Tag: Ancient

Herodotus’ Persian Infantry

The Persian infantry – we have a pretty good idea of what they looked like and how they fought, or at least we think we do. They were big fans of Smurf hats, basically unarmoured and no match for Greek hoplites, arrows that could blot out the sun – or some of our popular depictions might even show them as slaves being driven forward with whips, or dehumanised, incompetent, orc-like goons. 

What does Herodotus, one of our best literary sources for the Persian infantry, have to say about them? Surprisingly, a lot of what we said just now is based loosely on Herodotus. But with a more careful reading, supported by other literary and artistic sources, we might come away with a different picture.

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How much can we blame barbarisation of the Roman army in leading to the end of the western empire in AD476?

Introduction

The ‘barbarisation’ of the Roman army has become a popular explanation for the end of the Roman Empire. While the empire possessed a strong army of professional Roman soldiers, it could not fail; therefore its end in AD476 was the result, directly or indirectly, of the failure of the army. And since by the fifth century AD the army had come to incorporate many non-Romans into its ranks, logic follows that this ‘de-romanisation’ of the army – the deterioration of Roman military discipline, the end of the legions of the Principate – made the army ineffective and weak.¹

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on living in tension

In Hong Kong we classify schools as local or international. The former follow a state-set, local curriculum, and most of them conduct lessons in Chinese. The latter are a more mixed bag, following a dizzying array of international curricula, and many of them catering to particular expat groups: Singapore International School, Japanese International School, Chinese International School, and French International School just to name a few. International schools tend to enjoy a higher reputation, not least because they are status symbols, but also because of the general high quality of the education and teachers.

But for a while I had leaned toward sending my children (if I ever have any) to a local school.

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