Recent Entries
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2024-04-19 13:52:08
Gap Week: April 19, 2024 (Manor Lords First Impression)
Hey folks, this week is a bit of a gap week as I am heading out to the annual meeting of the Society for Military History (and, indeed, by the time you read this, I will be there). Normally, I post the abstract of my conference talk for these sorts of things, but since I … Continue reading Gap Week: April 19, 2024 (Manor Lords First Impression)
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2024-04-12 16:30:02
Fireside Friday, April 12, 2024
Fireside this week! Apologies for having so many of these so close together, but the recent car troubles I’ve had have eaten into my time quite a lot. At the same time I am getting ready for the annual Society for Military History conference coming at the end of next week. In an effort to … Continue reading Fireside Friday, April 12, 2024
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2024-04-06 03:35:39
Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triumph, Part IVb: Antiochus III
This is the second part of the fourth part of our four(ish) part (Ia, Ib, IIa, IIb, IIIa, IIIb, IVa) look at the context between the Roman military system based on the manipular legion and the Hellenistic military system structured around the Macedonian sarisa phalanx in the third and second century BC. Last time we … Continue reading Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triumph, Part IVb: Antiochus III
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2024-03-29 21:45:55
Fireside Friday, March 29, 2024 (On Roman Values)
Fireside this week! Apologies for having two of these in a row, but as I noted last week, I’ve had some unexpected (but good) travel, which has made a bit of havoc in my schedule and I am still trying to catch back up. Nevertheless, I wanted to use this week’s fireside to muse a … Continue reading Fireside Friday, March 29, 2024 (On Roman Values)
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2024-03-22 16:26:41
Fireside Friday, March 22, 2024
Fireside this week! The ACOUP schedule might end up being a little unstable for the next few weeks as the coincidence of illness, the dense part of the teaching semester and unexpected travel are playing havoc on my schedule. I can only promise that we will finish the series on the failure of Hellenistic armies, … Continue reading Fireside Friday, March 22, 2024
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2024-03-15 14:45:52
Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triumph, Part IVa: Philip V
This is the first part of the fourth part of our four(ish) part (Ia, Ib, IIa, IIb, IIIa, IIIb) look at why the thing to use to beat a Macedonian sarisa phalanx is, in fact, a Roman legion in the third and second century BC. Last time, we finished our look at the third-century successes … Continue reading Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triumph, Part IVa: Philip V
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2024-03-08 21:36:58
Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triumph, Part IIIb: Pyrrhus
This is the second part of the third part of our four(ish) part (Ia, Ib, IIa, IIb, IIIa) look at the performance of the Roman army and its legions in the third and second century BC against the Hellenistic armies of the heirs of Alexander. Last time, we sought to assess some of the assumed … Continue reading Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triumph, Part IIIb: Pyrrhus
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2024-03-01 15:45:08
Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triumph, Part IIIa: Peak Pike-Phalanx
This is the first part of the third part of our four(ish) part (Ia, Ib, IIa, IIb, IIIa) look at the triumph of the Roman legions in the third and second century over the Hellenistic armies of the heirs of Alexander. Last time, we looked at some of the operational and strategic advantages that the … Continue reading Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triumph, Part IIIa: Peak Pike-Phalanx
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2024-02-23 20:16:34
Fireside Friday, February 23, 2024 (On the Military Failures of Fascism)
Fireside this week! We’ll pick up looking at some of the successes of Hellenistic armies next week. For this week’s musing, I wanted to take the opportunity to expand a bit on a topic that I raised on Twitter which draw a fair bit of commentary: that fascists and fascist governments, despite their positioning are … Continue reading Fireside Friday, February 23, 2024 (On the Military Failures of Fascism)
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2024-02-16 18:46:14
Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triump, Part IIb: Handfuls of Maniples
This is the second part of the second part of the second part of our four part look at the great third and second century BC contest between the Romans and the heirs of Alexander, asking the question, “What can defeat a Macedonian sarisa-phalanx?” Last time, we started looking at the Romans with an in-depth … Continue reading Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triump, Part IIb: Handfuls of Maniples
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2024-02-09 19:48:50
Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triumph, Part IIa: How a Legion Fights
This is the first part of the second part of our four? four part look at the great third and second century BC contest between the Hellenistic armies of the heirs of Alexander and the Roman legions. Last time, we looked at the Hellenistic army as a complete system, incorporating not just the famed Macedonian sarisa-phalanx, … Continue reading Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triumph, Part IIa: How a Legion Fights
