Ancient Warfare Podcast

The team discusses magazine issue X.3, Warfare in the Age of Homer, on how the Trojan War stood to Greeks and Romans as the beginning of all warfare and the standard for expected male behaviour.

Watching the trailer for the 2026 film The Odyssey, John notices that Corinthian and Chalcidian helmets, styles from centuries after the Trojan War's usual thirteenth or twelfth century BC date, keep appearing on its warriors.

Listener Rick wonders whether there are other examples of gaining entry to a city using something like the Trojan horse, or other ingenious methods of getting inside a besieged city.

With Cezary Kucewicz, Philip Lindsay Powell

The team looks at Ancient Warfare Magazine VIII.2, on the Ionian Greeks, noting that outside Attica, Ionians lived on Euboea and the Cyclades, and settled in the central part of the west coast of Asia Minor.

With Paul Bardunias

The team discusses magazine issue XVI.2, The Coming of the Hoplite, on the changes across the seventh through fifth centuries BC that led to the fully developed 'Classical' Greek hoplite phalanx of shields, spears and bronze.

With Josho Brouwers

Jasper and the team are joined by Josho Brouwers to discuss warfare in Archaic Greece, covering the phalanx, how it might have functioned, the suitability of the geography for this kind of fighting, and why the cities fought one another.

The team discusses magazine issue 106, Greece in the late Archaic period, asking who fought in bronze helmets, greaves, armour and bronze-faced shields, next to whom, and how.

The team discusses magazine issue XIV.4, The Greco-Persian Wars, on how by the late sixth century BC it had become clear that the expanding Persian Empire and the Greek city states of Asia and the Aegean would soon collide.

With Michael Livingston, Myke Cole

Jasper and Murray discuss Michael Livingston and Myke Cole's new book The Killing Ground: A Biography of Thermopylae, on the pass where, since the dawn of the Classical Era to World War II, thousands died fighting.

The team discusses magazine issue XVII.4, on how, after the Persians were defeated at Salamis and Plataea and withdrew from the Greek mainland, the war was far from over as the Greeks went on the offensive.

To celebrate the podcast's 300th episode, Murray tackles the big question of what really happened at the battle of Marathon, a listener question whose asker he has since forgotten.

A listener named Andrew wonders why the Greeks did not attack Persian engineers building the pontoon bridge across the Hellespont during the Second Persian Invasion, and whether they missed a chance to destroy it.

Following an earlier episode where the team discussed the Greco-Persian war, Maxnet asks which ancient source Murray was quoting regarding the Battle of Marathon, and Murray explains his sources.

Patron Ian asks which was the fastest army in the ancient world travelling overland, noting Herodotus records the Spartan relief force covering roughly 150 kilometres in 3 days racing to Marathon.

With Owen Rees, Roel Konijnendijk

With Roel Konijnendijk

Josho, Murray and Lindsay are joined by Roel Konijnendijk to discuss issue VII.5 on the March of the Ten Thousand, documented by Xenophon, a young Athenian expatriate who rose to senior command among the Hellenic survivors of Cyrus' mercenary army.

With Owen Rees, Roel Konijnendijk

The team looks at Ancient Warfare Magazine IX.2, The ascendancy of Thebes, on how Thebes had finally ascended to its place of power and control in the Hellenic world, needing only to learn from the mistakes that Sparta had made.

With Robert L. O'Connell

Murray chats with author Robert L. O'Connell about his new 2026 book Band on the Run, which explores the March of the 10,000 and Xenophon's Anabasis.

The team discusses magazine issue 101, City-States in an Arms Race, on how Greek city-states sought money, power and victory in the decades after the Peloponnesian War tore up existing alliances.

Jay asks Murray to judge between Demosthenes, whom he calls criminally underrated among historians because Thucydides records several of his clever tactics, and Thrasybulus, weighing both against the greater fame of Alcibiades and Pericles.

