ABSTRACT
In a landmark paper first delivered in 1920, Whatley (1964, pp. 119-39) identified five ‘aids’ which could be used in attempting to reconstruct what happened in ancient battles. These aids were: the study of geography and topography; deductions from universal strategic and tactical principles; use of logic, generally to rule out impossibilities; the combination of the three earlier principles and statements from ancient authors from other periods, interpreted appropriately; and ‘the most thorough study from all sources of the armies engaged, their strategy and tactics, their weapons and methods of using them, their systems of recruiting and organisation, their officers and staff’ (p. 130). Whatley believed that this fifth aid, the study of the armies themselves, was generally neglected to a greater or lesser degree, something which he believed to be inexcusable, realising that the study of ancient armies was as important for an understanding of ancient military history as the study of the Roman constitution was necessary to understand the political history of the age of the Gracchi.
