The Army of Alexander the Great (Men at Arms Series, 148)

Rating:
Summary: An area that desperately needs more researchers!!
Review: The army of Alexander would seem to be an excellent topic for a book. Yet, this is the only one in existence that documents colours as well as weapons/tactics etc. The art is quite superb. A unique book, delving into an area that despeartely needs more researchers!

Rating:
Summary: Some severe problems....
Review: These Osprey books usually are pretty accurate.... But this one is a rare exception. The order-of-battle information is OK, but when it comes to clothes and weapons of Alexander's troops, Sekunda is off in left field. He relies almost exclusively on the so-called "Alexander Sarcophagus". This was carved for a Phoenician client-king by imported Greek artists, and the protrayal of Macedonian troops on it seems to have been strongly affected by old Greek artistic conventions, e.g. "heroic nudity". Sekunda can't quite bring himself to believe that Macedonian infantry fought stark naked, but he does accept other features of these carvings that are strongly contradicted by the literary sources. The worst error is his claim that Alexander's infantry all used the old "Argive" or "hoplite" shield, which would make it impossible for them to use both hands to hold their long pikes. The illustrator has neatly dodged this issue by showing all the Macedonians fighting with only their swords in skirmishing or urban-warfare scenes. If you really want to know how Alexander's troops looked, find a copy of Duncan Head's ARMIES OF THE MACEDONIAN AND PUNIC WARS (1982) with has a much more complete treatment based on a variety of sources.