The Roman army was the greatest fighting machine the ancient world produced. The Roman Empire depended on soldiers not just to win its wars, defend its frontiers and control the seas but also to act as the engine of the state. Roman legionaries and auxiliaries came from across the Roman world and beyond. They served as tax collectors, policemen, surveyors, civil engineers and, if they survived, in retirement as civic worthies, craftsmen and politicians. Some even rose to become emperors.

Gladius takes the reader right into the heart of what it meant to be a part of the Roman army through the words of Roman historians, and those of the men themselves through their religious dedications, tombstones, and even private letters and graffiti. Guy de la Bédoyère throws open a window on how the men, their wives and their children lived, from bleak frontier garrisons to guarding the emperor in Rome, enjoying a ringside seat to history fighting the emperors' wars, mutinying over pay, marching in triumphs, throwing their weight around in city streets, and enjoying esteem in honorable retirement.

• We started tracking this book on February 14, 2020.
• This book was £16.99 when we started tracking it.
• The price of this book has changed 27 times in the past 1,892 days.
• The current price of this book is £2.99 last checked 6 minutes ago.
• The lowest price to date was £2.99 last reached on April 11, 2025.
• This book has been £2.99 9 times since we started tracking it.
• The highest price to date was £16.99 last reached on February 14, 2020.
• This book has been £16.99 one time since we started tracking it.
• This book is currently at its lowest price since we started tracking it.

• HistoryAncient
• HistoryMilitary

• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Disabled
• Print Length: 657 Pages
• File Size: 160 KB