Interview: On the Army of Ptolemaic Egypt w/ Dr. Paul Johstono

The Hellenistic Age Podcast

History

4.7 • 558 Ratings

🗓️ 21 December 2020

⏱️ 42 minutes

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Summary

Though the longest-lived and most wealthy of the Hellenistic "Big 3", the Ptolemaic rulers in Egypt have never really held the distinction as a major military player in the violent struggles of the Hellenistic period, instead often seen as decadent and lazy as per the writings of those like Polybius. Dr. Paul Johstono joins us to discuss his new book “The Army of Ptolemaic Egypt, 323-204 BC: An Institutional and Operational History”, which seeks to challenge this claim and reassert the role of the Ptolemaic kingdom as a significant military force in the Mediterranean, capable of meeting the demands of maintaining a large land and sea empire amidst powerful rivals and often inhospitable environments. Episode Notes: (https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2020/12/21/interview-on-the-army-of-ptolemaic-egypt-w-dr-paul-johstono/) "The Army of Ptolemaic Egypt, 323-204 BC: An Institutional and Operational History" Links: Pen & Sword (https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/The-Army-of-Ptolemaic-Egypt-323-to-204-BC-Hardback/p/17980) Amazon.com (https://www.amazon.com/Army-Ptolemaic-Egypt-323-Institutional/dp/1473833833) Dr. Paul Johstono Links: Twitter (https://twitter.com/ProfPaul_J) Academia.edu (https://air-af.academia.edu/PaulJohstono) Social Media: Twitter (https://twitter.com/HellenisticPod) Facebook (www.facebook.com/hellenisticagepodcast/) Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/hellenistic_age_podcast/) Show Merchandise: Etsy (https://www.etsy.com/shop/HellenisticAgePod) Redbubble (https://www.redbubble.com/people/HellenisticPod/shop?asc=u) Donations: Ko-Fi (https://ko-fi.com/hellenisticagepodcast) Amazon Book Wish List (https://tinyurl.com/vfw6ask)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi there, you're listening to the Hellenistic Age podcast interview episode on the Army of Ptolemaic Egypt with Dr. Paul Jostino.
0:26.6	Hello once again, everyone. Today I have with me Dr. Paul Jostino, a historian and associate professor of leadership studies
0:31.6	at the Air Command and Staff College in Montgomery, Alabama.
0:35.6	He has written numerous articles and chapters on warfare and
0:38.4	violence in the ancient world, and today he's joining us to discuss his book, The Army of
0:42.9	Ptolemaic Egypt, 323 to 204 BC, an institutional and operational history, which was released
0:49.9	late November of this year. Let me begin by saying welcome and thank you for coming on to the show.
0:55.4	Oh, thank you very much. I'm pretty excited to be here. This is one of my first podcast experiences.
1:01.5	As a kid who geeked out over battle scenes and movies like Gladi or in 300, uh, historical
1:07.3	accuracy notwithstanding, I can easily see the appeal of moving into the study of ancient
1:11.9	military history. But perhaps you can give a more learned reason as to what drew you to the realm of
1:17.3	warfare during this period. Okay, so I wound up here for a number of reasons, but I think even for
1:23.9	the academics, there's something about the excitement, the difference of, that comes
1:29.4	through in those movies like Gladiator and 300 that is part of the draw for us as well,
1:36.3	you know, visiting ancient sites and thinking about the, you know, what it means for people
1:40.9	thousands of years ago to have done these things or to think in,
1:45.0	you know, in military terms about a time where the killing happened at very close range
1:50.4	and in a different fashion than it generally does today. So one of my first memories about
1:57.2	military history was watching the Gulf War on TV back in 1991, and I was just blown away
2:04.8	at this display of terribly destructive but monumental endeavor. And that's really true for
2:13.4	warfare on the whole. It's this great builder and destroyer of societies and organizations. And so
2:21.9	that's part of what drew it, drew me to military history. I liked history because I'm a curious
	...

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