy over the centuries and a discussion about the who’s who in ancient sources.
Each battle description consists of a short recap and the ancient text sources used as well as 37 black and white maps scattered through the descriptions. Only the major battles are listed, so this book might be a good place to start if you heard about a battle and wanted just a smidgen more information.
A couple typos (p85): the commander “Thorismund” in the text is “Torismund” in the accompanying map, and later in the page, “ecentre” has an extra “e” at the beginning of the word.
Troop numbers are often representative instead of actual in ancient texts, so the numbers have been omitted in the book. Taylor makes no attempt at “intense analysis” — this is straight up “harmonizing” and summarizing of ancient authors’ accounts (p vii).
I read through the first half of the book and the consistency is quite good, although I would be remiss not to mention that 25 years of internet expansion make these Wikipedia-like entries a bit quaint. That said, this is still going on my bookshelf next to Battles of the Greek and Roman Worlds as a paper reference of battles through to 565 AD (CE).
Enjoyed it.
–Reviewed by Russ Lockwood
