The military history of the ancient peoples of the Middle East encompasses the rise, the rule and the decline and fall of a succession of great empire-builders - from the Sumerians and Akkadians in the 23rd century BCE to the Macedonians led by Alexander the Great in c.330BCE. In the course of these millennia, great military minds developed the war chariot, the cavalry charge of mounted soldiers, the fierce and disciplined infantry formations of the Greek or Macedonian phalanx; they invented the siege tower, battering ram, onager catapult and other tools used to gain entry to a heavily fortified city. Fighting men wielded dagger, sword, bow and arrows, hammer, pike, spear and the 20ft (6m) sarissa used by the Macedonians; they and their leaders developed body armour, greaves, helmets and a variety of shields to protect themselves. In tactics, clothing, weaponry and other equipment of war, military men learned from both their allies and their enemies as they searched for the improvements that would give them the edge when they most needed it - in battle.

This book details the costume of the ancient Greek armies and its enemies, from the first decades of tribal battles through the Peloponnesian wars, up to the end of Alexander's eastern Empire. A detailed and accessible visual study of the fighting dress and arms of the period, it is also a glimpse of the complexity in a vast period and area. The volume explores the arms, armour and military clothing of some of the great ancient peoples: the Sumerians, the Hittites, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Persians and the Macedonians. A very large number of peoples - many of them nomads - came into decisive contact with these eight kingdoms, including Scythians, Phrygians, Hebrews, the Sea Peoples, the Mitanni and the Medes.

Two vast empires, those of the Persians under the Achaemenid dynasty and the Macedonians led by Alexander the Great, arose on opposite sides of the ancient world. They came into deadly contact after the Persians had twice attempted and twice failed to invade Greece; and after the Macedonians had conquered Greece in the aftermath of that great clash of civilizations. Alexander took over the Persian empire that Cyrus the Great had built, but then his empire in turn lost its own landholding to internal squabbles and settlements, to be finally overcome by that great behemoth of the ancient world, Rome.

With evocative fine art paintings and sculptures and the 600 specially commissioned illustrations, this lavish, intensively researched volume offers an unprecedented study of the uniforms of the period.

Consultant editor: Gabriele Esposito