Aeneas Tacticus

Aeneas Tacticus<ref>The error or typo "Tacitus" instead of "Tacticus" is more frequent than expected. See {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> (Template:Langx; fl. 4th century BC) was one of the earliest Greek writers on the art of war and is credited as the first author to provide a complete guide to securing military communications.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Polybius described his design for a hydraulic semaphore system.<ref>Polybius, 10.44–45</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

File:Aeneas Tacticus ed. Casaubon 1609 title.jpg

Part-title page of the first printed edition of Aeneas Tacticus, by Isaac Casaubon, an appendix to his edition of Polybius (Cologne, 1609)

According to Aelianus Tacticus and Polybius, he wrote a number of treatises ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) on the subject. The only extant one, How to Survive under Siege (Template:Langx, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), deals with the best methods of defending a fortified city. An epitome of the whole was made by Cineas, minister of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus. The work is chiefly valuable as containing a large number of historical illustrations.<ref name="EB1911">{{#if: |

   |{{#ifeq: Aeneas Tacticus |
                |{{#ifeq: |
                             |
                             |
                           }}
                |
               }}
  }}{{#ifeq:  |
   |{{#ifeq: 1 |
                                    |This article
                                    |One or more of the preceding sentences
                                   }} incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: 
  }}{{#invoke:template wrapper|{{#if:|list|wrap}}|_template=cite EB1911
   |_exclude=footnote, inline, noicon, no-icon, noprescript, no-prescript, _debug

   | noicon=1
  }}{{#ifeq:  ||}}</ref>

Aeneas was considered by Isaac Casaubon to have been a contemporary of Xenophon and identical with the Arcadian general Aeneas of Stymphalus, whom Xenophon (Hellenica, vii.3) mentions as fighting at the Battle of Mantinea (362 BC).<ref name="EB1911"/>

Further reading

• Aeneas Tacticus, Asclepiodotus, Onasander. Translated by Illinois Greek Club. Loeb Classical Library. Template:ISBN
• Whitehead, David. 2002, Aineias the Tactician: How to Survive Under Siege. Second edition (First edition 1990). Bristol Classical Press. Template:ISBN.
• Jenkins, Thomas E. 2006. "Epistolary Warfare" in Intercepted Letters: Epistolarity and Narrative in Greek and Roman Literature. Lexington Books. pp. 51–59. Template:ISBN.
• Kai Brodersen: Aineias/Aeneas Tacticus. Poliorketika (Tusculum). Greek and German. De Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2017, Template:ISBN.

See also Chisholm 1911 for a long list of editions and commentaries.

External links

• Aeneas Tacticus (complete text, Greek and English translation)
• How to Survive Under Siege