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A review by dorinlazar
Armies of the Thracians and Dacians, 500 BC to Ad 150: History, Organization and Equipment by Gabriele Esposito
2.0
Thanks are in order for NetGalley and Pen & Sword for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I was absolutely extatic about the topic of this book. It's pretty hard to find quality material that is looking at the Thracians and Dacians. Unfortunately, with high expectations come great disappointments as well; the material is merely a short introduction on the topic, and by no means an exhaustive approach to a very big topic.
The book is split into four main parts - a history of the Thracians and their relationship with the Greek warriors, a history of the Dacians, and their conflicts with the Romans, then a presentation of the Thracian fighters, followed by a presentation of the Dacian fighters.
The author starts by going at lightning speed through a large period of time - starting from the Trojan war, and ending with the Gothic invasions in late fourth century. The first two parts are not only covering a huge chunk of history, but skipping a lot of details pertaining to the topic; for example, there's no mention of the somewhat legendary Dromichaites, nor much is said about Burebista and his tribal union. A lot of conflicts between the Roman and the Thracian tribes is omitted or glossed over. Perhaps the most satisfying part is a more meaty description of the Trajan's wars with Decebalus.
The final third of the book consists of two chapters dedicated to the specifics of each of the armies. Unfortunately, covering a large time period makes it a difficult task to make a clear image of how the army looked in various eras, although the author tries their best.
The book contains a lot of pictures from two reenactment groups; and while the pictures are quite interesting to watch, they don't seem synchronized with the contents of the book. I would've loved to see more examples with a focus on the equipment when the author talked about specific equipment, in the last chapters.
The writing is very condensed, with long paragraphs that feel like they require a bit more editing. It made reading the book a bit more difficult for a relatively short book. I would've loved if there was a bit more structure to the book, a bit more focus and lot more detail.
It might be a good introductory book on the topic; far from exhaustive, it feels like a cursory glance - not necessarily superficial, but definitely not diving in depth.
I was absolutely extatic about the topic of this book. It's pretty hard to find quality material that is looking at the Thracians and Dacians. Unfortunately, with high expectations come great disappointments as well; the material is merely a short introduction on the topic, and by no means an exhaustive approach to a very big topic.
The book is split into four main parts - a history of the Thracians and their relationship with the Greek warriors, a history of the Dacians, and their conflicts with the Romans, then a presentation of the Thracian fighters, followed by a presentation of the Dacian fighters.
The author starts by going at lightning speed through a large period of time - starting from the Trojan war, and ending with the Gothic invasions in late fourth century. The first two parts are not only covering a huge chunk of history, but skipping a lot of details pertaining to the topic; for example, there's no mention of the somewhat legendary Dromichaites, nor much is said about Burebista and his tribal union. A lot of conflicts between the Roman and the Thracian tribes is omitted or glossed over. Perhaps the most satisfying part is a more meaty description of the Trajan's wars with Decebalus.
The final third of the book consists of two chapters dedicated to the specifics of each of the armies. Unfortunately, covering a large time period makes it a difficult task to make a clear image of how the army looked in various eras, although the author tries their best.
The book contains a lot of pictures from two reenactment groups; and while the pictures are quite interesting to watch, they don't seem synchronized with the contents of the book. I would've loved to see more examples with a focus on the equipment when the author talked about specific equipment, in the last chapters.
The writing is very condensed, with long paragraphs that feel like they require a bit more editing. It made reading the book a bit more difficult for a relatively short book. I would've loved if there was a bit more structure to the book, a bit more focus and lot more detail.
It might be a good introductory book on the topic; far from exhaustive, it feels like a cursory glance - not necessarily superficial, but definitely not diving in depth.