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This chapter explores the Greek armored infantrymen and the weapons they carried. The hoplite shield is called Argive. The Boeotian is a shield that appears on seventh- and sixth-century BC vase paintings and on Boeotian coins. Xenophon's ideal helmet was a hat-like helmet. Many vase paintings indicate that the corslets represented in them were built by cutting them from a sheet. Armoring of the limbs was restricted to the use of greaves and ankle guards. The principal weapon of soldiers for centuries has been the thrusting spear. There should be a metal reinforcement in the butt end of the thrusting spear and its head weight varies from ca 0.12 to 0.95 kg. Victory on the battlefield had necessitated effective weapons and armor. The depth of a formation could impose psychological pressure on opponents, while shield blazons presented terrifying, apotropaic warnings.

This chapter summarizes the basic literature on ancient logistics, and addresses the important limitations of the ancient overland transport of food and water. It then explores the responses of military commanders, especially Alexander the Great, to these limitations. Two actual cases are covered, where terrain, climate, weather, troop numbers, the capabilities of land, sea, and river transport had impacted the overall strategy. The first case considers Alexander the Great's crossing of the Gedrosian Desert in southern Pakistan and Iran, and the second looks at the logistic considerations that affected the establishment of the Roman frontier along the Rhine River in Germany. The total numbers of men, pack animals, cavalry horses, and followers are the most significant factor influencing an army's logistic capability. The maintenance of the safety of the army's food supplies and the health of the troops has been vital for any competent commander.

It is most peculiar that there should be any such thing as Roman science, if by ancient science we mean the sort of thing Greeks did. The genius of Greek science is precisely its weak binding to specifically Greek tradition – making it more readily assimilated by other cultures. There is, however, almost no ancient analogue for assimilators of Greek science who created works of science in a language other than Greek. The genius of the Roman assimilators of Greek science stands on their desire to bring home and master the cultural products of their captives. Moreover, its practitioners shared a belief in the interpretability of the natural world (the Greek philosophers who denied that produced no science). Some practitioners absorbed data and theories from cultures such as Egypt and Babylon, creating the disciplines of alchemy and astrology. The works of M. Terentius Varro and M. Tullius Cicero, both extant and lost, more deeply assimilate and synthesise Greek science. Vitruvius stands for the transition to works composed in some way for the princeps, a genre sometimes practised by Greeks.

This article studies ancient Jewish mobility. It lists the practicalities of travel, and then hypothesizes about the social contexts of travel. The article also considers rabbinic mobility, sea voyages, pilgrimages and other religious travels, and the transfer of knowledge.

This chapter presents a description of ancient naval warfare. Ship-to-ship combat was neither the primary purpose of ancient war fleets, nor the typical manifestation of ancient naval warfare. The Greeks had built ships that were planned for raiding or warfare by the end of the eighth century BC. Naval powers developed sophisticated ship-to-ship combat tactics that made the most of their vessels, their sailing skills, and their fighting men. The men who rowed ancient warships were expected to participate in fighting on land as light-armed troops, engaging in raids and skirmishes, building siege works, and supporting the legions of heavy infantry. Tacitus, who provides an insight into the value of a fleet as a strike force, makes the threat posed to barbarian liberty by the extent of Roman naval power a feature of his stirring speech on Roman imperialism.