Christopher asks what Epaminondas of Thebes looked like, noting the strangeness that statues or busts of the general have not been found, and wondering whether that traces back to Alexander razing Thebes to the ground.

Samuel asks about Athenian archers at the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, whom Thucydides lists in significant numbers in 431, questioning their equipment, citizen status, and whether they served aboard triremes or in garrisons.

After rereading Thucydides, GC asks about the fire-signal exchange between attackers and the Plataeans, who displayed prepared signals of their own to render the enemy's warning signals to Thebes unintelligible.

James asks whether Spartan society recognised the decline of its soldier numbers from 10,000 to under 2,000, following defeat by Thebes and growing economic concentration, as a problem, and why efforts to reverse it failed.

Patron Greg asks how widespread the use of Hamippoi was in 5th BC Greece.

Samuel notes that Xenophon records the Skiritai as part of a Spartan army foray into Boeotia in the mid-370s, and asks how they fit into Spartan society, their battlefield roles, and how they were armed.

The team discusses magazine issue 108, Alexander Ascendant: The Battle of Gaugamela, on how, having captured the Mediterranean ports and been welcomed as a god in Egypt, Alexander turned east to defeat Darius once and for all.

The team discusses magazine issue XVI.6, Alexander versus Darius, on how the king of Macedon, at just 20, spent two years securing his northern borders and Greece before crossing the Hellespont in 334 to invade Achaemenid Persia.

A listener named tadejtomic1943 asks what army Alexander Molossus commanded in his Italian campaigns, how many men it held, whether the Macedonian Phalanx first fought there, and his ultimate goal in Italy.

A listener who built a wargame scenario asks about the scythed chariots at the Battle of Gaugamela, questioning their numbers, the frontage they could cover, and how the phalanx let them through harmlessly.

Matt from North Carolina asks for an explanation of what an oblique phalanx was and how it was used in war by Alexander the Great.

Murray answers two listener questions on the Battle of the Hydaspes: how many Macedonian and Indian casualties it produced, and whether the fight against King Porus was even real, asking whether any Indian sources agree it took place.

Revisiting Alexander's encounter with scythed chariots, the episode weighs whether they were better used against cavalry or lighter infantry, and whether a listener's claim that drivers dismounted before impact holds up.

Valentine, referencing the article 'Men you can Trust,' asks why no foreign invader tried to take Macedonia while the bulk of Alexander's army was in Asia and India.

Jsoth asks why the sarissa-wielding Macedonian phalanx struggled and even lost ground against Darius' mercenary Greeks during the battle of Issus, despite an expected advantage from its longer spears.

Murray ponders why Macedonian casualty figures were reported so low, and how enemy casualty figures were calculated at all, asking whether anyone actually counted the dead Persian bodies after battle.

Juan asks whether the Macedonian armies of Philip and Alexander, almost invincible in their own time, were uniquely competent, or whether it was the commanders who came after Alexander who simply could not measure up.

Daniel asks about a letter Plutarch records from Anaxarchus to Alexander describing worlds innumerable, and whether it contradicts, or anticipates, the familiar story that Alexander wept for having no more worlds left to conquer.

Curt asks whether Alexander the Great's army introduced Pankration to India, and whether it could have contributed to the later spread of martial arts from India to China and other Asian countries.

Curt wonders why Alexander the Great did not look westwards, toward Rome, during his conquests, prompting Murray to work through a series of what-ifs.

Rich asks Murray whether as much is known about Philippian and Alexandrian Macedonian army weapons production as about Roman legionary manufacturing, given how many 16-foot-long sarissa shafts and spear points it required.

Juan asks whether Philip and Alexander's pike phalanx troops were uniquely competent and trained, given that later 'Macedonian' style armies seem hit and miss, or whether their later commanders just were not as good.

Manvir asks whether Alexander could have convinced his men to press further into India, whether fear of facing war elephants was a reason his army turned back, and whether this was reflective of poor morale.

The team discusses the latest magazine issue on Hellenistic mercenary armies in Southern Italy, where Tarentum, possibly a Spartan colony, called in outside help when pressured first by its Italic neighbours and then by Rome itself.

