The contemporary relevance of a new collection of essays addressing ancient warfare is immediately apparent in this volume. Its acknowledgements include thanks to active military personnel and remind the reader that the study of the ancient world resonates in a time when soldiers are fighting abroad and veterans are returning home. As the editors note, from as early as Homer's account of the Trojan War, warfare has been ‘regarded with awe and dread’ (p. xxi), and it is the stated goal of the editors to ‘attempt to understand these contending responses to the beast called War’ (p. xxi).

With this in mind, the editors set out to present a broad survey of Classical warfare (defined as c. 700 b.c.e. to 644 c.e.) that moves beyond the battlefield to the broader economic, social, political, demographic, etc. effects of war in the ancient world. The exclusion of an overview of Bronze Age Greek warfare is somewhat surprising, and it is clear that the late Roman Empire is not a focus. Despite the stated end date of 644 c.e., few authors move past the third or fourth centuries. The 32 chapters are divided into four loosely defined parts. Part 1, ‘Introduction: the Classical World at War’, provides a broad survey of Greek and Roman warfare as well as an overview of the literary and material evidence. This incorporation of literature and artefact alike is one of the strengths of the volume, though S. James's chapter, ‘The Archaeology of War’, also highlights one of the inherent weaknesses of the broad handbook format. While this chapter skilfully demonstrates how material and text can work together to provide a fuller understanding of Greek and Roman warfare, there is simply not enough space to treat the topic fully. James focuses almost exclusively on the Romans, with little discussion of the archaeological impact of Greek warfare. The volume admirably includes detailed discussions of Persian, Germanic, Gallic and Sasanian warfare as well as Classical, but striking a balance among such considerable and diverse material is difficult and achieves varying success throughout the volume.

Part 2, ‘The Face of Battle in the Classical World’, focuses on broad narratives of warfare, providing a chronological overview of Greek and Roman warfare, as well as their relationship to and influence on one another. This section will be very useful to anyone interested in a historical survey of warfare in Greece and Rome. While most of these chapters explore broad topics (e.g. ‘The Classical Greek Experience’ and ‘Imperial Rome at War’), W. Heckel's chapter, ‘The Three Thousand: Alexander's Infantry Guard’, focuses specifically on a single Macedonian infantry unit and may have been better situated in Part 3.

Part 3, ‘Impacts and Techniques: War in the Classical World’, is the most substantial portion of the work and provides thematic discussions of the nature of war, with a particular emphasis on the operational aspects of fighting in antiquity. This includes chapters on mercenaries, cavalry operations, naval battle, rituals, fighting ‘the other’, etc. It is in this section that the volume comes closest to achieving its stated goal of providing discussions of the broader impacts of war in the Greek and Roman world. A. Chaniotis' contribution, ‘Greeks Under Siege: Challenges, Experiences, and Emotions’, for example, highlights the social impact of siege warfare on all classes, genders and ages, and even argues for the possibility of siege warfare as a symbol of masculinity and potency (p. 450). The three contributions of B. LaForse, P.S. Wells and S. McDonough, under the sub-section ‘Fighting the Other’, provide a welcome ethnographic discussion of the many and varied enemies of both Greece and Rome, including the Persians, Germans, Gauls and Sasanians. Part 3 also provides some of the more intriguing and unique topics of study in the volume. For instance, F. Russel's contribution, ‘Finding the Enemy: Military Intelligence’, provides an overview of the use of spies by the Greeks and Romans and goes so far as to discuss the important role of dogs in ancient warfare. This chapter highlights subterfuge and deception, which are often lost in idealised representations of ancient warfare, but its focus remains almost exclusively tactical. Overall, despite the attempt to move beyond the battlefield and ‘drums and trumpets’ military history, the chapters in this section emphasise topics such as discipline, armour, tactics and generalship – that is, interest in the operation of ancient armies, and not their social impacts. Chapters focusing on politics, class, gender and art, for instance, are conspicuously missing.

Part 4, ‘Case Studies: the Classical World at War’, introduces test cases designed to incorporate the myriad themes provided in the first three parts. These chapters range from the Sicilian Expedition to Roman conflicts with the Sasanians, and each provides a useful application of various aspects of military history. For example, M. Seaman's chapter, ‘The Peloponnesian War and its Sieges’, offers an interesting argument for the connection between siege and polis finances and argues against the idea that the siege of Plataea by the Spartans was a revolutionary step in the conduct of Greek warfare.

Part 4 is followed by an epilogue, ‘The Legacy of War in the Classical World’, co-written by T. Palaima and L. A. Tritle. This final chapter presents a somewhat grim outlook on the current place of ancient warfare in contemporary treatments of battle. On the one hand, as Palaima notes, there is an increasing lack of familiarity with the Classics among those who write about contemporary battle experience, men who utilise ‘text messaging, emailing, blogging, and posting images on YouTube’ (p. 735) rather than engaging in deep readings of ancient authors that might be relevant to contemporary experience. Tritle, on the other hand, notes that fewer individuals with military experience are now writing about ancient warfare. As he explains, ‘in many cases … the academic [non-combatant] persona trumped the soldierly and in the process valuable insights have been lost’ (p. 740). It is the hope of both authors, however, that the current collection will renew interest in the connection between the Classical past and our own understanding of contemporary warfare.

Surprisingly for a work from Oxford University Press, there are numerous typos and grammatical mistakes. These include awkward sentence structure, missing words and spelling errors (e.g. pp. 8, 36, 106, 155, 213, 220, 221, 284, 452, 482, 603, 726) and punctuation mistakes (e.g. pp. 16, 230, 244, 245, 383, 574). For example: ‘Persian soldiers may also been less inclined or trained to keep in formation’ (p. 155); ‘It had been had been replaced by the maniple’ (p. 220); ‘he should chose wealthy and influential men, making them an example to the others’ (p. 452). In addition, there are very few images, which at times could have been beneficial. For example, McDonough's contribution, ‘Military and Society in Sasanian Iran’, begins with a long and detailed description of a Sasanian relief, but no image is provided.

These are minor concerns, and the volume certainly provides a broad overview of many aspects of war in the ancient world. Nevertheless, it is difficult to pinpoint for whom exactly the volume is intended. For the scholar of ancient military history, much of the volume will be review, as the recent trend in handbooks and companions aims to be introductory. For the student interested in beginning to study these topics, however, the price tag is prohibitively expensive, and instructors could not require the purchase of the volume for coursework (although online availability through university libraries could ameliorate this concern). The volume is an extremely useful research tool, and the bibliographies are thorough and extensive. Certainly the broad range of topics and approaches provide excellent ways into the subject of ancient warfare.