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A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry Blog - History
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Fireside Friday, November 22, 2024 (Roman Naming Conventions) – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
Hey, folks. Another Fireside this week! I had hoped to have the science fiction body armor post ready to go this week, but in addition to the continued work on the book project, I was asked to write a review of the now-out-in-the-USA Gladiator II and that consumed a fair bit of my time, pushing…
Fireside Friday, November 15, 2024 – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
Hey folks, Fireside this week! For the musing this week, I want to talk about, at least for a humanities field, what 'research support' from a university means and why it is valuable, but before we get to that, I just want to make a note going forward. In particular, there have been a few…
Collections: The Afterlife of the Roman Republic – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
This week we are taking a look at what ended up being the 'runner-up' in the latest ACOUP Senate poll (we'll also do the winner, "The Problem with Sci-Fi Body armor" before year's end, worry not), the "Afterlife of the Roman Republic," which is to say a look at the continued existence of the various…
Referenda ad Senatum: November 1, 2024: Ancient Weapons, Lost Works and Roman Spooky-Stuff! – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
Welcome back! At last, the hiatus has ended and we are back to regular weekly posts. As we've done a few times before, this week I am breaking the hiatus by taking a chance to answer a few shorter questions posed by my patrons over at Patreon who are the Patres et Matres Conscripti of…
New Acquisitions: 1933 and the Definition of Fascism – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
Today we're going to look at definitions of fascism and ask the question - you may have guessed - if Donald Trump is running for President as a fascist. Worry not, this isn't me shifting to full-time political pundit, nor is this the formal end of the hiatus (which will happen on Nov 1, when…
Continues the Hiatus, 2024 – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
Friends, Readers, Countrymen, lend me your eyes! As sadly expected, the hiatus is going to continue through October. I am making good progress on my writing, but still need to keep focusing. I am currently, I believe, on track for us to go back to normally scheduled posts in November, but I don't want to…
Comes the Hiatus, 2024! – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
Dear Readers! As I've noted during the summer, I was planning on a one to two month hiatus towards the end of this year in order to allow me to focus on finalizing the manuscript of my book project, a study of the cost of fielding armies in the third and second centuries BC. That…
Collections: Teaching Paradox, Imperator, Part IIIb: – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
This is the second half of the third and final part of our three-part (I, IIa, IIb, IIIa) look at Paradox Interactives ancient grand strategy game, Imperator: Rome, which covers (inter alia) the period of the collapse of the Roman Republic, which we generally call the Late Republic (c. 133-31 BC). Last time, we examined…
Collections: Teaching Paradox, Imperator, Part IIIa: De Re Publica – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
This is the first half of the third part of our three-part (I, IIa, IIb) look at Paradox Interactive’s ancient grand strategy game Imperator: Rome, running from the late fourth through the first century BCE, a period that, relevant for today's discussion, covers the Middle and Late Roman Republic, including the collapse of the Roman…
Fireside Friday, August 16, 2024 – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
Fireside this week! I find I have my thoughts more or less together for the last part of the Imperator series, but I have not yet gotten them into a satisfying order - a common hazard of writing - so they will have to wait for next week. It's not yet clear to me if…
Collections: Teaching Paradox, Imperator, Part IIb: Built in a Day – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
This is the second half of the second part of our three part (I, IIa) look at Paradox Interactive's ancient grand strategy game Imperator: Rome which covers the broader Mediterranean and South Asia from the very late fourth century through to the end of the first century BC, the period of the imperial rise and…
Gap Week: August 2, 2024 – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
Hey folks. We're talking a mulligan this week, as the pedant household has gotten (one by one) whatever fresh COVID-19 variant is going around. Everyone is fine, but being sick left me pretty exhausted over the past few days with fewer productive writing hours available. Since I can't afford to let the book project slip…
Collections: Teaching Paradox, Imperator, Part IIa: Pops and Chains – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
This is the first half of the second part of our three part look at Paradox Interactive's Hellenistic-era grand strategy game Imperator: Rome. I had hoped to do this part in a single post, but my book writing schedule intervened and so it became necessary to split it up. Last time we looked at how…
Collections: Teaching Paradox, Imperator, Part I: Divisa in Partes Tres – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
