Table Of ContentUNIT COHESION AND
WARFARE IN
THE ANCIENT WORLD
MILITARY AND SOCIAL APPROACHES
Edited by
Joshua R. Hall, Louis Rawlings, and Geoff Lee
Unit Cohesion and Warfare in the
Ancient World
This book explores unit cohesion in ancient armies, and how this
contributed to the making of war in the Mediterranean world. It takes a
varied approach to the subject, from looking at individual groups within
larger armies to juxtaposing vertical and horizontal types of cohesion,
providing a more detailed understanding of how groups were kept together.
Within the broader definition of ‘unit cohesion’, this volume approaches
more specific aspects of military cohesion in the ancient Mediterranean world
including how individual soldiers commit to one another; how armies and units
are maintained through hierarchy and the ‘chain of command’; and social
cohesion, in which social activities and aspects of social power help bind an
army or unit together. Examples from across the ancient Mediterranean are
explored in this volume, from Classical Greece to Late Antiquity, with topics
such as how armies and units cohere during the sacking of cities, Roman
standards as a focus of religious cohesion, and how the multi-ethnic mercenary
armies of Carthage cohered. Modern approaches to social cohesion are
deployed throughout, and these essays serve as an important complement to
existing literature on unit cohesion more generally.
Unit Cohesion and Warfare in the Ancient World is of interest to students
and scholars of ancient warfare, military history, and military studies, as
well as those working on the ancient Mediterranean world more broadly.
Joshua R. Hall is a part-time faculty member at Linn-Benton Community
College in Albany, OR, USA. He studies war and social formation in the an-
cient world, and is the author of The Armies of Carthage (Pen & Sword).
Louis Rawlings is a senior lecturer in ancient history at Cardiff University. He
has published extensively on Carthaginian, Greek, and Roman history. He is the
author of The Ancient Greeks at War (University of Manchester Press).
Geoff Lee is an independent researcher, and holds a MA in Ancient History
and Classical Studies. He is an organiser of the International Ancient
Warfare Conference. He is the editor (with H. Whittaker and G. Wrightson)
of Ancient Warfare: Introducing Current Research, Volume 1 (Cambridge
Scholars Publishing).
Unit Cohesion and Warfare
in the Ancient World
Military and Social Approaches
Edited by Joshua R. Hall,
Louis Rawlings, and Geoff Lee
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2023 selection and editorial matter, Joshua R. Hall, Louis Rawlings,
and Geoff Lee; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Joshua R. Hall, Louis Rawlings and Geoff Lee to be
identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors
for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or
other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
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Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-138-04585-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-42624-2 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-17175-3 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781315171753
Typeset in Times New Roman
by MPS Limited, Dehradun
Contents
List of Contributors vii
Unit Cohesion in the Ancient World: An Introduction 1
JOSHUA R. HALL
1 The Eager Amateur: Unit Cohesion and the Athenian
Hoplite Phalanx 11
ROEL KONIJNENDIJK
2 The Rhodian Slingers in Xenophon’s Anabasis 28
C. W. MARSHALL
3 Keeping It Together: Aeneas Tacticus and Unit
Cohesion in Ancient Greek Siege Warfare 45
AIMEE SCHOFIELD
4 ‘Once within the Gates’: Storming Cities and Unit
Cohesion in Ancient Mediterranean Warfare 62
GABRIEL BAKER
5 Unit Cohesion in the Multi-Ethnic Armies of Carthage 78
JOSHUA R. HALL AND LOUIS RAWLINGS
6 Roman Standards and Trumpets as Implements of
Cohesion in Battle 106
ADAM O. ANDERS
7 The Legionary Standards as a Means of Religious
Cohesion 126
BEN GREET
vi Contents
8 Looking for Unit Cohesion at the End of Antiquity 140
CONOR WHATELY
9 ‘… They Were Routed’: Cohesion and Disintegration
in Ancient Battle 158
LOUIS RAWLINGS
Index 180
Contributors
Adam O. Anders holds a PhD from Cardiff University, specializing in the
ancient Roman army. He currently teaches at a private high school in
Poland and spends much of his time writing.
Gabriel Baker teaches history at the University of Chicago Laboratory
School. He is the author of various articles on ancient warfare, and of
Spare No One: Mass Violence in Roman Warfare (Rowman & Littlefield).
Ben Greet holds a PhD from the University of Leeds. His research has
generally focused on the eagle as a symbol in Roman culture.
Roel Konijnendijk is a lecturer at New College, Oxford. He is the author of
many articles on Greek warfare, as well as Classical Greek Tactics: A
Cultural History (Brill).
C. W. Marshall is a professor of Greek at the University of British Columbia.
He is an expert in Greek drama, having written extensively on the topic. His
most recent book is Aeschylus: Libation Bearers (Bloomsbury).
Aimee Schofield holds a PhD from the University of Manchester. Her
research has focused on siege equipment in the ancient world.
Conor Whately is an associate professor at the University of Winnipeg. He
has published on many aspects of ancient warfare, and has recently
authored Procopius on Soldiers and Military Institutions in the Sixth-
Century Roman Empire (Brill).
Unit Cohesion in the Ancient World:
An Introduction
Joshua R. Hall
What makes soldiers fight? This has been a perennial question for military
theorists. Explanations have ranged in perspective from generals who were
concerned with the overall function of their armies, groups whose focus was
on their own success, to individuals with their personal motivations. This
volume uses the concept of ‘unit cohesion’ to explore this question, and to
consider specifically what makes armies, units, and soldiers effective in war
and combat. ‘Unit cohesion’ is a broadly defined set of motivations and
pressures that act within armies, units, and between individuals, and which
allows for the coordination of soldiers. It affects the effectiveness of military
units, whether they are ad hoc agglomerations formed for specific opera-
tions, or long-existing entities with formal organizations and institutional
frameworks. The former can be as unstructured as a posse or a lynch mob,
while the latter may have a long history and strict hierarchy. Loosely or-
ganized units can be seen in some of the armies of Carthage, as discussed
below by Hall and Rawlings, in which groups of mercenaries were hired for
specific campaigns and may not have existed as single, cohesive, units before
this. More structured units can be found in armies like that of the Roman
Empire, whose institutions, such as the system of standards, discussed in this
volume by Ben Greet, contributed to their overall effectiveness.
The types of motivation underlying the concept of unit cohesion are most
evident – and important – in combat situations. The scholars who contributed
to this volume engage with this important concept in a variety of ways to
analyse this fundamental dynamic in the military effectiveness of ancient ar-
mies. Chapters range from looking at small units, such as the mercenary
companies in service of Carthage, analysed by me and Louis Rawlings, to
entire armies, as by Adam Anders in his examination of how battlefield
communications contributed to the cohesiveness of the Roman army. By
taking various approaches, this book contributes to our understanding of
both unit cohesion and ancient armies from many different perspectives and
across geographical and chronological boundaries.
It is worth noting that cohesion is not an entirely new concept but has
been implicit in ‘top-down’ explanations that ascribe an army’s success to its
commanders, discipline, and training. These factors are cited as giving
DOI: 10.4324/9781315171753-1
