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The Nisibis War 337 - 363: The Defence of the Roman East AD 337-363 PDF

243 Pages·2016·13.91 MB·English
by  Harrel
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To the men and women of the California Army National Guard and the 40th Infantry Division, who, in the twenty-first century, have marched, fought, and died in the footsteps of the legions II Parthia, Joviani, and Herculiani. First published in Great Britain in 2016 by Pen & Sword Military an imprint of Pen & Sword Books Ltd 47 Church Street Barnsley South Yorkshire S70 2AS Copyright © John S. Harrel 2016 ISBN: 978 1 47384 830 6 PDF ISBN: 978 1 47384 833 7 EPUB ISBN: 978 1 47384 831 3 PRC ISBN: 978 1 47384 832 0 The right of John S. Harrel to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing. Typeset in Ehrhardt by Mac Style Ltd, Bridlington, East Yorkshire Printed and bound in the UK by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CRO 4YY Pen & Sword Books Ltd incorporates the imprints of Pen & Sword Archaeology, Atlas, Aviation, Battleground, Discovery, Family History, History, Maritime, Military, Naval, Politics, Railways, Select, Transport, True Crime, and Fiction, Frontline Books, Leo Cooper, Praetorian Press, Seaforth Publishing and Wharncliffe. For a complete list of Pen & Sword titles please contact PEN & SWORD BOOKS LIMITED 47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2AS, England E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk Contents List of Maps List of Diagrams and Illustrations List of Photographs Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1 The Nisibis War (337–363): Thesis, Sources, and Methodology Chapter 2 Background of the Nisibis War Chapter 3 The Military Aspects of the Geography The Mid-Fourth Century Roman Army and the Strategic Defence of the Chapter 4 East Chapter 5 The Persian Army and the Strategic Offence Chapter 6 Roman Active Defence, 337–350 Chapter 7 Stalemate in Persia 350–358 From the Hopeless Depths of Misery to the Height of Power: The Failure Chapter 8 of Caesar Gallus Chapter 9 Usurpation and Crisis: Campaign in the West 350–355 Caesar Julian: ‘An Emperor in Strategy, a Commander in Tactics, a Hero Chapter 10 in Combat’ Chapter 11 Roman Passive Defence 358–361 Chapter 12 Roman Strategic Offence, 362–363 Chapter 13 The March Down River Chapter 14 The March Up Country Chapter 15 Conclusion Appendix I: Glossary Appendix II: Eastern Armies of the Notitia Dignitatum Bibliography Notes List of Maps Map Key 1. King Shapur’s Saracen Wars 324–335 2. Nisibis War Theatre of Operations 337–363 3. Threats to Persia 298–363. 4. Roman Limitanei Deployment c. 395 5. Roman Limitanei Deployment c. 337 6. Persian Invasion Routes 337–361 7. Singara Limes c. 343/344 8. The Battle of Singara, Summer 344 9. Civil War Theatre of Operations 350–355 10. Mursa Campaign, 351 11. The Battle of Mursa, 28 September 351 12. Julian’s Gallic Campaign, 356 13. Julian’s Gallic Campaign 357 14. The Battle of Strasbourg (Argentoratum) 357 15. Shapur’s 359 Campaign 16. Shapur’s 360 Campaign 17. Julian’s 363 Campaign Plan 18. The Battle of Ctesiphon, Late May-Early June 363 19. Julian’s Death, The Battle of Samara, 26 June 363 20. The Battle of the Elephants, 29 June 363 List of Diagrams and Illustrations 1. The House of Constantine 2. The Imperial Court and Bureaucracy 3. Constantius’ Military Command Structure 337–351 4. Roman March Tables 5. Speculative Legion Deployment 337–363 6. Roman Civil Administration 337–351 7. Julian’s Praesental Army, Late March 363 8. Julian March Formation Spring 363 Illustration 1. Roman Siege Equipment List of Photographs 1. Gold Coins of Constantius II and Shapur II 2. Arch of Constantine, Siege of Verona 3. Soldiers from the Arch of Constantine 4. Recreation of the arms and equipment of a fourth century Roman officer 5. Recreation of an unarmoured Roman officer from the fourth century 6. An unarmoured soldier armed with archballista or manuballista 7. Arch of Galerius 8. Horse armour uncovered during the excavations at Dura-Euopus 9. Reconstructed Cataphractus Draconarius, arms and equipment 10. Battle of Ebenezer scenes 1 and 2 11. Roman general purpose or medium cavalry 12. The combined arms formation described by Vegetius 13. Sassanian King Ardachir Babakan’s rock relief 14. Centre figures from the Sassanian battle-scene at Firuzabad, Iran 15. Persian Tactics 16. A medium Persian Savaran cavalryman. 17. Demonstrating the ‘Parthian shot’ used by the Persian Savaran cavalry 18. The view looking south from the Roman fortress city of Marida 19. Dismounted Elite Savaran archer 20. Ruins of the covered water tunnels of the Roman city of Cepha 21. Recreation of a light ballista 22. War Elephants 23. The Triple Walls of Constantinople Acknowledgements P ublishing a book is not a one-person endeavour; it takes a small army to finish such a project. The godfather of this project is Dr Frank L. Vatai, a professor at California State University, Northridge. Dr Vatai reawakened my interest in late antiquity and guided my journey through the world of Ammianus Marcellinus from Master’s thesis to published book. Compiling the plates and illustrations truly took an army. I would like to thank historian and actor Ardeshir Radpour and his photographer, Holly Martin, for her excellent photos of a Persian knight. The living history historians and re-enactors from the Britannia and Comitatus Societies provided photos of the arms and equipment of Late Roman soldiers to illustrate key points in the book. Thanks to graphic artist Ashley Harrel for designing the rough cover initially submitted to Pen & Sword. I would like to thank Lisa and Bill Storage for permission to use their photos of the Arch of Constantine; Dr J.C.N. Coulston, from the University of St Andrews, Scotland, for permission to use his photo of the Arch of Galerius; and Yale University, Connecticut, for permission to use photos from their Dura-Euopos Collection. Many thanks to LMarie Photo (aka Lisa Marie Harrel) and Cyrus Raymond Harrel for arranging the dioramas and photographing part of my miniature collection to illustrate military formations described in the book. Once a manuscript is written, editing makes it come alive. I would like to thank William Creitz for editing the proceeding thesis and draft manuscript. I owe a particular thanks to Philip Sidnell for accepting a project from a new unknown author; Dominic Allen, who did the final jacket design; Mat Blurton and his assistant, Katie Noble, who designed the book and plate section; and Matthew Jones, production manager and ‘ramrod’ for Pen & Sword who kept the project on track. I owe you all a ‘pint.’ Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Linda, who hiked the mountains of Anatolia with me with her camera and who was the first and last editor of this book.

Description:
The war of 337-363 (which the author dubs the ‘Nisibis War’), was an exception to the traditional Roman reliance on a strategic offensive to bring about a decisive battle. Instead, the Emperor Constantius II adopted a defensive strategy and conducted a mobile defense based upon small frontier (l
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