This is the first part of a three-part (if I can keep it) series, examining the historical assumptions of Imperator: Rome, a historical grand strategy game by Paradox Interactive, set during the rise and collapse of the Roman Republic from 304-27 BC and covering the broader Mediterranean world and South Asia. This is also the…
Fireside Friday, July 12, 2024 – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
Fireside this week! I had hoped to have the start of the Imperator Teaching Paradox series ready for this week, but it has been a bit stubborn and I do not want to derail my book writing/revising schedule in order to push it out before it is ready. So that will almost certainly come next…
Collections: The Philosophy of Liberty – On Liberalism – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
It is once again the week of July 4th and so, as is customary here, I am going to use this week's post to talk about the United States or more correctly this week about the political philosophy the United States was founded on: liberalism. Now an immediate clarification is necessary, because in the United…
Fireside Friday, June 28, 2024 – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
Fireside this week! My hope in terms of the upcoming schedule is to have my usual July 4th post next week (we're discussing political philosophy in an election year, so I am sure everyone will be very chill; regardless let me repeat you will be civil) and then after that to dive into the Teaching…
Collections: How to Raise a Tribal Army in Pre-Roman Europe, Part III: Going To War With the Army You Have – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
This is the third and final part of our three-part (I, II, III) look at how some 'tribal' or more correctly, non-state agrarian peoples - particularly the Celtiberians, Gauls and also many Germanic-language speaking peoples on the Rhine and Danube- raised armies to fight the Romans (and anyone else who came knocking) in the third,…
Collections: How to Raise a Tribal Army in Pre-Roman Europe, Part II: Government Without States – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
This is the second part of our (planned) three part (I) look at how some 'tribal' or more correctly, non-state agrarian peoples raised armies to fight the Romans (and others) in the third through first centuries BC. Last time, we looked at the subsistence basis of these societies - they're agricultural - and the social…
Collections: How to Raise a Tribal Army in Pre-Roman Europe, Part I: Aristocrats, Retainers and Clients – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
For the next few posts, I want to take a look at how some 'tribal' peoples raised armies, in contrast to the way that ancient (or later) states raised armies. As moderns, we are so familiar with the way that states function that the far older systems of non-state organization and mobilization end up feeling…
Fireside Friday, May 31, 2024 (Academic Departments) – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
Fireside this week! I am spinning up to write a Teaching Paradox series on Imperator later this week, but not quite ready to get started yet. I'm also thinking, perhaps before that, of doing a short post or set of posts on the organization of non-state 'tribal' societies in pre-Roman western Europe, looking at one…
Collections: On the Reign of Alexander III of Macedon, the Great? Part II – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
This is the second and final part of our look at Alexander III of Macedon (Part I), who you almost certainly know as Alexander the Great. Last week, we looked at the sources for Alexander's life, the historiography (that is, the history-of-the-history) of his modern reception and then he abilities as a military commander, both…
Collections: On the Reign of Alexander III of Macedon, the Great? – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
This week, in part as a follow-on to our series on the contest between Hellenistic armies and Roman legions, I wanted to take the opportunity to talk about Alexander III, who you almost certainly know as Alexander the Great. But I want to discuss his reign with that title, 'the Great' (magnus in Latin or…
Fireside Friday, May 10, 2024 – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
Fireside this week! Next week, with luck, I'll have my 'On the Reign of Alexander III of Macedon' up as an addendum to our discussion of Hellenistic armies. But in the meantime, it is a fireside, and I thought, since it was just recently May the Fourth, we might talk some Star Wars (and history).…
Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triumph, Part V: Epilogue – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
This is the fifth part of our four(ish) five part (Ia, Ib, IIa, IIb, IIIa, IIIb, IVa, IVb, IVc) look at how the Roman legions were able to overcome the Macedonian sarisa phalanx in the third and second centuries BC. We have covered the decisive battles in the story, although after 168 it is not…
Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triumph, Part IVc: Perseus – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
This is the third part of the fourth part of our four(ish) part (Ia, Ib, IIa, IIb, IIIa, IIIb, IVa, IVb) look at the how the Roman military system and its manipular legion were able to defeat the Hellenistic military system and its Macedonian sarisa phalanx in the third and second centuries BC. Last time,…
Gap Week: April 19, 2024 (Manor Lords First Impression) – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
Hey folks, this week is a bit of a gap week as I am heading out to the annual meeting of the Society for Military History (and, indeed, by the time you read this, I will be there). Normally, I post the abstract of my conference talk for these sorts of things, but since I…