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2024-02-02 14:48:30
Fireside Friday, February 2, 2024 (On City Building Games)
Fireside this week! I have just finished up a draft of a chapter (to be in one of those multi-multi-author companion volumes) on how video games (particularly more abstract simulation games) depict the ancient world. Writing that chapter led me to reengage with ancient city builders, particularly Caesar IV, Children of the Nile, Pharaoh: A New Era … Continue reading Fireside Friday, February 2, 2024 (On City Building Games)
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2024-01-26 05:07:07
Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triumph, Part Ib: Subjects of the Successors
This is the second part of the first part of our four part look at the context between the Hellenistic army and its Macedonian phalanx and the Romans with their legions. Last week, we looked at the weapons, organization and fighting style of the Macedonian phalanx, the infantry core of the armies of the Hellenistic world, … Continue reading Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triumph, Part Ib: Subjects of the Successors
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2024-01-19 21:57:03
Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triumph, Part Ia: Heirs of Alexander
This week on the blog we are starting what is a planned four-part series looking at the twilight of Hellenistic warfare and the triumph of the Roman legion. Our core question is a really common one: why was the Roman legion able to decisively defeat the Hellenistic sarisa-phalanx? It’s a question that crops up on social … Continue reading Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triumph, Part Ia: Heirs of Alexander
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2024-01-12 06:07:22
Fireside Friday, January 12, 2024
Fireside this week! The semester has started up in earnest and I am pushing hard to try to finish a draft of something I have promised by the end of the month (so this may not be the only Fireside this month). That said, it seemed like a good time to discuss trade, the sea and great … Continue reading Fireside Friday, January 12, 2024
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2024-01-05 15:25:56
Collections: The Journey of the Roman Gladius and Other Swords
This week I want to do something a little different and discuss the evolution and development of a specific weapon, in this case the famed Roman gladius, the sword of the legions. As we’re going to see, this is going to entail a journey covering quite a bit of both time and space as the gladius … Continue reading Collections: The Journey of the Roman Gladius and Other Swords
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-12-29 18:32:12
Gap Week: December 29, 2023 (Year In Review)
Hey folks! I had planned to do a Fireside for this week with a sort of ‘year-in-review’ musing, but between the holidays and the whole pedant household coming down with a nasty cold, I’m a bit short of the time and energy to put together a full fireside with recommendations. Instead, I’ll offer this brief end-of-year reflection … Continue reading Gap Week: December 29, 2023 (Year In Review)
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-12-22 21:42:33
Collections: How Many People? Ancient Demography
One of the first questions anyone asks about past societies is, ‘how many people were there?’ It is one of those basic bits of information and generally speaking those of us who teach these societies are usually prepared with an estimate to answer the question. But what we often don’t talk about is how we come to … Continue reading Collections: How Many People? Ancient Demography
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-12-15 20:54:59
Collections: Shield Walls and Spacing: Hollywood Mobs and Ancient Tactics
This week, we’re going to take a look at a different aspect of ancient infantry tactics: how heavy infantry shield formations work. While I’ve framed this around ‘shield walls,’ not every kind of shielded heavy infantry fought that way and in practice the line between what is a ‘shield wall’ and what isn’t comes down to … Continue reading Collections: Shield Walls and Spacing: Hollywood Mobs and Ancient Tactics
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-12-08 18:12:58
Fireside Friday, December 8, 2023
Apologies for running a fireside so quickly after the gap week, but with the end of the semester coming as the job market gets busier, I haven’t had time to finish the next post on shield walls just yet. That will come out next week for sure though, as it is close to done. For … Continue reading Fireside Friday, December 8, 2023
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-12-01 21:40:25
No blog post this week, folks, as I am both fiercely busy and – by the time this goes up – out of town. We’ll be back to our regular schedule next week, with the next big topic I want to tackle being what a shield wall is and how it actually functions on a … Continue reading Gap Week: December 1, 2023
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-11-24 18:10:48
Collections: Roman Infantry Tactics: Why the Pilum and not a Spear?
This week’s post is intended to answer a question which came up in response to the last post looking at the most common type of Mediterranean spear, which to put it simply is: what is up with the odd Roman heavy infantry kit built around a sword and two javelins (albeit two javelins of an … Continue reading Collections: Roman Infantry Tactics: Why the Pilum and not a Spear?
