Greatest Ancient Military Power

Edited by Darius of Parsa - 14-Nov-2007 at 00:26

Again I have to say this is really in itself a meaningless poll.

These polls are basically meaningless. They add absolutley nothing because no comparison criteria are given in order to make a comparison in order to give a meaningful vote. Polls are to my mind far away from the Blood and Guts which you use. Yes polls properly set up with proper criteria are fine but this type of one is really meaningless.

Originally posted by Peteratwar These polls are basically meaningless. They add absolutley nothing because no comparison criteria are given in order to make a comparison in order to give a meaningful vote. Polls are to my mind far away from the Blood and Guts which you use. Yes polls properly set up with proper criteria are fine but this type of one is really meaningless.   Please feel free to track down as many of my threads as you wish. You probably won't find any more for this thread but you might on two others of a similar ilk. Whre I may say I got a much more courteous reply agreeing with me

Since ancient warfare lasted and developed for thousands of years, this thread is a difficult one to reply to. The Assyrian empire at the time of the siege of Lachish, for example, was the most superior and excellent army the world had ever seen without fail. About 1'500 years earlier it was the Akkadian empire, so it's very hard to answer these questions without really saying what specific period in ancient history you mean. I chose "romans" because in the wide period we call "ancient history" (around 4000 BC - 476 AD) they were overall the best drilled fighting force, but this is in the imperial period. The "Romans" who repulsed the Gauls in 390/389 BC and the "Romans" who faced the early etruscan kingdoms in the monarchial period (753 - 509 BC) were extremely different and neither qualifies to being the great fighting force that the Julio-Claudian legions were. Overall, yes, I would say the Roman legions at the high imperial time were the apex of Roman military development, but earlier, I would have to say the Macedonian phalanx and some of the Diadochi siege forces of the Antigonids, such as Demetrius's "Agepolis" - one of the largest pieces of siege equipment to ever exist. However I'd say that putting those such as Akkadians, Early Dynastic Egyptians, Elamites, Sumerians and Early Persians on the list really is a waste of time because these were the start of military manpower and since not much had existed prior, we don't know upon what criteria to judge them. One thing I would say to people such as "peteratwar", I do understand your fustration, but fundamentally this is an educational forum and anything that stimulates debate can't be a bad thing now can it?

Edited by Aster Thrax Eupator - 17-Mar-2008 at 09:23

Sassanid Persians were one of the mightiest ancient forces. They have beaten Roman armies several times, conquered Egypt, held all Eurasian barbarians out of middle east and beat them several times. Sassanid heavy cavalries and war elephants were among the deadliest warring machines.  




Edited by Suren - 24-Mar-2008 at 09:35

Originally posted by JUliusAugustus suren, that is an amazing picture, where did you find that?

It is in the Bastan Arch in Kermanshah. The arch dates back to 590 to 628 A.D.

Edited by Darius of Parsa - 05-Apr-2008 at 01:03

Sorry about that, I normally deal with history B.C, so it is natural for me to write it. It is A.D. The Sassanid Era lasted from 226-651 A.D.

Edited by Darius of Parsa - 05-Apr-2008 at 01:05

why no body chose carthage? they are great kingdom and nearly defeat roman