Fireside Friday, April 12, 2024 – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
Fireside this week! Apologies for having so many of these so close together, but the recent car troubles I've had have eaten into my time quite a lot. At the same time I am getting ready for the annual Society for Military History conference coming at the end of next week. In an effort to…
Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triumph, Part IVb: Antiochus III – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
This is the second part of the fourth part of our four(ish) part (Ia, Ib, IIa, IIb, IIIa, IIIb, IVa) look at the context between the Roman military system based on the manipular legion and the Hellenistic military system structured around the Macedonian sarisa phalanx in the third and second century BC. Last time we…
Fireside Friday, March 29, 2024 (On Roman Values) – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
Fireside this week! Apologies for having two of these in a row, but as I noted last week, I've had some unexpected (but good) travel, which has made a bit of havoc in my schedule and I am still trying to catch back up. Nevertheless, I wanted to use this week's fireside to muse a…
Fireside Friday, March 22, 2024 – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
Fireside this week! The ACOUP schedule might end up being a little unstable for the next few weeks as the coincidence of illness, the dense part of the teaching semester and unexpected travel are playing havoc on my schedule. I can only promise that we will finish the series on the failure of Hellenistic armies,…
Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triumph, Part IVa: Philip V – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
This is the first part of the fourth part of our four(ish) part (Ia, Ib, IIa, IIb, IIIa, IIIb) look at why the thing to use to beat a Macedonian sarisa phalanx is, in fact, a Roman legion in the third and second century BC. Last time, we finished our look at the third-century successes…
Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triumph, Part IIIb: Pyrrhus – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
This is the second part of the third part of our four(ish) part (Ia, Ib, IIa, IIb, IIIa) look at the performance of the Roman army and its legions in the third and second century BC against the Hellenistic armies of the heirs of Alexander. Last time, we sought to assess some of the assumed…
Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triumph, Part IIIa: Peak Pike-Phalanx – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
This is the first part of the third part of our four(ish) part (Ia, Ib, IIa, IIb, IIIa) look at the triumph of the Roman legions in the third and second century over the Hellenistic armies of the heirs of Alexander. Last time, we looked at some of the operational and strategic advantages that the…
Fireside Friday, February 23, 2024 (On the Military Failures of Fascism) – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
Fireside this week! We'll pick up looking at some of the successes of Hellenistic armies next week. Percy, having found a use for some of my books. And of course, less I miss a chance to note, at the top of the pile there is the Brill's Companion to Diet and Logistics in Greek and…
Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triumph, Part IIb: Handfuls of Maniples – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
This is the second part of the second part of the second part of our four part look at the great third and second century BC contest between the Romans and the heirs of Alexander, asking the question, "What can defeat a Macedonian sarisa-phalanx?" Last time, we started looking at the Romans with an in-depth…
Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triumph, Part IIa: How a Legion Fights – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
This is the first part of the second part of our four? four part look at the great third and second century BC contest between the Hellenistic armies of the heirs of Alexander and the Roman legions. Last time, we looked at the Hellenistic army as a complete system, incorporating not just the famed Macedonian sarisa-phalanx,…
Fireside Friday, February 2, 2024 (On City Building Games) – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
Fireside this week! I have just finished up a draft of a chapter (to be in one of those multi-multi-author companion volumes) on how video games (particularly more abstract simulation games) depict the ancient world. Writing that chapter led me to reengage with ancient city builders, particularly Caesar IV, Children of the Nile, Pharaoh: A New Era…
Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triumph, Part Ib: Subjects of the Successors – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
This is the second part of the first part of our four part look at the context between the Hellenistic army and its Macedonian phalanx and the Romans with their legions. Last week, we looked at the weapons, organization and fighting style of the Macedonian phalanx, the infantry core of the armies of the Hellenistic world,…
Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triumph, Part Ia: Heirs of Alexander – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
This week on the blog we are starting what is a planned four-part series looking at the twilight of Hellenistic warfare and the triumph of the Roman legion. Our core question is a really common one: why was the Roman legion able to decisively defeat the Hellenistic sarisa-phalanx? It's a question that crops up on social…