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-11-17 19:53:45
Fireside Friday, November 17, 2023
Hey folks! Fireside this week! I was hoping to have a post on Roman infantry tactics this week, in particular the oddity of the Romans not using spear-and-shield infantry (much), but it isn’t ready yet and other things have me quite busy, so fireside it is. Fortunately, we have Ridley Scott to complain about. For … Continue reading Fireside Friday, November 17, 2023
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-11-10 16:48:57
Collections: The Mediterranean Iron Omni-Spear
This week, on a bit of a lark, we’re going to discuss the most common weapon, by far, in the Iron Age Mediterranean (focusing on the period from the 8th to the 1st centuries BC): the humble, effective and ubiquitous thrusting spear. In particular, I want to discuss the striking fact that despite the wide … Continue reading Collections: The Mediterranean Iron Omni-Spear
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-11-03 17:13:21
Collections: How to Roman Republic 101, Addenda: The Provinces
This is the second and (in theory) last addendum to our series on Roman civic governance (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IIIc, IV, V, A1). Having discussed how Rome handles those parts of Italy it controls but which were not part of the Roman Republic itself, we now look at how the Romans govern their overseas … Continue reading Collections: How to Roman Republic 101, Addenda: The Provinces
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-10-27 18:48:53
Fireside Friday, October 27, 2023 (On Politics in Strategy)
Fireside this week! Next week we’ll finally close out the addenda to the How to Roman Republic 101 series with a look at provincial governance, but I don’t think that will be done in time for this week, so I’m throwing a fireside in here in the meantime. That said, I thought it might provide … Continue reading Fireside Friday, October 27, 2023 (On Politics in Strategy)
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-10-20 21:50:46
Collections: How to Roman Republic 101, Addenda: The Socii
This week, as an addendum to our series on Roman civic governance (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IIIc, IV, V), we’re going to take a look at how Rome handles those parts of Italy it controls but which it does not inhabit. These are Rome’s ‘allies’ (socii), a euphemistic label for the Italian communities the Romans … Continue reading Collections: How to Roman Republic 101, Addenda: The Socii
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-10-13 18:36:09
Collections: Ancient Greek and Phoenician Colonization
Davis senatum consuluit a.d. III Idus Octobris apud aedem Patreontis; de colonis Graecis et Punicis verba fecit… This week we’re taking a brief look, by ACOUP Senate request, at Greek and Phoenician colonization in the ancient Mediterranean. In particular, the focus requested was on the relationship of these colonies with both the locals and their … Continue reading Collections: Ancient Greek and Phoenician Colonization
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-10-06 19:15:12
Collections: How to Roman Republic, Part V: The Courts
This is the fifth part of our five part series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IIIc, IV) on the structure of the Roman Republic during the third and second centuries BC, the ‘Middle Republic.’ Last time we looked at the odd but very important role played by the ROman Senate as the central coordinating organ of … Continue reading Collections: How to Roman Republic, Part V: The Courts
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-09-29 19:52:27
Fireside Friday, September 29, 2023 (On Academic Hiring)
Fireside this week! I know we’re all anxious to get to the last part of our look at the Roman Republic – a discussion of Roman courts and the legal system – but academic job season is upon us and I needed to take a week to focus on getting some of those applications out. … Continue reading Fireside Friday, September 29, 2023 (On Academic Hiring)
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-09-22 17:26:19
Collections: How to Roman Republic, Part IV: The Senate
This is the third section of the third part of our our planned five part series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IIIc) on the structure of the Roman Republic during the third and second centuries, the ‘Middle’ Republic.’ Over the last few posts we looked at the role of Roman magistrates who carried out a range … Continue reading Collections: How to Roman Republic, Part IV: The Senate
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-09-15 18:36:37
Collections: The Gap in the Armor of Baldur’s Gate and 5e
This week we’re taking a bit of a detour to critique some video-game armor, in this case the armor of Baldur’s Gate III. I have been meaning to do a general critique of the Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition armor system from a historical perspective for a while, and the massive outsized success of BG3 … Continue reading Collections: The Gap in the Armor of Baldur’s Gate and 5e
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-09-08 06:36:09
Michael Taylor on The Development of the M1 Garand and its Implications
This week, Michael Taylor, Associate Professor of History at SUNY Albany, returns to offer an interesting argument about the longterm impact of the M1 Garand, the US army’s extremely successful World War II and Korean era battle rifle, introduced in 1936. A fantastically successful design, Taylor argues here that it cast a baleful shadow over … Continue reading Michael Taylor on The Development of the M1 Garand and its Implications
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-09-01 05:15:31
Fireside Friday, September 1, 2023
Fireside this week! Depending on the order that things get written, we may have a few weeks of ‘break’ from our How to Roman Republic series, but do not fret: we will finish it. The one thing I am looking to ‘slot in’ as it were is a look at the armor of Baldur’s Gate … Continue reading Fireside Friday, September 1, 2023
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-08-25 17:18:07
Collections: How to Roman Republic, Part IIIc: Ten Tribunes, Two Censors and Twenty-Six Guys
This is the third section of the third part of our our planned five part series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb) on the structure of the Roman Republic during the third and second centuries, the ‘Middle’ Republic.’ Last time we looked at the top of the Roman political career in the republic, the offices that carried … Continue reading Collections: How to Roman Republic, Part IIIc: Ten Tribunes, Two Censors and Twenty-Six Guys
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-08-18 15:49:26
Collections: How to Roman Republic 101, Part IIIb: Imperium
This is the second section of the third part of our planned five part series (I, II, IIIa) on the structure of the Roman Republic during the third and second centuries, the ‘Middle’ Republic. Last week we discussed the overall structure of the ‘career path’ for a Roman politician and the first few offices along … Continue reading Collections: How to Roman Republic 101, Part IIIb: Imperium
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-08-11 05:12:31
Collections: How to Roman Republic 101, Part IIIa: Starting Down the Path of Honors
This is the third of our planned five part series (I, II) on the structure of the Roman Republic during the third and second centuries. Last time we discussed Rome’s popular assemblies, which at least notionally expressed the will of the people. One of the key tasks those assemblies had, we noted, was the election … Continue reading Collections: How to Roman Republic 101, Part IIIa: Starting Down the Path of Honors
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-08-04 16:12:50
Fireside Friday, August 4, 2023
Hey all, Fireside this week, as I look to take a bit of time to focus on getting some writing done and some syllabi written before the semester begins in earnest later this week. Also before we dive in I want to note that it appears that Patreon has been having some trouble processing some … Continue reading Fireside Friday, August 4, 2023
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-07-28 04:48:51
Collections: How to Roman Republic 101, Part II: Romans, Assemble!
