This is an impressive work of reference, both in terms of its size and its scholarly scope. It is available in two formats, one physical (three cased volumes in hardback) and the other online (with digital content viewable either in a browser or as a downloadable PDF, which facilitates off-line access if required). As is increasingly the case, the publisher granted access only to the online version of this work, and so this review relates to the digital copy of the encyclopedia and not its physical incarnation. The advertised price is high, but much is promised in return: according to the publisher's website, the encyclopedia offers ‘the most complete and up-to-date scholarship’ on ‘more than 400 battles and sieges’. This, of course, is a highly ambitious aim; and determining the extent to which it is attained, and whether the result justifies the eye-watering price, will be the aim of this review.
The encyclopedia's 1,496 pages are divided between 11 chapters, containing nearly 100 individual entries in total. These chapters begin with a general overview chapter that introduces the reader to the art of war on both land and sea during the period covered, which is roughly from the eighth century bc to the seventh century ad. The remaining ten chapters then move in chronological order, starting with Archaic Greece and the Near East and ending with the Byzantine Empire some thirteen centuries later. Coverage between these points includes all the main subjects one might expect, and readers will find all but the most esoteric of battles covered by this encyclopedia.
The structure adopted is clear, and finding a particular battle is a straightforward process. This work, however, is not merely a collection of battle narratives, since, as the publisher's website promises, contributing authors generally do an excellent job of situating each engagement into a wider socio-military context. This involves not only discussions of regional and local tensions, and the wars those tensions produce, but also the current state of the military art, and, of course, the nature of the surviving evidence. This allows the reader to place each engagement into a bigger picture, and, just as importantly, it also reveals, in a laudably Herodotean fashion, the limits of scholarly knowledge.
That scholarly knowledge, of course, is one of the highlights of this work. The encyclopedia gathers the collective wisdom of a wide range of leading scholars, and their expertise is deployed exactly where the reader might expect. H. van Wees, for instance, deals with Archaic Greece; T. Cornell with early Rome; F. Echeverria with the Peloponnesian War; M. Trundle with the Anabasis; I. Worthington with Alexander the Great; M. Humphreys with Constantine etc. Unsurprisingly, given such expertise, intellectual quality is high. The reader is neither patronised, nor is he or she overwhelmed with technical vocabulary. Instead, entries are written in plain English, and they accurately summarise what is or can be known about a given engagement.
The utility of entries is further enhanced by the simple and straightforward structure they follow. Each comprises an introduction and an overview of the evidence, after which battles are discussed in the order in which they were fought. Moreover, for every battle discussed, the reader is provided with a reference detailing both the ancient evidence for that engagement as well as selected modern scholarship; this is collated into a short bibliography, with recommendations for further reading, at the end of each entry. To aid the reader, there are also maps, diagrams, renderings of iconographic evidence as well as both black-and-white and colour photographs.
The reader can easily find a specific battle, contextualise that engagement, receive a summary of what is known about that engagement and follow up that summary via each entry's guide to evidence, scholarship and further reading. The encyclopedia, then, is a valuable tool for both academics and students at all levels, and its straightforward style ensures it is accessible to those drawn to this subject from beyond the boundaries of academia.
There are, however, some imperfections. Content is generally excellent, and while quibbles might be advanced about specific aspects of particular entries, this is a reference work, not a monograph, and consequently such trifles are beyond the reviewer's remit. Content, then, is unproblematic, but coverage is uneven. The encyclopedia appears to offer a similar amount of material for all the periods covered, in that, after the introduction, it is split into ten chapters with the transition from bc to ad occurring roughly half way through Chapter 6. This impression, however, is rather misleading, since the first four chapters are, together, well over twice as long as those that follow. Coverage is chronologically uneven, and the size of individual entries reflects this. For example, the entry on the Persian Wars is 70 pages long, that on the Peloponnesian War is 112, and that on the Second Punic War is a mini-monograph sized 129. By contrast, in the later chapters, the largest entry (on Justinian and Italy) is 22 pages long.
Execution is also a little underwhelming. The online interface is easy to use and presents the reader with a table of contents listing the eleven chapters of the encyclopedia. Each acts as a link and clicking that link reveals a dropdown menu of entries in chronological order. Entries can be opened as PDF documents or as webpages, and if the latter option is selected, the reader can click on an additional link to show associated figures on the right of the page. This allows the reader to consult maps and diagrams as he or she reads, which is a facility particularly useful for this subject, in that it allows the reader to follow the geographical movement of protagonists very easily. The interface, then, works, but it is rather bland, presenting the reader with nothing more than black text on a white background with links offered in blue.
The reader's enjoyment is further dampened by mistakes that should have been detected by the publisher. For instance, the text at the top of the website tells the reader that the encyclopedia comprises two volumes when the associated image shows three; clicking on the link for entry number 61 produces 62 and vice versa; the subscription link is dead; the purchase link does not have a price; there are numerous typographical errors; and finally, editor's or copy-editor's notes in bubble comments are still sometimes apparent on PDFs.
Figures are also often underwhelming. On occasions maps are offered in colour, which is very welcome. Mostly, they are black and white, but utility is enhanced by the use of differing shades. Many times, however, they are simple line drawings covered in place names (see, for instance, Map 9.1 in C. Hassan and M. Brosius's entry on the Persian Wars), and such images are of very limited utility indeed.
Such concerns seem minor, but the high price of the encyclopedia is a considerable financial investment. Is it, then, worth the sum asked? The answer, thankfully, is yes. No work of scholarly endeavour is ever perfect, and while there are, admittedly, some issues with execution and coverage, beyond these, the encyclopedia offers its readers a wealth of knowledge contained in nearly 100 user-friendly and accessible entries written by leading experts. The asking price might prevent private purchase, but given its value to academics and students alike, it would be a wise purchase for any institutional library.
