In this richly illustrated guide, author Konstantin Nossov masterfully analyzes and recreates the weaponry, tactics, and stratagems of the ancient world. He offers first a comprehensive history of siege warfare in Ancient Egypt, Assyria, Judea, Persia, Greece, and Rome as well as Gaul, the Byzantine Empire, the Muslim world, and Medieval Europe. Discover, among other weapons, how scaling ladders, battering rams, borers, siege towers, throwing machines, and finally cannons developed over time. Numerous charts, illustrations, photographs, and tables explain how engineers constructed and adjusted these weapons and how warriors employed them on the battlefield. Chapters on methods of attack and defense show the weapons in action and reveal the various strategies used to implement and to overcome them. Based on an in-depth analysis of the work of ancient engineers, historians, and generals-including Apollodorus, Herodotus, Julius Caesar, Leonardo da Vinci, Livy, Plutarch, Thucydides, Vitruvius, and others-Ancient and Medieval Siege Weapons not only shows you how to recreate the siege weapons themselves but provides a deeper, clearer picture of the history of war.

Gladiatorial games at first served as a solemn funeral rite to honor noble citizens. At the height of their eight-century reign of popularity, the games--which constantly evolved to include new events such as combat with animals and full-scale naval battles--formed the centerpiece of a huge entertainment industry run by cunning entrepreneurs and regulated carefully by the Roman government. Professional gladiators were highly trained and often highly paid, and their ranks, for a time, included women. Slaves who became gladiators could earn their freedom in as few as four wins. They were the boxers or football players of their day. From the author of "Ancient and Medieval Siege Weapons" comes this eye-opening new look at one of the most popular spectacles of ancient Rome. A richly detailed, fascinating guide, "Gladiator "provides a complete, breathtaking tour of gladiator customs and covers every aspect of the gladiator phenomenon--from the types of equipment the different classes of gladiator used, to the high place in society occupied by these sportsmen who were prepared to die.

Elephants have been deployed as weapons for centuries, particularly in South and South-East Asia, where war elephants constituted the bulk of most armies in the region from antiquity right up to the 19th century. This book offers an insight into the incredible history of these "living tanks," focusing on the design of the equipment and armament that made them so terrifying, particularly the development and structure of the fighting tower.
The author, Konstantin S. Nossov goes on to trace the battle history of war elephants, from their deployment against Alexander the Great's army at the battle of Gaugamela, through to their use in the 19th century by the myriad armies of South-East Asia, all the time analyzing the battle formation and tactics of war elephants in action and how these tactics changed over time. He then goes on to examine the most famous action that war elephants took part in, Hannibal's dramatic march over the Alps and his subsequent invasion of Italy. Supported by rare illustrations and full-color original artwork, this book is a vivid account of the development and operation of one of history's most unusual "machines of warfare."