This is the second of our planned five-part look (I) at the nature and structure of the Roman Republic, particularly the governing institutions of the Middle Republic, the period of the republic’s height from c. 287-100 BC. Last time we discussed the component parts and nature of the res publica as a whole. This week, … Continue reading Collections: How to Roman Republic 101, Part II: Romans, Assemble!
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-07-21 16:20:38
Collections: How to Roman Republic 101, Part I: SPQR
This is the first of a planned five-part series looking at the structure of the Roman Republic as another example of civic governance structures in antiquity, to match our series on the Greek polis. As with that series, we’re going to start by defining our community and its constituent parts in this part, before moving … Continue reading Collections: How to Roman Republic 101, Part I: SPQR
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-07-14 05:13:33
Fireside Friday, July 14, 2023
Fireside this week! Next week we’re going to launch into our next big series on the structure of the Roman Republic, a companion to How to Polis, 101, but because of what is going on with the book project (a topic on which Patrons get monthly updates!) I wanted a lighter week before we dived … Continue reading Fireside Friday, July 14, 2023
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-07-07 17:45:29
Collections: The Status Quo Coalition
This week we’re going to take a look at an aspect of contemporary international relations, rather than ancient ones. As has become somewhat customary, I am going to use the the week of July 4th to talk about the United States, or more correctly for this July 4th, the informal coalition (with formal components) of … Continue reading Collections: The Status Quo Coalition
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-06-30 16:47:22
Collections: The Marian Reforms Weren’t a Thing
This week we’re going to take a bit of a detour because the previous post on the Roman conscription system, the dilectus, sparked some discussion both here and on social media which made me realize that the popular understanding of the way that the Roman army changed during the Late Republic (c. 133-31 BC, though … Continue reading Collections: The Marian Reforms Weren’t a Thing
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-06-23 04:56:19
Fireside Friday, June 23, 2023 (On Historical Judgement)
Fireside this week! For this week’s musing, I want to consider the role the historian has in making judgements about the past, particularly – but not exclusively – about historical figures and their legacies. In particular, I very often encounter the notion that historians aren’t supposed to make any sort of value judgements about the … Continue reading Fireside Friday, June 23, 2023 (On Historical Judgement)
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-06-16 15:45:26
Collections: How To Raise a Roman Army: The Dilectus
This week we’re going to take a look at the process by which the Romans raised legions in the Middle Republic (c. 290-100 BC, think the age of Pyrrhus, Hannibal and the various well-known Scipios; this is also the period of Rome’s initial overseas expansion and its great power wars), what the Romans called the … Continue reading Collections: How To Raise a Roman Army: The Dilectus
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-06-09 14:42:20
Fireside this week! We actually haven’t had one of these in quite a while; we had a gap week in April but the last Fireside looks like it was in March! In any case, here we are and here’s Ollie: For this week’s musing, I want to muse on the impact of the ‘long peace‘ … Continue reading Fireside Friday: June 9, 2023
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-06-02 17:10:43
This week we’re taking a brief look at Roman roads because that was the topic which won out on the latest ACOUP Senate poll and on this blog we conform to the mos maiorum by following the Senatus Consultum. In particular the question here was from Matthew Runyon who asked, “What was so revolutionary about … Continue reading Collections: Roman Roads
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-05-26 06:12:38
Collections: On the Reign of Cleopatra
This week on the blog we’re going to talk about Cleopatra or to be more specific, we’re going to talk about Cleopatra VII Philopator, who is the only Cleopatra you’ve likely ever heard of, but that ‘seven’ after he name should signal that she’s not the only Cleopatra. One of the trends in scholarship over … Continue reading Collections: On the Reign of Cleopatra
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-05-19 16:45:42
Michael Taylor on John Keegan, Part II: The Mask of Command
This week, Michael Taylor, Associate Professor of History at SUNY Albany, returns to offer a continuation of his look at the work of British military historian John Keegan. Last time, he discussed Keegan’s most famous work, The Face of Battle, while this week Michael turns to discuss what he argues is one of Keegan’s best … Continue reading Michael Taylor on John Keegan, Part II: The Mask of Command
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-05-12 05:05:28
Collections: Who Were ‘the Celts’ and How Did They (Some of Them) Fight?
This week we’re going to take a bit of a detour to talk about how we should imagine the warriors of Gallic/Celtic armies were equipped and fought. I wanted to write about the topic because the YouTube algorithm served me up a video on it, which isn’t ever fully wrong but struck me as importantly … Continue reading Collections: Who Were ‘the Celts’ and How Did They (Some of Them) Fight?
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-05-05 19:31:26
Collections: The Great War: Western Front, A Gain of Inches
This week we’re looking at The Great War: Western Front, a hybrid turn-based/real-time strategy game about the First World War developed by Petroglyph Games, a renowned maker of real-time strategy titles. Petroglyph generally tend to do games set in science-fiction or fantasy settings, so when this product was announced I was immediately interested to see … Continue reading Collections: The Great War: Western Front, A Gain of Inches
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-04-28 05:01:42
Collections: Academic Ranks Explained Or What On Earth Is an Adjunct?
