Roman Infantry Equipment: The Later Empire

Rating:
Summary: Review
Review: A short but excellent treatment of an obscure and neglected subject. Many historians have fixed the beginning of Rome's decline in the 3d Century A.D., the subject period of Stephenson's work. The internal instability triggered by continuous civil war and external threats by barbarians on the Empire's Western and Eastern frontiers almost brought about Rome's collapse two centuries before it actually occurred. Stephenson provides a detailed account of the 3d century Roman Legionary's equipment and, to a lesser degree, fighting styles. He draws upon archeaological and literary evidence and complements his text with numerous diagrams and color plates. The result is an accurate picture of the legionary during Rome's most turbulent century.

Rating:
Summary: Good work, but can be improved a lot
Review: Mr Stephenson researched the subject with care, and this work is worthy, but there are certain aspects that must be read with care and suspicion. To prove is point of view, Mr. Stephenson, use lots of evidence reporting to the 1st, 2nd and 4th century (either pictorial, archeological or written) but only when it's convenient, otherwise he disregards as anachronistic...a scholar must be scientific. He doesn't explain where he got evidence for that scale over mail armour represented on plates 9 and 11; I've studied extensively the period in question, and never i've walked into iconographic evidence to support the paintings on the plates; shields with an overall thickness of 2 inches(5 cm)???!! Please. I accept the explanation for the breastplates fasteners, but there is no sculpture(even very detailed ones) that shows them in use...probably they weren't so widespread as the author pretends them to be. The "spangelhelm" is one of the most popular helmets of the 3rd century (arch of galerius in tessalonika, artifacts on Rijksmuseum and Museo Chiaramanti, etc,etc) but the author doesn't even mentions it! The comments on the penetration of mail armour should be (almost) disregarded, there are several muslim descriptions that crusaders (armoured with mail in the 11th century) we're almost impervious to their weapons (composite bows) except at extremely short range...and for several centuries, mail was the armour of kings and nobles.

On the positive side, Mr. Stephenson explains very well the new threats that led to the overall changes in the roman infantry, from swordsman to Spearman. He made a good research looking for artifacts like the Gorget (although it certainly wasn't standard equipment), Breastplate fasteners, greaves, combat postures, the decoration of spears, the "standardization" between legionaries and auxilia, etc.

I read this book with interest, and got some new ideas to develop my own research. Like I said, it's a fine book, and Military History needs researchers like Stephenson, but this work needs a considerable revision and a 2nd edition.

Rating:
Summary: Waste of my time and money
Review: The artwork is good for making paperdolls, perhaps. The coverage of helmets is one example of the limited use for this book. It mentions only 3 types of helmets, (even though there are many more dated to this period), and only shows decent photos of one type, (see the cover). The continual repetition of how lorica hamata was useless against most period weapons goes in the face of the fact that it was sought after by the soldiers and worn in battle. Maybe the modern "butted chain" is useless against stabbing and arrows, but riveted and punched chain is not, (modern anachronism like this abound in this book). Save your money and get the Osprey books. I was very disappointed by this one. If you want a better investment, try Southern and Dixon's book "The Late Roman Army" here at Amazon. (ISBN: 0300068433)

Rating:
Summary: Waste of my time and money
Review: The artwork is good for making paperdolls, perhaps. The coverage of helmets is one example of the limited use for this book. It mentions only 3 types of helmets, (even though there are many more dated to this period), and only shows decent photos of one type, (see the cover). The continual repetition of how lorica hamata was useless against most period weapons goes in the face of the fact that it was sought after by the soldiers and worn in battle. Maybe the modern "butted chain" is useless against stabbing and arrows, but riveted and punched chain is not, (modern anachronism like this abound in this book). Save your money and get the Osprey books. I was very disappointed by this one. If you want a better investment, try Southern and Dixon's book "The Late Roman Army" here at Amazon. (ISBN: 0300068433)

Rating:
Summary: Roman Infantry Equipment "the Later Empire" not worth the $
Review: The research is very focused and misses many items in the same plane of study. The focus on only three types of Infantry helmets, the idea that hamata was easily penetrated by arrows, and other limiting concepts are weaknesses in the work, as are the various color drawings of period soldiers. Many anachronistic quotes and examples also keep this from being a work worth spending a great deal of money on, unless you wish to have a complete library of the genre. This is about ISBN 0-7524-1908-0 which may not be the same one listed by Amazon at this time. It was published in 1999 and 2001.
There aren't many better works available, but an Osprey book will be almost as good, with a lot less fluff and expense.

Rating:
Summary: Roman Infantry Equipment "the Later Empire" not worth the $
Review: The research is very focused and misses many items in the same plane of study. The focus on only three types of Infantry helmets, the idea that hamata was easily penetrated by arrows, and other limiting concepts are weaknesses in the work, as are the various color drawings of period soldiers. Many anachronistic quotes and examples also keep this from being a work worth spending a great deal of money on, unless you wish to have a complete library of the genre. This is about ISBN 0-7524-1908-0 which may not be the same one listed by Amazon at this time. It was published in 1999 and 2001.
There aren't many better works available, but an Osprey book will be almost as good, with a lot less fluff and expense.