An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Uniforms of the Roman World

by Kevin F. Kiley

This title details the uniforms of the Roman army and its enemies, from the first decades of tribal warfare in Italy, through the republican and imperial periods, up to the end of the eastern Roman Empire.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Reference

256 pages, Hardcover

First published October 16, 2012

Reviews

[Déclán Sebastián Emmons · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful illustrations, kind of focused a little too much on illustrating period leaders which didn't seem like the focus of the book, but otherwise great read!

[Rob · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice pictures. However, the content was extremely repetitive and very dry. Pretty sure most topics were repeated 3 times throughout the book. I also wish there had been more diagrams depicting battles mapped to images of relevant uniforms. Or physical maps of Europe and the uniforms depicted in certain regions. Hard to follow the text and relevant images.

My advice if you already have this book - look only at the photos and related captions.

[Hilmi Isa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seperti yang jelas dinyatakan di dalam tajuk bukunya yang panjang,buku ini memfokuskan kepada uniform/pakaian dan peralatan ketenteraan yang digunapakai oleh tentera Rom melalui gambar dan ilustrasi yang sangat cantik dan menarik untuk diperhatikan. Menariknya,penulis,Kevin F. Kiley,tidak mengehadkan kajiannya kepada satu-satu era sahaja. Sebaliknya,penulis membawa pembaca untuk meneliti setiap zaman semenjak penubuhan Rom itu sendiri sehinggalah pada kejatuhan Rom Timur melalui tertawannya kota Constantinople di tangan kerajaan Turki Uthmaniyyah. Selain memberikan apakah elemen-elemen yang menpengaruhi sistem pemakaian dan peralatan tentera yang digunakan,penulis turut membincangkan evolusi yang berlaku yang menunjukkan perubahan yang sangat ketara sekiranya dibandingkan tentera Rom yang dulu dan baru.

Tambah menarik,penulis turut memberikan perhatian kepada musuh-musuh kerajaan Rom seperti Carthage,Gaul,Hun,Parsi,Arab dan Turki. Ini dilakukan secara ringkas dan sampingan sahaja namun tetap memberikan maklumat yang berguna.

[Bonnie_blu · Rating 1 out of 5]

Although the illustrations are beautiful, they are loaded with inaccuracies. In addition, the illustrations of famous Romans do not look like their authenticated sculptures. Also, the text is basically the same material repeated over and over again, and it too contains many inaccuracies. Anyone who wants to learn about the "uniforms" of ancient Rome and its enemies should look elsewhere.

[Anibal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since the eighties I don't remember any attempt to provide a comprehensive and complete visual guide of Roman military personnel and their enemies in one book. The WRG books gave a quick overview of the armies, battles and history providing dozens of simple line drawings. It was a great product for the time and many wargamers used it.

The author intelligently realized that there was no recent product to fill those needs; in more than thirty years there was nothing to substitute the very old WRG titles. Of course there are hundreds of titles which provide good illustrations, but nothing as comprehensive as the above mentioned books.

The production values of this book are of the highest standard with high quality pages, hard cover, very good coverage of all relevant time periods of roman history, and no big lacunas of Roman enemies or allies. The art work is truly amazing and congratulations are in order to Tom Croft, Simon Smith and Mathew Vince; obviously we must also commend the author which most probably provided valuable information and explanations to the artists. For that reason this book should be a must buy for modelers, wargamers, miniature painters, cinema and television art designers, etc.

Unfortunately this beautiful book has severe weaknesses that make it impossible for me to give the five stars that I believe a corrected and revised next edition will achieve. The mistakes in the text are indeed many and I will only mention a few illustrative examples.

- There are mistakes in naming places (like Vindobona that is refered as Vindabona in page 6 for example), persons, etc.;
- There are severe contradictions (like for example the hoplite formation sometimes being originally influenced by Etruscans others by Greeks (page 20/21); or the fact that in the text in page 34 Phillip the Arab was killed in action in 249, and exactly in the next sentence states that Decius is the first Roman emperor to be killed in action in 251);
- Photographs captions (the figures in the page 24 picture certainly doesn't show legionaries; the sashes mark them as officers, probably tribunes);
- Dates like the deeds of Agrippa (he died in 11BC it's impossible for him to have built anything in 25 AD) or the siege of Syracuse (it was fought between 214-212 BC, not 213-211 BC);
- Repeated mistakes like defending that there were 7 Etruscan kings in the Roman monarchical period, in fact according to tradition only 3 were Etruscans;
- Big, big mistakes like Carthaginian settlements in places like Madeira! I'm Portuguese and I can assure everyone that there is no Carthaginian settlement in Madeira. Probably the most ghastly mistake is where the author states that Sassanid's invade SPAIN in page 44! Confusing Caucasian Iberia with Hispania (today's Iberian Peninsula).

Those are just examples, there are many more. Although the illustrations are excellent they also have some flaws (I'm quite aware that it would be almost impossible to make hundreds of images without any mistakes). Here goes some needing correction: Sulla was blond; I'm not aware of any roman crossguard like the one portrayed in Constantine sword; the Vercingetorix image is the only illustration based on completely anachronistic material, it's clearly out of place (he probably wouldn't have such long hair, nor use La Tene bronze armor), the imaginifer of 2nd, 3rd cent on page 146 is carrying an imago of Julius Caesar which died in 44 BC, he should be using the imago of the current emperor).

This can become an iconic book for many target groups, but it needs a new revised edition; which I'm waiting expectantly so I can give a well deserved 5 stars to this project.

[Adrienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book, but it needs more maps.