This week we’re going to take a detour into understanding the structure of academia, in particular the different kinds of ‘professors’ and their academic ranks in the American system, with a particular focus on ‘non-tenure track’ faculty (which is to say, as we’ll see, ‘most teaching faculty.’) This is intended as the first in a … Continue reading Collections: Academic Ranks Explained Or What On Earth Is an Adjunct?
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-04-21 03:21:37
Real short update this week folks. Life has opted to intervene (as it does) and to do so on its own schedule (as it will) so there won’t be a blog post this week. We should be back to the normal schedule next week – I have a couple of posts in drafts (one on … Continue reading Gap Week: April 20, 2023
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-04-14 17:14:15
Collections: How to Polis, Part III: People and Gods Beyond the Politai
This is the third and last part of our three(ish) part series looking at the governing structures of the Greek polis (I, IIa, IIb, IIc). Over the last three sub-parts, we looked at the political structures created and manned by the politai. This week I want to look, briefly, beyond the politai themselves to the … Continue reading Collections: How to Polis, Part III: People and Gods Beyond the Politai
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-04-07 16:40:42
Collections: How to Polis 101, Part IIc: The Courts
This is the third part of the second part of our three(ish) part look at the governing structures of the Greek polis (I, IIa, IIb). At some point I promise I will write a series whose organization does not look like a parody of itself. Last time, we looked at the particular role of magistrates … Continue reading Collections: How to Polis 101, Part IIc: The Courts
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-03-31 05:15:49
Michael Taylor on John Keegan’s The Face of Battle: A Retrospective
In a special treat this week, Michael Taylor, Associate Professor of History at SUNY Albany is back (he has written here once before). This time Michael is taking a look back at what is probably “he most influential book on any aspect of military history in the last fifty years” and I’d argue probably the … Continue reading Michael Taylor on John Keegan’s The Face of Battle: A Retrospective
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-03-24 04:23:17
Collections: How to Polis, 101, Part IIb: Archons
This is the second part of the second part of our three(ish) part look at the governing structures of the Greek polis (I, IIa). Last time, we looked at the basic institutions of governance, how nearly every polis has magistrates, an assembly, and one or more councils which function together to govern the polis. We … Continue reading Collections: How to Polis, 101, Part IIb: Archons
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-03-17 16:57:56
Collections: How to Polis, Part IIa: Politeia in the Polis
This is the second post of our three-part series (I) looking at the structure of the ancient Greek polis. Last week we looked at how the Greeks understood the component parts of a polis, so this week we’re going to look at how those parts were governed. The Greek term for the structure of a … Continue reading Collections: How to Polis, Part IIa: Politeia in the Polis
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-03-10 17:21:08
Collections: How to Polis, 101, Part I: Component Parts
This is the first of a planned three part look at the structure of the ancient Greek polis, the self-governing ‘city state,’ as part of a larger series on civic governance in the pre-modern world. Since I argued, way back in June of 2019, that a noble house in Game of Thrones was unlikely to … Continue reading Collections: How to Polis, 101, Part I: Component Parts
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-03-03 17:16:54
Fireside Friday, March 3, 2023
Hey, folks, fireside this week! As this is going up, I am preparing to appear digitally on a panel on “History and the Public, Now and in the Future” at the University of Maryland. March may end up with more than the usual number of firesides, because I actually have three of these invited talks … Continue reading Fireside Friday, March 3, 2023
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-02-24 18:40:56
Collections: One Year Into the War in Ukraine
Today marks the end of the first year of Putin’s War in Ukraine. I will not call it an anniversary, because I don’t think anyone is celebrating. Nevertheless I think this makes a useful moment to look back and take stock of the state of the conflict at present but also on the things I … Continue reading Collections: One Year Into the War in Ukraine
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-02-17 06:44:30
So I stirred up a bit of conversation on Twitter last week when I noted that I had already been handed ChatGPT produced assignments. For those who are unaware, ChatGPT is an ‘AI’ chatbot that given a prompt can produce texts; it is one of most sophisticated bots of this sort yet devised, trained on … Continue reading Collections: On ChatGPT
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-02-10 18:09:15
Fireside Friday, February 10, 2023 (On Academic Freedom)
Fireside this week, the first fireside of the new year! There might be a few more of these than usual over the next few months as I am continuing to work on my book project, but have to balance that with unexpectedly teaching a course on US Naval History, which is of course quite a … Continue reading Fireside Friday, February 10, 2023 (On Academic Freedom)
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-02-03 16:45:53
