The Seleucid Army: Organization and Tactics in the Great Campaigns

Cambridge Classical Studies

by Bezalel Bar-Kochva

This is a 1976 study of the organization and tactics of the Seleucid armies from 312 to 129 BC. The first part of the book discusses the numerical strength of the armies, their sources of manpower, the contingents of the regular army, their equipment and historical development, the chain of command, training and discipline. The second part reconstructs the great campaigns in order to examine the Seleucid tactics. The book provides a lesson in Hellenistic and military history and discusses several how did the Hellenistic armies develop after Alexander? What distinguished the Seleucid army as superior to its Hellenistic contemporaries? The answers illuminate the expansion of Hellenism as we learn how the Seleucid army was used as a military, social and cultural instrument to impose the rule of the dynasty over the vast regions of the Empire and how it helped to shape Hellenistic society in the East.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ancient History

318 pages, Hardcover

First published May 28, 1976

Reviews

[Troy Goodfellow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Targeting a knowledgeable audience, Bar-Kochva's book is a thorough and dispassionate account of how the Seleucids organized and managed their vast armies across half a continent. The second half of the book is comprised of battle summaries drawing from all known sources, trying to reconcile contradictions with the conclusions drawn in the first half of the book.

My edition, however, has a very poor typeface - like someone banged the book out on a typewriter in 1970 and just bound the pages together. This makes reading a little more uncomfortable than I would expect from a Cambridge University Press publication.

[Volodymyr Kramskyi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good starting point for everyone interested in the Seleucid military history. The book is well structured and conveys the opinion of the author in a quite clear way. Contains both description of most notorious military institutions of the Seleucid empire and largest battles, in which it army participated. The author also provides an interesting approach to the explanation of the "argiraspides" corps' role.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE book to go to for an understanding of the Selecuid military.