Ancient Battle Formations

A careful study of the Greek and Latin sources that shed fresh light on how these formations were organized, reevaluating many conventional notions and leading to some surprising conclusions.

Justin Swanton examines the principal battle—winning formations of the Ancient world, determining their composition, function and efficacy. An introductory chapter looks at the fundamental components of the principal battle formations of heavy and light infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariots, showing...