Collections: The Nitpicks of Power, Part III: That Númenórean Charge
This is the third part of our three part (I, II, III) look at many of the smaller issues of historical realism in Amazon’s Rings of Power, following up our mode the major worldbuilding problems the show experienced. Last time we discussed the tactics (or lack thereof) of the Southlanders and Orcs in the major … Continue reading Collections: The Nitpicks of Power, Part III: That Númenórean Charge
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-01-27 17:33:25
Collections: The Nitpicks of Power, Part II: Falling Towers
This is the second part of our look at many of the smaller issues of historical realism in Amazon’s Rings of Power, following on our more substantive discussion of the major worldbuilding problems the show experienced. I had hoped to keep this at two parts (actually, I had hoped this would just be a one-off … Continue reading Collections: The Nitpicks of Power, Part II: Falling Towers
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-01-20 17:21:08
Collections: The Nitpicks of Power, Part I: Exploding Forges
This week we’re going to return to Amazon’s Rings of Power, as promised in the first post there were a plethora of smaller believably and realism issues with in the show that I wanted to discuss but which didn’t rise to the storytelling problems of those major issues. These are the sorts of small issues … Continue reading Collections: The Nitpicks of Power, Part I: Exploding Forges
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-01-13 15:32:45
Referenda ad Senatum: January 13, 2023: Roman Traditionalism, Ancient Dates and Imperial Spies
Welcome! As we’ve done before, this week I am going to take a chance to answer a few shorter questions posed by my patrons over at Patreon who are the Patres et Matres Conscripti of the ACOUP Senate. As with previous responses, the answers here may not be as exhaustive or careful as they would … Continue reading Referenda ad Senatum: January 13, 2023: Roman Traditionalism, Ancient Dates and Imperial Spies
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2023-01-06 14:31:20
Hey everyone! This week is going to be a gap week as I am currently attending the joint annual meeting for the Society for Classical Studies and Archaeological Institute of America (SCS/AIA). I’ll be presenting on Saturday as part of an excellent panel organized by Jeremy Armstrong and Sally Mubarak on “New Directions in Roman … Continue reading Gap Week, January 6, 2023
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2022-12-30 17:08:38
Miscellanea: What’s the Problem With Antigone?
A bit of an editor’s note before this post, since this is going to involve some ‘inside baseball’ for Classics and some necessary background (also, this is not going to be a ‘family friendly’ post due to the subject matter; reader discretion is advised). The following essay is one I wrote very early in July … Continue reading Miscellanea: What’s the Problem With Antigone?
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2022-12-23 06:13:22
Fireside Friday, December 23, 2022 (W(h)ither History)
Happy Holidays to everyone, however you observe them! I normally take this week off every year but since we had the whole of last month off and I had some things I wanted to expound on, I thought I would do a Fireside instead. In particular, I want to talk about the current state of … Continue reading Fireside Friday, December 23, 2022 (W(h)ither History)
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2022-12-16 06:56:18
Collections: Why Rings of Power’s Middle Earth Feels Flat
This week we’re going to take a look at the worldbuilding of Amazon Studio’s Rings of Power from a historical realism perspective. I think it is no great secret that Rings of Power broadly failed to live up to expectations and left a lot of audiences disappointed. In the aftermath of that disappointment, once one … Continue reading Collections: Why Rings of Power’s Middle Earth Feels Flat
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2022-12-09 16:11:47
Meet a Historian: James Baillie on Digital Humanities and the Medieval Caucasus
Note from the Editor: I’m excited to feature another guest post with you all! This week we have James Baillie discussing how digital humanities and prosopographic methods can be used to better understand the history of the medieval Caucasus. Prosopography is a historical tool-set that is about charting the networks, connections and commonalities of people, … Continue reading Meet a Historian: James Baillie on Digital Humanities and the Medieval Caucasus
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2022-12-02 16:22:16
Collections: Why Roman Egypt Was Such a Strange Province
Welcome back! We are back from our November hiatus and thus back to regular weekly posts! This week we’re going to answer the runner-up question in the last ACOUP Senate poll (polls in which you too can vote if you become a pater aut mater conscriptus via Patreon). The question, posed in two different ways … Continue reading Collections: Why Roman Egypt Was Such a Strange Province
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2022-10-28 05:56:53
Fireside Friday, October 28, 2022 (The Book Project)
Fireside today to close out the week; if you missed the main post for this week – a review and discussion of Victoria III – because it appeared earlier you can head back to read it. This is going to be the last post, however, before my November break. As I’ve noted before, I’m planning … Continue reading Fireside Friday, October 28, 2022 (The Book Project)
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2022-10-24 17:51:36
Miscellanea: Victoria III Confirmed! (First Impressions)
