Roman Republican Sieges: Operations in Gaul and Hispania (Frontiers of the Roman Empire Supplementary Series)

Sieges and siege-related activities played a significant role in the development of Rome’s power in Hispania and Gaul during the late-Roman Republic.They were made possible by the efficient Roman ‘military machine’ available to commanders during this period - a constantly adapting and improving army, highly regularised encampments and lethal artillery. The narration of Caesar’s sieges by Caesar himself and his literary successor Hirtius, makes them seem unusual and inventive, probably to emphasise Caesar’s brilliance as a military commander.They were not that different or new though, as shown by the close similarity between established Hellenistic siege practices and the general evidence of sieges in Gaul and Hispania. It can often seem that siege fieldworks were ‘operation-specific’ to sieges, but essentially just mining and ramps were siege-only techniques.Most of the other works were simply implementations of the normal repertoire of the army’s fortifications, just as the artillery