A magnificent victory in battle would mean glory and triumph for an ancient general. At the same time, the defeated commander would face both the immediate military consequences and the humiliation that came with his failure. Lack of morale, piles of corpses, and lost equipment: these were all very real problems that came after the dust had settled on the battlefield.

Theme: Victory and defeat

• Jasper Oorthuys, Introduction to the theme
• John Walsh, Roman victories and coinage
• Ross Cowan, Grinding Pyrrhus down. How Romans recovered from defeat
• Joseph Pietrykowski, To the last man. Failure, sacrifice and the triumph of defeat
• Paul McDonnell-Staff, The consequences of defeat. Sparta and the battle of Sellasia.
• Stafanos Skarmintzos, Phalanx versus Legion. Why Rome won...

Features

• Duncan Campbell, Catapults in the Cohorts. Did Rome's auxiliaries have artillery?
• Murray Dahm, Onasander's General