This week’s post is coming to you all a bit early, as the folks at Paradox Interactive were kind enough to send me a review code for Victoria III – Paradox Interactive’s long awaited historical grand strategy game set during 19th and early 20th centuries – so I could have something to say about it … Continue reading Miscellanea: Victoria III Confirmed! (First Impressions)
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2022-10-21 06:56:33
Collections: Strategic Airpower 101
This week, I’m going to offer a fairly basic overview of the concept of strategic airpower, akin to our discussions of protracted war and nuclear deterrence. While the immediate impetus for this post has been Russian efforts to use airpower coercively in Ukraine, we’re going to focus more broadly on the topic: what is strategic … Continue reading Collections: Strategic Airpower 101
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2022-10-14 06:16:59
Collections: Teaching Paradox, Crusader Kings III, Part IV: Emperors, Soldiers and Peasants
This is the last part of a four part series (I, IIa, IIb, III, IV) examining the historical assumptions behind the popular medieval grand strategy game Crusader Kings III, made by Paradox Interactive. In the previous sections, we’d laid out what CKIII does very well: building a simulated model (albeit a simplified one) of power … Continue reading Collections: Teaching Paradox, Crusader Kings III, Part IV: Emperors, Soldiers and Peasants
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2022-10-07 17:09:38
Collections: Teaching Paradox, Crusader Kings III, Part III: Constructivisting a Kingdom
This is the third part of a four part series (I, IIa, IIb) examining the historical assumptions behind the popular medieval grand strategy game Crusader Kings III, made by Paradox Interactive. In the last part (in two sections), we discussed how CKIII attempts to model decentralized political power in the fragmented polities of the medieval … Continue reading Collections: Teaching Paradox, Crusader Kings III, Part III: Constructivisting a Kingdom
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2022-09-30 15:49:52
Collections: Teaching Paradox, Crusader Kings III, Part IIb: Cracks in the House of Islam
This is the back half of the second part of a four part series (I, IIa) examining the historical assumptions behind the popular medieval grand strategy game Crusader Kings III, made by Paradox Interactive. Last time we looked at how the game tried to mechanically simulate the internal structure of the highly fragmented polities of … Continue reading Collections: Teaching Paradox, Crusader Kings III, Part IIb: Cracks in the House of Islam
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2022-09-23 15:30:22
Collections: Teaching Paradox, Crusader Kings III, Part IIa: Rascally Vassals
This is the second part of a four-part (I) series examining the historical assumptions of the popular historical grand strategy game Crusader Kings III, by Paradox Interactive. Last time we opened by discussing how CKIII attempts to simulate and represent the distinctly personal character of rule and decision-making in the Middle Ages and how this … Continue reading Collections: Teaching Paradox, Crusader Kings III, Part IIa: Rascally Vassals
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2022-09-16 15:55:33
Collections: Teaching Paradox, Crusader Kings III, Part I: Making It Personal
This is the first post in a four-part series examining the historical assumptions of Crusader Kings III, a historical grand strategy game by Paradox Interactive set during the Middle Ages and covering Europe, North Africa and both West and Central Asia. This is also the continuation of a larger series on Paradox’s historical grand strategy … Continue reading Collections: Teaching Paradox, Crusader Kings III, Part I: Making It Personal
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2022-09-09 14:11:51
Fireside Friday, September 9, 2022
Fireside this week! I’m back home now from PDXCON2022 so it is back to work. I know there have been a number of requests to know if the historians panel with Eleanor Janega and myself was recorded; it was and the recording is set to be uploaded shortly, but there are a number of turning … Continue reading Fireside Friday, September 9, 2022
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2022-09-02 19:34:19
Hey everyone! This week is going to be a gap week as I am currently at PDXCON 2022, possibly playing the Victoria III preview as you read these very words. I expected there to be no posts this week but controversy overtook that plan so there was something, albeit not the normal fare. Fear not, … Continue reading Gap Week: September 2, 2022
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2022-08-29 20:40:14
New Acquisitions: On the Wisdom of Noah Smith
I generally try to avoid having Twitter disputes spill on to the blog. Generally what happens on Twitter is best left on Twitter and in some cases not even that. However this past week I was pulled into a Twitter debate with Noah Smith about the validity of the way that historians offer our knowledge … Continue reading New Acquisitions: On the Wisdom of Noah Smith
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2022-08-26 14:16:48
Collections: Why No Roman Industrial Revolution?
This week we are taking a look at the latest winner of the ACOUP Senate poll, which posed the question “Why did the Roman Empire have an industrial revolution?” To answer that, we need to get into some detail on what the industrial revolution itself was and the preconditions that produced it, as well as … Continue reading Collections: Why No Roman Industrial Revolution?
