Aeneas Tacticus – författare

Three tactical treatises.Aeneas was perhaps a general, and certainly author of several didactic military works of which the sole survivor is that on defense against siege. From it we can deduce that he was a Peloponnesian of the fourth century BC who served in the Aegean and in Asia Minor and composed the work from direct knowledge and from oral and some literary tradition, possibly in 357–6 BC. It is devoted entirely to defense of fortified places and deals specially with use of defending troops; defensive positions; morale; resistance to attacks and to actual assault; guards; obviation of treachery and revolution; and other subjects.Asclepiodotus, philosopher and pupil of the Stoic Posidonius, wrote a rather dry but ordered work on tactics as if a subject of the lecture room, based not on personal experience but on earlier manuals. His main subjects were the branches of a military force; infantry; cavalry; chariots; elephants; arms; maneuvers; military evolutions; marching formation. The work ends with words of command.Onasander (Onasandros), a Platonic philosopher, dedicated his work “The General” to the Roman Veranius, who was a consul in AD 49. The work deals in plain style with the sort of morals and social and military qualities and attitudes expected of a virtuous and militarily successful general. It is also concerned with such matters as his choice of staff; attitude to war; religious duties; military formations; conduct in allied and hostile lands; difficult terrains; camps; drill; spies; guards; deserters; battle formations and maneuvers; and other matters, ending with conduct after victory.

Aineias Tacticus (mid-fourth century BC) is not only the earliest but also one of the most historically interesting of ancient military writers. Important, too, as a social commentator, he sheds valuable light on the nature of life and the psychological and strategic preoccupations of a typical Greek city-state (polis) at a time dominated by two extraordinarily atypical ones, Athens and Sparta. In Aineias' work we see what conditions were like in a polis obliged to play a minor and much more passive role in the history of its age - not laying siege like the big players but suffering it. His practical recommendations derive clearly from accumulated personal experience in the first place; but at the same time he also draws copious illustrative material from both Herodotus and Thucydides. This edition has the Greekless reader firmly in mind, providing a fresh modern translation of "How to Survive Under Siege", a comprehensive introduction to Aineias and his work, and a full historical commentary.

The author, in the mid-fourth century BC, of "How to Survive Under Siege", Aineias the Tactician is not only the earliest but also the most historically interesting of the ancient military writers. The last 20 years have witnessed a growing appreciation of his importance as a social commentator on the nature of life and the strategic and psychological preoccupations in a typical Greek city-state at a time dominated by two extraordinary and untypical ones, Athens and Sparta. In Aineias we see what conditions were like in a "polis" obliged to play the passive role in the history of its age: not laying siege but suffering it. His recommendations on this clearly derive from his own accumulated experience, but he also draws copious illustrative material from other writers including Herodotus and Thucydides. The author provides a comprehensive introduction and a full historical commentary.