"Books on the Syrian Wars?" Topic

Can anyone please recommend any books on the Syrian Wars fought between the Successor states?

I am looking for something that offers details on the various battles and forces involved.

Cheers,
Raglan

Battles of the Greek and Roman Worlds a chronological compendium of 667 battles to 31BC From the Historians of the Ancient World, Edited by John Drogo Montagu, Greenhill Books Coyright 2000 ISBN 1-85367-389-7

VR
James Mattes

What?!? You dont have that book!?! Thats a must have for cross referencing battle dates across the Mediteranean.

First Syrian war (274-271 BC)
Second Syrian war (c.260-253 BC)
Third Syrian or Laodikean war (246-241 BC)
Fourth Syrian war (219-216 BC)
Fifth Syrian war (202-195 BC)
Sixth Syrian war (170-168 BC)

Grainger (Seleukid prosopography, 2010: 337–402) misguidedly designates three conflicts between the Seleukids and Ptolemies in the late-second century BCE as the seventh, eighth, and ninth Syrian wars… but they are really just Seleukid or Ptolemaic civil wars which included allies from the (normally) rival states.

Raphia (217 BC) was one of the only well documented battles of the six wars. Otherwise, there is little specific info.

For Seleukid OrBats in general, see here link

Bar-Kochva's "The Seleucid army: organization and tactics in the great campaigns" is the single best secondary source for the Seleukid army. link

I concur with HarryHotspur although I would just add that Bar-Kochva's work is probably the best out there heavily based upon primary sources but in one tome, you can't go wrong, although very expensive. Another book you should get hold of is "Antigonos the One-Eyed and the creation of the Hellenistic State" by Richard A. Billows, another excellent source for material for successor wars.

Primnarily aimed at equiping and organisation and for a late period of the successor wars, but never the less a useful book to have is N. Sekunda's work "Hellenistic Infantry Reform in the 160's BC". (This is the tome behind the Montvert publications of the Seleucid and Ptolemaic armies).

Must have is F.W Walbank's "The Hellenistic World" – for a political and generalised military overview of the successor kingdoms from the death of Alexander the Great to the coming of Rome.

These would be useful as well if you can get them:

Mercenaries of the Ancient World by Serge Yalichev

Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army by Donald W. Engels

The Wars of the Ancient Greeks by Victor Davis Hanson.

I hope this helps.

Oh I forgot the two books by Bob Bennett – Wars of the Successors link

and

link

and Joseph Pietrykowski's Great Battles of the Hellenistic World link