Marcellus military exploits were largely unmatched by any other aristocrat of Roman Middle Republic. As a young soldier in the First Punic War, he won a reputation for his skill in single combat. In his first consulship, he earned a triumph for defeating a Gallic tribe, no small feat in and of itself, and also slew the Gallic chieftain Britomartus in single combat. Consequently, he earned the spolia opima, an honor, according to Roman antiquarians, that had only been earned twice before, once by Romulus himself. He went on to defeat the hitherto-invincible Hannibal in a small battle around the central Italian city of Nola, and subsequently led an army to subdue and plunder the powerful city of Syracuse in an epic 2 year siege (despite the ingenius defensive measures of the inventor Archimedes). Yet, despite his undeniable success as a warrior and commander, Marcellus met with considerable political opposition at Rome. Marcellus career not only makes exciting reading, but gives an excellent vantage point from which to view the military and political struggles of the period and the role of military successes in the aristocratic culture of the Roman Republic. His biography will be an important addition to existing works on Roman military history. AUTHOR: Jeremiah McCall has a PhD in Ancient History and specializes in the military and political culture and systems of the Roman Republic and Historical Game Studies. He teaches high school history--his calling--at Cincinnati Country Day School in Ohio and is a pioneering advocate of the use of video games as a means for learning history. His previous books on ancient history include: The Cavalry of the Roman Republic (2002); The Sword of Rome (2012), Swords and Cinema (2014), and Clan Fabius, Defenders of Rome (2018), of which the last three were published by Pen & Sword.
