Roman Soldier vs Parthian Warrior: Carrhae to Nisibis, 53 BC–AD 217 (Combat, 50)

This book deals with the clashes of the Roman and Parthian armies over the course of the development of the Parthian Empire. Although Osprey's Men at Arms and Elite series have covered the Parthians, this volume is by far the fullest coverage of the military development of this often overlooked portion of Persian history. Though nowhere near as glamorous as the Achaemenids who were defeated by Alexander, nor as threatening to Rome as their Sassanian successors, the admittedly less civilized Parthians were fierce competitors with the Roman military.The "Combat" Series is one of the newer ones from Osprey where competing militaries are compared over time. The time period represented here is about 270 years. This time span saw much change in Rome.The first episode is Crassus' ill-fated expedition. Roman generals and Emperors saw the Persian realms under Parthian management as an ATM machine they could loot periodically. However Crassus was Rome's richest man and sought military glory to compete with his fellow Triumvirs Caesar and Pompey. In this campaign Rome's heavy infantry was defeated by Parthia's mounted archers.This book describes Parthia's most potent mounted arms, its archers and its super heavy cavalry and how they generally ran circles around Rome's less mobile, infantry-based force structure.Marc Antony attempted to avenge Crassus, but came up hard against the previously mentioned heavy cavalry, the Cataphracts, which can be seen a a forerunner to medieval fully armored knights on armored horses. Marc Antony was fortunate to escape to Egypt with his life!Finally, we come to the third episode, which was the chief reason for my purchasing this book: Nisibis, the final settling of accounts between the Parthians and the Romans. While the first two parts have very good literary evidence from Plutarch and others, the Nisibis portion seems to bear the most original work and research of this book as the particulars of this massive all-out battle, the largest between the sides, seem wholly elided by Cassius Dio and Herodian, our only sources. Si Sheppard does a lot of work to recreate this in a credible manner. As someone working on an graphic novel about the Severan dynasty, this book is a godsend. Here we have the largest mobile army Rome had ever assembled in the East, initially sent by the Mad Emperor Caracalla to conquer Parthia as now he thought of himself as a reincarnated Alexander the Great.After affronting the Parthian nobility personally by feigning interest in marrying into their royal family, only to attack the Persian nobles while negotiating the nuptials; the Romans remained inside Parthian territory, seeking decisive battle.It would have been hell to pay for Caracalla once the Parthians assembled their army. However an untimely assassination ended Caracalla's reign and a new, untested Emperor had to prepare for the brunt of the assault. The author does a phenomenal job in recreating the tactical deployment of forces and the development of the battle. There have been few Osprey titles which I have anticipated as much as this one and I was not disappointed. Perhaps a later volume could deal with Lucius Verus' campaign?This volume is lushly illustrated with paintings by Johnny Shumate, a living master of historical military illustration who brings all his abilities to this volume. The Nisibis illustration is the first I have seen of this epic battle and gives some flavor of the scale, chaos, fury and desperation that must have been present. The troop types of both sides are very well represented. It is clear Shumate understands how much Roman military fashion changed over the course of the time period of this book and it shows. There are also loads of helpful photos and maps to orient the reader. If you are curious about the Persian realms in the time of the Roman Empire, this book is a vivid introduction to the armies who were there, their commanders and what transpired. Highly recommended!

worthwhile read

The Roman encounter with Parthian forces in the Middle East would mark a limit to the eastern expansion of the Roman Republic. As author Si Shephard documents in this thoughtful Osprey Combat Series book, the Roman and Parthian armies represented opposites, infantry versus cavalry based forces. And each was fighting at or near the limits of its respective ability to project power.The author uses accounts of three battles over an extended period of time to show how the two sides fought. There is also some interesting background on how the two side organized for combat. The text is nicely supported with period artwork and modern illustrations, maps and battle diagrams. Well recommended as an historical excursion into the limits of a growing empire.

texto ameno y con buena informacion

even for an Osprey

This book suffers from the tendency of Political Scientists and IR specilaists to create a thesis first, and then twist the evidence to support it. In this case the thesis is that the Parthians were an almost unbeatable military organization that humiliated roman. Sources are selectively culled to support this, and when evidence supported the thesis it is accepted uncritically (an army of 50,000 horse archers?), otherwise they are either dissected or ignored. Some elements appears to be made up entirely. On P. 24 Emperor Antoninus is is reported to be scared by Parthian Cataphracts, but no Parthian War happened under his reign... Furthemore no discusison of the reliability of our source on Anthony's campaign (a man that had been savaged by Octavian propagandist, and a campaign that had been subjected to the same treatment).The author does not appear to know a lot of the subject (like mentions of superior operational and strategic mobility of mounted forces, but in such cases usually rider led rather than ride... making cavalry moving at the man pace...) and also accept a lot of assumptions at face value (we do not really know the ratio between horse archers and cataphracts in Parthian armies) . Speculation and assumptions (often carried forward from late antiquity authors) run the day. His description of the battle of Nisibis does not make a lot of sense, and it ignores the standard procedure to keep some units in reserve in the camp.There are generalizations that could not be accepted, like considering both Roman and Parthian armies as unchangeable entities (Crassus' legonaries were not Caracalla ones, but the description of the Legions is wedded to the late republic), the idea that the pila were just intended to strip opponent's shields can could not hurt cataphracts (reconstruction demonstrated that an heavy pilum could indeed penetrate armor...) and so on.The entire book seems to be written to challenge the idea that western militaries were always superior to eastern ones. Fine with that, Victor David Hanson pushed this idea too far away, but it wants to replace it with just another myth. According to the author Carrhae was the first defeat of the Romans... Cannae anyone?Ultimately there is too much specluation and ore real evidence ot back it up. One wonders if Si Sheppard is working for the Parthian Empire Information Service... the book read more as Parthian propaganda than anything else. Disappointing.

Great

Arrived promptly and as described. Bought as a reference book, more in depth books on this subject available but this is fit for purpose