Presents one of the most powerful men in late antiquity, Attila's peerless Hunnic empire stretched from the Ural mountains to the Rhine river. In a series of epic campaigns dating from the AD 430s until his death in AD 453, he ravaged first the Eastern and later the Western Roman Empire, invading It[...]

An authoritative re-telling of one of the greatest tales of heroism of all time and a decisive moment for the history of the world, Leonidas and the 300 Spartans' fight to the death against overwhelming Persian forces preserved the future of Greece and the golden age of classical civilization. Nic F[...]

By the outbreak of the First Carthaginian War, Carthage controlled the whole coast of northern Africa. At first, the core of the Carthaginian armies was made up of armed citizens, backed by levies from tributary allies and foreign mercenaries. Later, the mercenaries would become the backbone of thes[...]

By the end of the First Punic War, Carthage had been humiliatingly chased from the high seas, its once-powerful fleet reduced to a handful of triremes. But in 219 BC Hannibal, the eldest son of the charismatic general Hamilcar Barca, began the Second Punic War and was so successful that he threatene[...]

Pompey, or Pompey the Great, was one of the best military leaders of the late Roman Republic. His campaigns against the Marians, his battles in Hispania and his defeat of the Mediterranean pirates launched him to political stardom where he became an ally of Julius Caesar and a member of the First Tr[...]

With the death of Nero by his own shaky hand, the ill-sorted, ill-starred Iulio-Claudian dynasty came to an ignominious end, and Rome was up for the taking. This was 9 June, AD 68. The following year, commonly known as the 'Year of the Four Emperors', was probably one of Rome's worst. Nero's death t[...]

In all the stories told by mankind and recorded through its history, the tale of the siege of Troy is perhaps the greatest secular story ever told. It has certainly captured the western imagination for some 3000 years. Archaeological work has revealed that the site around Hisarlik, where Troy is bel[...]

The Roman excursions north of the Tyne-Solway line, the route of Hadrian's Wall, can be roughly divided into three main periods. Firstly, Agricola advanced against the Caledonii for six campaigning seasons culminating in the decisive battle of Mons Graupius in AD 83. Secondly, the Antonine Wall was [...]

Drawn from a wide range of warlike peoples throughout the provinces, especially on the fringes of the empire, auxiliaries wer generally not citizens of the Roman empire. The cavalry of the auxilia provided a powerful fighting arm; organised, disciplined and well trained, it was adept at performing b[...]

The Huns were the most feared barbarians of the Ancient world, known to their Roman enemies as the 'scourge of god'. Superb horsemen and excellent archers, they fought with a reflex composite-bow that could penetrate armour at 100 metres. In battle they would rush into the fray with surprising speed[...]

The 'Saxon Shore' forts are among the most impressive surviving monuments of Roman Britain, although much about them remains a mystery. In an impressive outlay of money, manpower and materials the frontier system stretched across the Wash-Solent and included the heavy fortification of the major harb[...]

Having defeated a Germanic invasion of northern Italy, the Emperor Aurelian surrounded Rome with a powerful circuit of walls. This great fortification is one of the best preserved of all city walls in the Roman Empire and remains a dramatic feature of Rome today, representing the most emblematic and[...]

The Roman Legions were the most highly organized troops of the ancient world, but the process of turning the Legions from what was essentially a part-time citizen militia into the professional force that first made Rome the dominant power in the Mediterranean and then built an empire that stretched [...]