Interesting book, greatly illustrated and thoroughly detailed. My son especially enjoyed this for his research in our Classical Rhetoric homeschool history studies.

Decent overview of warfare during Greek and Roman times. I made the mistake of getting the paperback version rather than the illustrated hardcover which mean none of the maps were included. I ended up having to go to the library...

There is a lot of information contained in this book. It is written and presnted in the same style as the Osprey Series of warfare books. The illustrations are wonderful and go along with the text in a clear, logical, and user-friendly manner.

a must have!

If you're interested in Persian, Greek, Thracian or Roman marshall history this is an easy to read and highly illustrated depiction of the armour, weaponry and lifestyle of the time...

'Warfare in the Classical World' from John Warry is a useful reference volume for those who want to learn about the art of warfare used by the ancient Greek and Roman armies. By analyzing the major political events and battles from 1600 B.C. and 800 A.D. in an easy to refer chronological order it traces the evolution of the way war was fought right from the rise of Mycenaean civilization to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. The book discusses the political backgrounds, history, soldiers and their equipments, tactics employed by various armies, the great military commanders and their campaigns during each period in detail.

With illustrations, maps, photos of artifacts and line drawings the book provides detailed information on the weapons, warships, soldiers in their uniform, siege machines and other equipment with comprehensive commentary. The sections, which illustrate various soldiers, troops and warriors of the period like ‘The Persian Troops’, ‘The Archers’, ‘The Thracian Peltast’, ‘Cavalryman’ are detailed with beautiful realistic drawings.

Each battle is analyzed with the help of troop statistics, illustrated discussions on the strategies and tactics and weapons and equipments, which gives the reader a comprehensive overview on the topic. The accompanying maps on each section gives insights in to the troop movements and course of battles.

The book focuses mainly on the Greek and Roman armies, so the level of detailing invested for their opponent forces are comparatively less. Even though this is a small volume the amount of information that it contains with the detailed battle plans, maps and tactical diagrams and their chronological presentation makes this an excellent starting reference point on warfare of the classical world for anyone who is interested in ancient history or military history.

I wish I could rate it more highly, but the book is just too uneven. Warry seems bored with subjects outside of the Roman Republic. While discussing The Illiad, he all but ignores other Bronze Age battles that we have far more information about. The shame is when this book is good, it is quite good.

Not really an "encyclopedia", but the book does a decent enough job of covering some of the major eras, battles, and personalities of the classical period, even if a lot of major events are left out. The illustrations are quite good, and the descriptions of the battles are surprisingly cogent and easy to follow.

My main complaint would be the relatively limited coverage. I would also note that this book was not particularly easy to read on a tablet, but I can't fault a book published in 1995 for not being ideally formatted for tablets/readers.

This book was so helpful and so interesting. My son said it looked like a textbook, and it is very unimpressive on the outside. But inside is a different story. It takes various different conflicts during the ancient world and breaks them down, with maps and charts of the battle plans, photos of what the area looks like today, statues showing what the main figures looked like, and illustrations of the ships, armor, and weapons involved. Then it details the action. I wasn't able to get through the whole thing before I had to return it to the library, but I got through the Greek battles. I'm so glad I found this book! I need to get it again and read about the Roman wars. Definitely recommended for history buffs, students, or those who are reading about the time period and wonder, "What did that look like?"

book orginaisation is definately an issue here. The content is interesting, if a bit dated. The Angus McBride illustrations are good as always, and the book would be useful to someone interested in wargaming the eras covered. More detail would be required for someone intending to build a non-roman army based on the information provided.

Art of warfare between 1600 BC and AD 800. Tactics and strategy of the Greeks, Romans and their enemies.

For once, an illustrated book that justifies the price