Talk:Battle of Philippi

message: Ok. I tried to rewrite this article on the bttle of Philippi. It was really a shame to have a big article on Phillipi's race battle (totale casualty <100!) and only a stub for the battle of Philippi, the last struggle of the Roman Republic. I read again all main primary sources (the best is Appian, but some good informations also from Suetonius, Plutarch and Velleius). I also draw 3 very simple maps (based on the decription of places by Appian and modern maps of the area. This is my first major editing on Wikipedia (more work than I thought at the beginning...), so I believe the article will need a good polishing (as well as a in-depth check for possible mistakes). As usual fell free to suggest or make changes--Calabrian 22:59, 13 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: The maps look wrong. You might want to check the ones I made for the French wiki based on Heuzey and Collart works : fr:Bataille de Philippes. Marsyas 06:20, 14 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text:  I double-checked the maps and removed the map of armies movements before the battle. These movements were not described in detail in the text. For the two battles I made my simple drawings based on the map of Kromayer and Veith (published in L. Keppie's book) and on two maps available at livius.org (there is a link on the article). The main difference with Heuzey and Collart's map is in the first battle, where Brutus' camp looks separated by Cassius'. According to Appian the camps of Brutus and Cassius (which were 1.5 Km apart) were joined by a single rampart (Ten stades farther are two other hills, at a distance of eighteen stades from Philippi itself and eight stades from each other. On these hills Cassius and Brutus were encamped, the former on the southern and the latter on the northern of the two… Between these hills, eight stades apart, lay the main pass from Europe to Asia as between gates. Across this space they built a fortification from camp to camp, leaving a gate in the middle, so that the two camps became virtually one.). This is followed by the map at livius.org and by Kromayer and I followed this scheme in my drawing. --Calabrian 17:08, 17 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: It does still look wrong. You probably do not know this but the actual hills mentioned have been recognized on site (see Kaïmaris, Georgoula and Karadedos, Photogrammetric and photo interpretation research in the plain of Philipi, Archaiologiko Ergo sti Makedonia kai Thraki 16, 2002, 119-129 : the latest confirmation of Heuzey and Collart). That's the difference between drawing a map solely from the texts, and drawing a map by looking for the topographical features mentioned on the site. Anyway, the second map is still wrong because it's Antony and not Octavian who tries to outflank Brutus. And this manoeuver, on the drawing, extends too far toward the west. Once again look at a topographical map of the area ! Marsyas 07:41, 18 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text:  Wow, excellent work, the original page for this battle was absolutely terrible and to my suprise I returned here and saw a massive improvement, thankyou. NeoRicen 07:02, 5 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Old discussion 

message: Can anyone shed light on an issue that has both puzzled and intrigued me for years?  In internecine battles like Philippi, in the midst of the meele that often resulted, how could Roman legionnaires tell who was on whose side?  At the outset of the battle, yes, battle lines and standards were drawn.  But once the fighting turned into a wild meele, what then?  Did the legionnaires on the contesting sides wear some sort of different armor, or perhaps attached some sort of banner to themselves?  I’d guess it was inevitable that “friendly fire” indicants occurred, but how was wholesale such averted in this or similar battles?  Maybe someone knowledgeable about this period and such matters could add something to the article to this effect.  Thanks much.HistoryBuff14 (talk) 14:33, 16 March 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Logistical consideration:  “Friendly Fire”?   

message: I think it's perhaps more didactic to speak of two battles, as they occurred weeks apart and under very different conditions (the presence of Cassius among them). Perhaps a move to Battles of Philippi might be in order? Ifly6 (talk) 17:05, 20 May 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Battle" of Philippi or "Battles" of Philippi