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2022-08-19 16:24:50
Collections: This. Isn’t. Sparta. Retrospective
This week I want to do something we haven’t really done before and look back at one of the older series, This. Isn’t. Sparta. (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, Gloss., Retrospective), as I write this now reaching its three-year-anniversary, which seems a good time to make that sort of a retrospective. In particular … Continue reading Collections: This. Isn’t. Sparta. Retrospective
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2022-08-12 16:24:41
Collections: Logistics, How Did They Do It, Part III: On the Move
This is the third part of a three part (I, II) look at some of the practical concerns of managing pre-industrial logistics. In our last post, we outlined what ‘foraging’ actually entailed – how armies got supplies both from friendly populations but also from neutral or hostile populations. In particular, we focused on the considerable … Continue reading Collections: Logistics, How Did They Do It, Part III: On the Move
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2022-08-05 05:35:21
Fireside Friday, August 5, 2022
Fireside this week! We’ve just moved and I am settling in to my new home office, but the slow process of unpacking all of my books has delayed Logistics, Part III. I can, however, give you a picture of the new Fireside, albeit unlit because it is Augustus in the Carolinas and that means it … Continue reading Fireside Friday, August 5, 2022
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2022-07-29 06:50:52
Collections: Logistics, How Did They Do It, Part II: Foraging
This is the second part of a three part (I) look at some of the practical concerns of managing pre-industrial logistics. In our last post we outlined the members of our ‘campaign community,’ including soldiers but also non-combatants and animals (both war- and draft-); they required massive amounts of supplies, particularly food but also fodder … Continue reading Collections: Logistics, How Did They Do It, Part II: Foraging
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2022-07-22 08:07:35
Fireside Friday, July 22, 2022
Fireside this week! I had hoped to have the next post in the logistics and foraging series ready to go for this week but we are also moving house next week and a number of things related to that have gotten in the way. One of those things was Ollie: For this week’s musing, I … Continue reading Fireside Friday, July 22, 2022
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2022-07-15 05:41:19
Collections: Logistics, How Did They Do It, Part I: The Problem
In this series we’re going to be bowing to reader demand and taking a close look at the nuts and bolts of maintaining an army in the field. In our last series, after all, we noted that before gunpowder the ability of a general to affect the course of a battle after it had begun … Continue reading Collections: Logistics, How Did They Do It, Part I: The Problem
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2022-07-08 06:05:36
Collections: Is the United States Exceptional?
It is the week of July 4th and so I hope that everyone will once again forgive me for taking a break from our normal fare to write out an argument that I’ve had brewing for quite some time. I especially beg the indulgence of all of my international readers since I am once again … Continue reading Collections: Is the United States Exceptional?
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2022-07-01 06:03:16
Collections: Total Generalship: Commanding Pre-Modern Armies, Part IIIc: Morale and Cohesion
This is the conclusion of the third part of our series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb) looking at the role of the general in commanding pre-gunpowder armies in battle. Last time we looked at how junior officers, when empowered to act independently, could give armies a degree of flexibility and reactiveness on the battlefield but didn’t … Continue reading Collections: Total Generalship: Commanding Pre-Modern Armies, Part IIIc: Morale and Cohesion
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2022-06-24 05:37:17
Collections: Total Generalship: Commanding Pre-Modern Armies, Part IIIb: Officers
This is the continuation of the third part of our four(ish) part (I, II, IIIa) series looking at the role of the general in commanding pre-gunpowder armies in battle. Last time we looked at how an army’s discipline could limit or expand the options available to its general: drill creating synchronized discipline could expand the … Continue reading Collections: Total Generalship: Commanding Pre-Modern Armies, Part IIIb: Officers
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2022-06-17 16:59:08
Collections: Total Generalship: Commanding Pre-Modern Armies, Part IIIa: Discipline
This is the third(ish) part of our four(ish)-part (I, II) look at the role of the general in the command of pre-modern armies, particularly in the context of a pitched battle. Last time, we looked at the limits on the ability of the general to communicate his orders to his army. While films and video … Continue reading Collections: Total Generalship: Commanding Pre-Modern Armies, Part IIIa: Discipline
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2022-06-10 14:32:10
Fireside Friday, June 10, 2022
Fireside this week! I expect to lean a bit more on Firesides than in the next few months as I am hoping to use the summer to make progress on my book project, which of course is going to impact the speed with which I can deliver you all the 5000-9000 word essays that tend … Continue reading Fireside Friday, June 10, 2022
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2022-06-03 06:36:55
Collections: Total Generalship: Commanding Pre-Modern Armies, Part II: Commands
This is the second of a four-part (I) look at the role of the general in a pre-modern army, particularly in the context of a pitched battle. Last week, we looked at the information a general might have before and during a battle. What we found was that, in contrast to the broadly omniscient generals … Continue reading Collections: Total Generalship: Commanding Pre-Modern Armies, Part II: Commands
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2022-05-27 05:53:43
Collections: Total Generalship: Commanding Pre-Modern Armies, Part I: Reports
This week we’re going to start a four-part look at the role of the pre-modern general or army commander, particularly in the context of a pitched battle. This is of course a vast topic, but we are going to focus not on tactical or strategic questions but on a lot of the nuts and bolts … Continue reading Collections: Total Generalship: Commanding Pre-Modern Armies, Part I: Reports
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2022-05-20 06:32:29
Fireside this week! Next week we’ll be diving into a series (I am imagining four parts) on pre-modern generalship (with a particular emphasis on the broader Mediterranean world in classical antiquity and the middle ages) and the ways that it was shaped by key constraints which are often removed in modern imaginings of command (particularly … Continue reading Fireside Friday, May 20, 2022
From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2022-05-13 06:25:05
Collections: Ancient ‘Tanks’? Chariots, Scythed Chariots and Carroballistae
Building on last week’s post on tanks and a few of the comments there, this week I wanted to talk about the ancient (and medieval) weapon-systems often analogized to tanks and the degree to which they had a role similar to tanks. I have lost count of how many times I have seen in this … Continue reading Collections: Ancient ‘Tanks’? Chariots, Scythed Chariots and Carroballistae