Looking for Arrian's Ars Tactica

[Andreas Johansson]

Discussion of these possiilities here, among other places:

That was quite interesting, thanks for posting it

[PMBardunias]

Yes, Arrian's Tactics is very similar to Aelian's, though Arrian throws in a few more Roman examples, and has an extended section on Roman cavalry exercises.

Both are in turn similar to Asclepiodotus. It is commonly supposed that they share a common source, and this common source may be Poseidonius (now lost) - which might possibly in turn be based on a Tactics by Polybius (now lost), though the levels of speculation mount the further back you go.

The lost works that these authors had access to are many and ancient. Aneas Tacticus for example, was a contemporary of Xenophon. Although we only have his work on defending and taking cities, the Poliokretika, we know he wrote other influential Tactica. You can read his existing work here: http://www.aeneastacticus.net/public_html/text.htm

Thayer's site has this fragment: "And upon the subject of tactics in Homer we have read Stratocles and Hermeas and Fronto the ex consul of our own time. Now the theory has been elaborated by Aeneas in detail (and he also composed a considerable number of military manuals, of which Cineas the Thessalian made an epitome), and by Pyrrhus of Epirus, who composed a treatise on tactics, and by Alexander his son, and by Clearchus."

[Duncan Head]

Now Pyrrhos' views on tactics would be an interesting read. Fingers crossed for a papyrus, somewhere ...

[RichT]

Now Pyrrhos' views on tactics would be an interesting read. Fingers crossed for a papyrus, somewhere ...

Indeed. Although on the other hand, many might be disappointed, as I suspect (just a suspicion) that Pyrrhus' work would be very similar to Asclepiodotus, Aelian and Arrian. While there's a tendency to view the three As as philosophical, theoretical and dry, I suspect this is what a Tactica was supposed to look like - The Art of Tactics being about organisation and drill rather than deployment and manoeuvres, as we (as wargamers) might hope. (But an alternative view of the As is that they are a tradition of cut down, glossary-like summaries or accompaniments to the Tactics proper, which would themselves have been more interesting.)

I also suspect that the Tactica in the form we have them are very much a Macedonian/Hellenistic phenomenon, and whatever the Tactics of Aeneas might have been like, it wouldn't have been much like what we know from the As (perhaps being closer to the Siegecraft that survives, or the cavalry works of Xenophon). I don't know of any firm evidence for that though - it's just based on the link between 'the subject of tactics in Homer' and the supposedly Homeric origins of the Macedonian phalanx - which to be even more verbose about it comes from Diodorus 16.13.2 "Indeed he [Philip II] devised the compact order and the equipment of the phalanx, imitating the synaspismos of the warriors at Troy, and was the first to organize the Macedonian phalanx" and Polybius 18.29.5 (much discussed) "if only the [Macedonian] phalanx is properly formed and the men close up properly both flank and rear, like the description in Homer - 'So buckler pressed on buckler; helm on helm...'", plus the references to Homer in the introductions of the As. So I suspect that there were no 'Hoplite Tactica' similar to the As but for the pre-Macedonian phalanx. I may be right, I may be wrong.

[Duncan Head]

Among other reasons that Pyrrhos' work would be interesting is that it may be the first example, and origin of, the Macedonian/Hellenistic Tactica tradition. If Aineias' lost works are, as Rich suggests (probably rightly in my opinion) something in a different genre, then Pyrrhos seems to  be the earliest writer mentioned working in this style. Which does bring the origin of the tradition back quite close to Alexander - Ailian at least specifically says that you will read here how Alexander organised his army.

[PMBardunias]

Among other reasons that Pyrrhos' work would be interesting is that it may be the first example, and origin of, the Macedonian/Hellenistic Tactica tradition. If Aineias' lost works are, as Rich suggests (probably rightly in my opinion) something in a different genre, then Pyrrhos seems to  be the earliest writer mentioned working in this style. Which does bring the origin of the tradition back quite close to Alexander - Ailian at least specifically says that you will read here how Alexander organised his army.

This is also from Thayer's site, but I am unsure of the author, perhaps Arrian? "Aeneas defined it (sc. tactics) as the science of military movements, but the definition of Polybius was, that tactics was when a man took an unorganized crowd, arranged it, divided it into companies, grouped them together, and gave them a practical military training."

So I would agree that what Aeneas wrote would not be dissimilar to a distillation of the tactical writings of Xenophon. For example his "dinner drill" description of doubling, but with all of the fictional elements stripped away. Also, we must consider the audience. It is clear from Xenophon's description of Spartan drill that he expected his audience to be clueless.  When I first did a Laconian countermarch in files I was amazed at how simple it was in execution. Literally 5 minutes of training required. This should not be surprising because most hoplite armies were not much more than crowds executing military movements compared to the military  Polybius knew.

[RichT]

This is also from Thayer's site, but I am unsure of the author, perhaps Arrian? "Aeneas defined it (sc. tactics) as the science of military movements, but the definition of Polybius was, that tactics was when a man took an unorganized crowd, arranged it, divided it into companies, grouped them together, and gave them a practical military training."

That's Aelian (ch. 3).

[PMBardunias]

This is also from Thayer's site, but I am unsure of the author, perhaps Arrian? "Aeneas defined it (sc. tactics) as the science of military movements, but the definition of Polybius was, that tactics was when a man took an unorganized crowd, arranged it, divided it into companies, grouped them together, and gave them a practical military training."

That's Aelian (ch. 3).

Thanks Rich!