Roman Legionary vs Hellenistic Phalangite : Italy and Greece 280–168 BC

This fully illustrated study examines the clashes between the Roman legion and the Hellenistic phalanx in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC.

Following Alexander the Great’s death in 323 BC, his generals and their successors harnessed the formidable power of the Macedonian phalanx to carve up his empire into realms of their own. Meanwhile, Rome emerged as one of Italy’s most powerful cities, with the manipular legion at the forefront of its efforts to forge a wider empire.

In this book, Murray Dahm assesses the fighting men at the heart of these two civilizations’ military prowess, the phalangite and the legionary. He charts their clashes on three bloody battlefields, showing how the two sides’ strengths and limitations shaped their decades-long struggle for supremacy.

At Heraclea (280 BC), the army of Pyrrhus of Epirus confronted Roman forces for the first time in a gruelling clash that left both sides reeling. At Cynoscephalae (197 BC), a Macedonian army fought two Roman legions and their allies in a momentous battle that ended the Second Macedonian War. At Pydna (168 BC), legionaries faced phalangites in a decisive encounter that confirmed the eclipse of the phalanx and the formidable power of the legion.

Featuring specially commissioned artwork and mapping, this absorbing account casts light on the evolving contest between two competing military systems in a series of battles that shaped the fate of the Ancient World.