Greek Warfare: Myth and Realities

ISBN-13: 9780715629673 / Angielski / Miękka / 2004 / 380 str.

Hans Van Wees; Hans Van Wees

Opis

From the soldier's eye view of combat to the broad social and economic structures which shaped campaigns and wars, ancient Greek warfare in all its aspects has been studied more intensively in the last few decades than ever before. This book ranges from the concrete details of conducting raids, battles and sieges to more theoretical questions about the causes, costs, and consequences of warfare in archaic and classical Greece. It argues that the Greek sources present a highly selective and idealised picture, too easily accepted by most modern scholars, and that a more critical study of the evidence leads to radically different conclusions about the Greek way of war.

Recenzje

Greek Warfare is a fresh, highly detailed, comprehensive look at the nature of war, warriors, and warfare in the ancient Greek world from Homeric times to the ascent of Rome...Intended for the very serious student of war in the ancient world, Greek Warfare will nevertheless prove rewarding even for the interested layman. A. A. Nofi The NYMAS Review

Spis treści

List of Illustrations and SourcesAcknowledgementsConventions and AbbreviationsIntroductionPart I. War and Peace1. Kinsmen, Friends and Allies: the society of states2. Justice, Honour and Profit: causes and goals of war3. Pleonexia: structural causes of warPart II. Citizens and Soldiers4. Men of Bronze: the myth of the middle-class militia5. The Other Warriors: light infantry, cavalry, body-servants and mercenaries6. Politics and the Battlefield: ideology in Greek warfarePart III. Amateur Armies7. Bodies of Men: training and organisation of the militia8. The Bare Necessities: mobilisation and maintenance of armiesPart IV. Agonal and Total Warfare9. Ritual, Rules and Strategies: the structure of campaigns10. Ambush, Battle and Siege: changing forms of combatPart V. The Experience of Combat11. The Deeds of Heroes: battle in the Iliad12. The Archaic Phalanx: infantry combat down to the Persian Wars13. The Classical Phalanx: infantry combat transformedPart VI. Ruling the Waves14. The Wall of Wood: ships, men and money15. War at Sea: classical naval campaignsConclusion. The Development of Greek Warfare: war and the stateAppendices1. Athenian manpower in 480 and 431 BC2. Changes in Spartan military organisation from 480 to 371 BC3. The historicity and date of Homeric warfareNotesBibliographySelect Index of PassagesGeneral Index

O autorze

Hans van Wees is Reader in Ancient History at University College London. He is the author of Status Warriors: War, Violence, and Society in Homer and History, editor of War and Violence in Ancient Greece and joint editor of the Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare.