Jean Charl Du Plessis's Books

Light Infantry of the Greek and Roman World

Forgotten Heroes of Ancient Warfare

By: Jean Charl du Plessis

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Light Infantry of the Greek and Roman World

Forgotten Heroes of Ancient Warfare

By: Jean Charl du Plessis

Ancient accounts of battle often neglected the role of lightly-armed infantry, presenting the deeds of the heavy infantry, such as Greek hoplites or Roman legionaries, or dashing cavalry charges as the decisive battle winners. This bias was partly due to the light infantry typically being drawn from the poorer sections of society, who could not afford to equip themselves with armor and because they generally fought from a distance, killing from afar with missile weapons, not bravely face-to-face like heroes worthy of recording. Modern research has generally followed this bias. Dr Jean Charl Du Plessis argues that while light infantry might have had a subordinate role in pitched battles, such clashes were relatively rare occurrences. Most ancient campaigns consisted mostly of foraging, raiding and pillaging of enemy territory, minor skirmishes and ambushes, all roles in which light infantry excelled. In particular they were indispensable for an army traversing mountainous or forested terrain. Moreover, he shows that even in pitched battles they were far from useless and made a valuable contribution, typically harassing the enemy as they deployed and screening friendly battle lines from similar treatment. Some, such as Cretan archers or Balearic slingers were highly sought-after specialists. Uniquely, the author draws on years of practical experimentation to demonstrate and test the various weapons used: slings, bows and javelins, including the use of the amentum throwing strap. This yields fresh evidence and insights into matters such as range, penetrative power and the level of skill and practice required. Overall, this is a valuable study of these forgotten heroes of ancient warfare.

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Page Count

374

Publisher

Pen and Sword Military

Published Date

ISBN 10

1399081497

ISBN 13

9781399081498

The Seleucid Army of Antiochus the Great

Weapons, Armour and Tactics

By: Jean Charl Du Plessis

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The Seleucid Army of Antiochus the Great

Weapons, Armour and Tactics

By: Jean Charl Du Plessis

*The Seleucid Empire was a superpower of the Hellenistic Age, the largest and most powerful of the Successor States, and it’s army was central to the maintenance of that power. Antiochus III campaigned, generally successfully, from the Mediterranean to India, earning the sobriquet 'the Great'. Jean Charl Du Plessis has produced the most in depth study available in English devoted to the troop types, weapons and armor of Antiochus’ army. He combines the most recent historical research and latest archaeological evidence with a strong element of reconstructive archaeology, that is the making and using of replica equipment. Sections cover the regular, Hellenistic-style core of the army, the auxiliaries from across the Empire and mercenaries, as well as the terror weapons of elephants and scythed chariots. Weapons and armor considered in great detail, including, for example, useful data on the performance of slings and the wounds they could inflict, drawing on modern testing and the author’s own experience. The army’s performance in its many battles, sieges and campaigns is analysed and assessed.

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Page Count

480

Publisher

Pen and Sword Military

Published Date

ISBN 10

1399091808

ISBN 13

9781399091800

The Truth about Crime

Sovereignty, Knowledge, Social Order

By: Jean Comaroff,John L. Comaroff

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The Truth about Crime

Sovereignty, Knowledge, Social Order

By: Jean Comaroff,John L. Comaroff

In this book, renowned anthropologists Jean and John L. Comaroff make a startling but absolutely convincing claim about our modern era: it is not by our arts, our politics, or our science that we understand ourselves—it is by our crimes. Surveying an astonishing range of forms of crime and policing—from petty thefts to the multibillion-dollar scams of too-big-to-fail financial institutions to the collateral damage of war—they take readers into the disorder of the late modern world. Looking at recent transformations in the triangulation of capital, the state, and governance that have led to an era where crime and policing are ever more complicit, they offer a powerful meditation on the new forms of sovereignty, citizenship, class, race, law, and political economy of representation that have arisen. To do so, the Comaroffs draw on their vast knowledge of South Africa, especially, and its struggle to build a democracy founded on the rule of law out of the wreckage of long years of violence and oppression. There they explore everything from the fascination with the supernatural in policing to the extreme measures people take to prevent home invasion, drawing illuminating comparisons to the United States and United Kingdom. Going beyond South Africa, they offer a global criminal anthropology that attests to criminality as the constitutive fact of contemporary life, the vernacular by which politics are conducted, moral panics voiced, and populations ruled. The result is a disturbing but necessary portrait of the modern era, one that asks critical new questions about how we see ourselves, how we think about morality, and how we are going to proceed as a global society.

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Page Count

368

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

022642507X

ISBN 13

9780226425078

The Seleucid Army of Antiochus the Great: Weapons, Armour and Tactics

By: Jean Charl Du Plessis

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The Seleucid Army of Antiochus the Great: Weapons, Armour and Tactics

By: Jean Charl Du Plessis

The Seleucid Empire was a superpower of the Hellenistic Age, the largest and most powerful of the Successor States, and it's army was central to the maintenance of that power. Antiochus III campaigned, generally successfully, from the Mediterranean to India, earning the sobriquet 'the Great'. Jean Charl Du Plessis has produced the most in depth study available in English devoted to the troop types, weapons and armor of Antiochus' army. He combines the most recent historical research and latest archaeological evidence with a strong element of reconstructive archaeology, that is the making and using of replica equipment. Sections cover the regular, Hellenistic-style core of the army, the auxiliaries from across the Empire and mercenaries, as well as the terror weapons of elephants and scythed chariots. Weapons and armor considered in great detail, including, for example, useful data on the performance of slings and the wounds they could inflict, drawing on modern testing and the author's own experience. The army's performance in its many battles, sieges and campaigns is analyzed and assessed.

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Page Count

352

Publisher

Pen & Sword Military

Published Date

ISBN 10

1399091794

ISBN 13

9781399091794

Light Infantry of the Greek and Roman World

Forgotten Heroes of Ancient Warfare

By: Jean Charl du Plessis

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Light Infantry of the Greek and Roman World

Forgotten Heroes of Ancient Warfare

By: Jean Charl du Plessis

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Page Count

257

Publisher

Pen and Sword Military

Published Date

ISBN 10

1399081519

ISBN 13

9781399081511

Book's by Jean Charl Du Plessis

Light Infantry of the Greek and Roman World

Light Infantry of the Greek and Roman World

The Seleucid Army of Antiochus the Great

The Seleucid Army of Antiochus the Great

The Truth about Crime

The Truth about Crime

The Seleucid Army of Antiochus the Great: Weapons, Armour and Tactics

The Seleucid Army of Antiochus the Great: Weapons, Armour and Tactics

Light Infantry of the Greek and Roman World

Light Infantry of the Greek and Roman World

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