The Last Great War of Antiquity, James HowardJohnston
The Last Great War of Antiquity, James HowardJohnston
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The Last Great War of Antiquity

Author: James Howard-Johnston

Narrator: Nigel Patterson

Unabridged: 20 hr 50 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 12/07/2021


Synopsis

The last and longest war of classical antiquity was fought in the early seventh century. It was ideologically charged and fought along the full length of the Persian-Roman frontier, drawing in all the available resources and great powers of the steppe world. The conflict raged on an unprecedented scale, and its end brought the classical phase of history to a close. Despite all this, it has left a conspicuous gap in the history of warfare. This book aims to finally fill that gap.

The war opened in summer 603 when Persian armies launched coordinated attacks across the Roman frontier. Twenty-five years later the fighting stopped after the final, forlorn counteroffensive thrusts of the Emperor Heraclius into the Persians' Mesopotamian heartland. James Howard-Johnston pieces together the scattered and fragmentary evidence of this period to form a coherent story of the dramatic events, as well as an introduction to key players—Turks, Arabs, and Avars, as well as Persians and Romans—and a tour of the vast lands over which the fighting took place.

About James Howard-Johnston

James Howard-Johnston is Emeritus Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He was previously a junior research lecturer at Christ Church, Oxford between 1966 and 1971, junior fellow at Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC, from 1968-9, and University Lecturer in Byzantine Studies at the University of Oxford, and fellow of Corpus Christi College from 1971 until 2009. He has also served as both an Oxford City Councilor and an Oxfordshire County Councilor and is married to the novelist Angela Huth.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Ozymandias on December 31, 2021

A Great Military Narrative Accessible To A Wide Audience A lot of academic histories focus on source analysis and criticism as a way of both helping less knowledgeable historians through the reconstruction and emphasizing the areas where conclusions are tendentious or speculative. When source critici......more

Goodreads review by Anubis on July 06, 2022

I have to admit i was quite dissapointed in this book. First of all, the book is a great scholarly achievement. The author took 30 years to write it, and the research is deep and thorough. However, the author lacks the ability to write a book for a wider audience. In a lot of places the author assum......more

Goodreads review by John on May 28, 2023

This book is DENSE. Prepare for a ride. And prepare for a brushup on your 7th century eastern geography. Very schololarly but fairly readable. I had first heard about Heraclius in passing in the 'History of Rome' podcast years ago. The broad outline of how yet another usuper emporer went from defeat......more

Goodreads review by Tony on August 13, 2021

Excellent recreation of a murky, but important conflict. Phocus gets better treatment than in most histories.......more

Goodreads review by Gergő on December 26, 2023

A very detailed analysis of an underrepresented conflict, that does not fail to introduce the wider international political landscape of the era. The author puts great emphasis on the interpretation of the events in different sources. I think the author is not as much familiar with the Sasanian affai......more