Jasper, Josho, Michael and Lindsay discuss issue VI 6 on the Celts in the classical world, focusing on the likely too-good-to-be-true tradition that a chieftain named Brennus sacked both Rome and Greece, albeit in different centuries.

With Marc de Santis

With Marc de Santis

The team discusses Ancient Warfare Magazine XII.4, on how the first decades of the Hellenistic era are known for the ever-growing warships of the Ptolemies, though naval warfare was not only about who had the biggest ships.

With Michael Park

The team looks at issue XIV.1, Crucible of Empires: Warfare in Hellenistic Asia Minor, on how, after Alexander the Great's fall, the Successors set to work carving out kingdoms of their own, with Asia Minor an important proving ground.

With Marc de Santis

With Marc de Santis, Seán Hußmann

With Michael Taylor, Michael Park, Murray Dahm

The team discusses the issue Invasion of the Celts: how, after two decades of war, Alexander's successors found a delicate balance until Ptolemy's wayward son destabilised it and the Celts grabbed their chance; the issue covers Brennus' campaign into Greece.

Jasper, Michael, Lindsay and Josho look at Pyrrhus, second cousin to Alexander the Great, who at age two began his career as a penniless exile after his father was dethroned, and rose to become King of Epirus, Macedon and Sicily.

Jasper, Murray, Michael and Lindsay discuss the post-Alexander Hellenistic world, covering uniforms and their possible colours, Ross Cowans article on the use of low-tech improvised weapons, and the Amphipolis regulation on Macedonian army discipline.

Murray examines whether armies really set pigs alight to panic war elephants, tracing the claim to a single account of Antigonus II Gonatas at the siege of Megara and questioning its reliability.

Miles asks what armour Macedonian and late Hellenistic Phalangites wore, whether lighter equipment like the linothorax gave way to heavier metal armour over time, and if not, whether it is known why.

Josh asks whether the Hellenistic and Successor period had recruiting grounds as specific as Roman units such as Legio IX Hispana, beyond names like Cretan archers and Tarantine cavalry that likely became generic unit types.

Carlos asks what units or ideas, beyond elephants, the Hellenistic kingdoms adopted from the peoples of the lands they ruled, wondering specifically whether they fielded horse-archer units.

A listener asks whether the supposed decline in the quality of Hellenistic cavalry is genuine or exaggerated, given that it reportedly remained elite well into the Roman conquest of the Hellenistic kingdoms.

Ralph Kirby asks whether the Polybolas, used by both the Successor Macedonian states and Rome, could be considered the least influential weapon of the ancient battlefield, arguing it may have replaced the Scorpio.

With Marc de Santis

With Owen Rees

Gregorio Gariglio asks what really happened at the Battle of Pydna and whether the casualty figures the ancient sources give us for that battle are correct.

Murray answers a twelve-year-old fan from Italy asking how many casualties there really were at Magnesia, where Roman sources claim 53,000 Seleucid dead against only 350 Romans.

A listener asks why the Successor Kingdoms' Generals commanded companion cavalry that, though it seemed to be the premier cavalry of its age and instrumental against the Persian empire, faired so poorly against the inferior Roman cavalry.

With Marc de Santis, Philip Lindsay Powell, Myke Cole

With Roel Konijnendijk

Murray talks with Roel Konijnendijk about how 19th-century German language scholars such as Moltke, Delbrück, Kochly and Rustow's foundations for understanding Classical Greek warfare were only seriously challenged in the late 20th century.

With Marc de Santis, Myke Cole

With Myke Cole

Murray and Mark discuss Myke Cole's book The Bronze Lie with the author, examining Spartan arms, armour, tactics, commanders and common soldiers, with particular focus on under-publicized Spartan defeats left largely unexamined.

With Stephen DeCasien

Murray and Jasper are joined by nautical archaeology PhD candidate Stephen DeCasien to discuss rams on ships, drawing on his academic focus on Greek and Roman maritime history, naval warfare and warships.

