Introduction The Battle of Alesia or Siege of Alesia was a military engagement in the Gallic Wars that took place in September, 52 BC, around the Gallic oppidum (fortified settlement) of Alesia, a major centre of the Mandubii tribe. It was fought by the army of Julius Caesar against a confederation of Gallic tribes united… Read More
Introduction The Mithridatic Wars were three conflicts fought by Rome against the Kingdom of Pontus and its allies between 88 BC and 63 BC. They are named after Mithridates VI, the King of Pontus who initiated the hostilities after annexing the Roman province of Asia into its Pontic Empire (that came to include most of… Read More
Introduction The Battle of Pharsalus was the decisive battle of Caesar’s Civil War. On 9 August 48 BC at Pharsalus in central Greece, Gaius Julius Caesar and his allies formed up opposite the army of the republic under the command of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (“Pompey the Great”). Pompey had the backing of a majority of… Read More
“Live as brave men; and if fortune is adverse, front its blow with brave hearts.” Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC to 43 BC) Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, and writer who vainly tried to uphold republican principles in the final civil wars that destroyed the Roman Republic. His writings include books of rhetoric, orations, philosophical and… Read More
“Things looked very different if you were a participant in civil war. Although its foundation myth included fratricide, as Romulus killed Remus, and after the internal conflicts which brought down the Republican form of government civil war haunted the Roman imagination, Rome during most of its history was rather better than Greek cities at avoiding… Read More
“One type of expense incurred in modern wars was not always present in the ancient world: paying the troops. As we have seen, in the classical city state citizenship was bound up with military service. For a long time city states thus had no need to pay their citizen-soldiers. In the Greek world the only… Read More
“Ubi concordia, ibi victoria.” “Where is the unity, there is the victory.” Publilius Syrus (85 to 43 BC) Publilius Syrus was a Latin mime writer contemporary with Cicero, chiefly remembered for a collection of versified aphorisms that were extracted by scholars from his mimes, probably in the 1st century AD.
Boot Camp & Military Fitness Institute 