Arther Ferrill (born 1938),"Arther Ferrill." ''Contemporary Authors Online''. Detroit: Gale, 2002. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, 2017-07-09. now a professor emeritus of history at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

at Seattle,McLemmee, Scott (September 27, 2002).
Rehabilitating Livia: By focusing on the biases of ancient historians, a scholar provides an antidote to old views of Roman rulers
(preview only; subscription required). ''

The Chronicle of Higher Education ''The Chronicle of Higher Education'' is an American newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty and student affairs professionals, including staff members and administrators. A subscription ...

''. is a respected expert on

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

and

military history Military history is the study of War, armed conflict in the Human history, history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, cultures and economies thereof, as well as the resulting changes to Politics, local and international relationship ...

. He has written four books and is a regular contributor to '' MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History'' () and other periodicals, as an author and in review of other authors.

Life and work

Born in

Enid, Oklahoma Enid ( ) is the ninth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the county seat of Garfield County, Oklahoma, Garfield County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 51,308. Enid was founded during the openin ...

, Ferrill earned a B.A. at the University of Wichita (now

Wichita State University Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

) in 1960. He went on to graduate study at the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

, where he received a master's degree in 1961 and a Ph.D. in 1964. In ''The Fall of the Roman Empire: The Military Explanation'' (1998 ), Ferrill supports the claims of

Vegetius Publius (or Flavius) Vegetius Renatus, known as Vegetius (), was a writer of the Later Roman Empire (late 4th century). Nothing is known of his life or station beyond what is contained in his two surviving works: ''Epitoma rei militaris'' (also r ...

, about increased " barbarisation" and "

germanisation Germanisation, or Germanization, is the spread of the German language, people, and culture. It was a central idea of German conservative thought in the 19th and the 20th centuries, when conservatism and ethnic nationalism went hand in hand. In l ...

" helping to cause the collapse of the

Western Roman Empire In modern historiography, the Western Roman Empire was the western provinces of the Roman Empire, collectively, during any period in which they were administered separately from the eastern provinces by a separate, independent imperial court. ...

in the fifth century AD. He asserts that allowing barbarians to settle within Rome's borders, to act as a buffer zone against other barbarians, created friction and led to a decrease in the size of the Roman Empire's Borders. He also states that the Germans were recruited in such large numbers by the Western empire that they in fact changed it from a Roman to a German culture. For example, field army units would not use their helmets, the pilum was replaced, and the standard of drill declined, leading to a lack of military skill within the empire. Among his other works are: *''Caligula: Emperor of Rome''.

Thames & Hudson Thames & Hudson (sometimes T&H for brevity) is a publisher of illustrated books in all visually creative categories: art, architecture, design, photography, fashion, film, and the performing arts. It also publishes books on archaeology, history, ...

, 1991. *''The Origins of War: From the Stone Age to Alexander the Great''. Thames & Hudson, 1985. Revised edition, Westview Press, 1997. *''Roman Imperial Grand Strategy''.

University Press of America University Press of America (''UPA'') is the former name of an American Academic publishing, academic publishing company based in Lanham, Maryland, which became the parent company of Rowman & Littlefield publishing house, then was later re-intr ...

, 1991.

References

External links

Faculty profile University of Washington, SeattleUniversity of Washington List of Works by Arther FerillBritannica Online review of "The Origins of War" by Arther FerrillBritannica Online another review of "The Origins of War" by Arther Ferrill
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070110072736/http://www.utah.edu/pat/conference2001/abstracts2001/Loveland.html University of Utah (online) “Some Observations Regarding the Possible Psychology of the Greek Hoplite, or the Face of Classical Greek Infantry Battle” by John Loveland]
US Naval Institute (online) "Legion Lessons for Today's Marines", by Major William J. Bowers, U.S. Marine Corps, November 2001 (see bibliography)
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060902123145/https://www.lib.washington.edu/support/fol_newsletter.htm "such renowned scholars as Thomas Pressly, Jon Bridgman and Arthur Ferrill."(April 2006, UCLA) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrill, Arther American military historians American male non-fiction writers Historians of ancient Rome Living people 1938 births Writers from Enid, Oklahoma University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni Wichita State University alumni University of Washington faculty