Dr Adrian Goldsworthy

We do.

I mean, Arian was himself a military man.

He's Greek by heritage, Greek from Asia Minor, but he's also a Roman senator.

Governs the province of Cappadocia, which is in eastern Turkey, under the Emperor Hadrian.

Commands an army, wrote about that.

So he understood military theory.

He understood military practice.

At one fascinating point where he's talking about Alexander bridging a major river, and he says, I don't know how they did this, but this is how the army does it now.

Aha.

And curiously enough, that's the only detailed record we have of the army in the second century AD, the Romans, of how they did it.

So he's throwing this in.

So there is, he is a knowledgeable sober man relying particularly on Ptolemy, one of Alexander's generals who wrote his own account in the immediate aftermath of Alexander's death.

But obviously with the political agenda, this is the man who's founded his dynasty based around Egypt.

So Arrian gives you loads of detail.

It's quite sober.

It seems quite precise.

It's sometimes frustrating about the numbers that he doesn't always tell you.

He just assumes you know and assumes some practices.

So he'll mention that there was a daily order of march for the army and the units of the phalanx seem to have changed over and taken their turn in front.

Presumably in front, you don't get so much dust in your face.