With James Romm

Murray and Mark talk to James Romm about his book The Sacred Band, on three hundred Greek lovers fighting to save Greek freedom, a story previously suppressed by Xenophon, who mistrusted male eros.

A listener from Brisbane asks how the Greek hoplite phalanx kept a cohesive front while advancing over uneven terrain full of trees, bushes and obstacles, and reformed once disrupted.

Chris asks how much Homer can be trusted, and whether there are good corroborating accounts that verify or contextualise what he wrote.

Uygar asks why ancient armies, especially Greek phalanx-heavy ones, fielded relatively few ranged units like archers and slingers compared to line infantry, and how armies decided the right ratio.

Were the Theban Sacred Band trained to target officers? Murray gives the answer.

A listener named @tadejtomic1943 asks when the classical Greek hoplite, the iconic heavily armed infantryman, ceased to exist, and what replaced him as ancient warfare evolved, drawing on historical sources and archaeology.

A listener known as @mrookeward asks Murray to explore some of the tropes, or not tropes, for military uniforms, such as the Spartan lambda shield device or ancient Egyptian headwear.

Responding to comments on recent episodes about heavy infantry, especially the Macedonian phalanx, Murray looks at where light-armed troops appear, or fail to appear, in ancient battle accounts.

Patron Celtic Ace asks how the phalanx came about, prompting Murray to trace its origins on his own this week.

J.Soth asks how cataphracts, Thessalian cavalry, companion cavalry and similar forces managed shock tactics without stirrups or other knightly equipment.

Following Murray's discussion of Athenian archers in AWA 397, Tim asks whether Cretan archers were truly better than other archers, similar to Belearic slingers, or whether that is just wargaming tradition.

Richard asks whether Greek and Roman soldiers ever fought wearing their cloaks or chlamys, and whether warriors sometimes went into battle barefoot, prompting a look at what the evidence shows.

A listener named Damien from Tasmania asks whether there is evidence for a standard padded garment worn under armour by non-Roman armies, or whether it came down to individual choice.

In this episode, Murray tells us about the development of the Macedonian phalanx.

A listener asks whether heavy, armoured troops were consistently more effective than missile-armed light troops, reflecting that European armies rarely seem to have been decimated by light forces, Carrhae a rare exception, and wondering whether this is an accurate memory.

Bill asks how long the Macedonian sarissa really was, noting he has often read twenty feet and sometimes longer.

Lubos asks why the Greek phalanx proved so ineffective against the Romans, wondering whether it was simply obsolete or whether Greek generals failed to evolve their tactics against Roman maniples.

Greg asks how much military intelligence the ancients actually used, noting examples of espionage and intel gathered through xenoi relationships in the Greek world, and how dependent this was on a commander's personality.

Jörn asks how different an ancient Greek city-state's hoplite phalanx really was from a Germanic shield wall, prompting a look at their tactical similarities, differences, and the societies that produced each.

Jacob wonders whether field artillery was ever used against a Macedonian-style phalanx, arguing its close formation and immobility should have left it extremely susceptible to scorpion or ballista fire, and if not, why not.

Jonathan asks what the standard depth of a hoplite line was, having repeatedly seen eight ranks mentioned, and whether other depths were also used.

A listener asks how the Macedonian phalanx reacted if cavalry attacked it, and whether it had a specific tactic developed to hold off cavalry assaults.

In this episode, Murray ponders the question of why Sparta adopted the Macedonian Phalanx.

A listener named Nathan asks who the Thureophoroi were, where they were from, and how they fought.

J.Soth asks how ancient Greek cavalry, including Thessalian diamond-formation charges, companion cavalry melees and Numidian light cavalry, managed such intense action without stirrups or modern saddle technology.

A listener asks how Greek and Roman soldiers, well-armoured elsewhere, protected the tops of their feet from injury, prompting a look at what ancient sources and archaeology reveal about footwear and combat.