The Greek State at War


Book Description

"Professor Prichett is an acknowledged authority in more than a few techniques of investigation, and readers can immediately see that they are in safe hands. What can be known is clearly presented. What is not known is identified. Erroneous explanations throughout the history of classical scholarship are cited and disassembled. . . . He takes into account the special conditions that control interpretation of epigraphical texts. He includes matters of topography, numismatics, and vase-painting. He asks questions a reader might never have thought to ask, e.g., Where is booty from a battle sold? His questions and surveys lead naturally and inevitably to topics as large as the Athenian economy in the fourth century B.C."—A. L. Boegehold, Brown University "Pritchett's Greek State at War is one of the monuments of classical scholarship in our time. . . . A work that every student of Greek history will consult whenever he is concerned with war in the Greek world. No ancient historian can possibly do without it. . . . The implications of [the work] extend in many directions—into Greek psychology, religion, political thinking—and students will be kept busy for a long time in considering them in detail."—Sir Moses Finley




The Greek State at War, Part V


Book Description

The volumes of The Greek State at War are an essential reference for the classical scholar. Professor Pritchett has systematically canvassed ancient texts and secondary literature for references to specific topics; each volume explores a unique aspect of Greek military practice. In Part V he takes up stone throwers, slingers, and booty.




The Greek State at War


Book Description

The volumes of The Greek State at War are an essential reference for the classical scholar. Professor Pritchett has systematically canvassed ancient texts and secondary literature for references to specific topics; each volume explores a unique aspect of Greek military practice.




The Greek State at War


Book Description

The volumes of The Greek State at War are an essential reference for the classical scholar. Professor Pritchett has systematically canvassed ancient texts and secondary literature for references to specific topics; each volume explores a unique aspect of Greek military practice.




A Greek Army on the March


Book Description

Professor Lee provides a social and cultural history of the Cyreans, the mercenaries of Xenophon's Anabasis. While they have often been portrayed as a single abstract political community, this book reveals that life in the army was mostly shaped by a set of smaller social communities: the formal unit organisation of the lochos ('company'), and the informal comradeship of the suskenia ('mess group'). It includes full treatment of the environmental conditions of the march, ethnic and socio-economic relations amongst the soldiers, equipment and transport, marching and camp behaviour, eating and drinking, sanitation and medical care, and many other topics. It also accords detailed attention to the non-combatants accompanying the soldiers. It uses ancient literary and archaeological evidence, ancient and modern comparative material, and perspectives from military sociology and modern war studies. This book is essential reading for anyone working on ancient Greek warfare or on Xenophon's Anabasis.




War in the Hellenistic World


Book Description

Exploiting the abundant primary sources available, this book examines the diverse ways in which war shaped the Hellenistic world. An overview of war and society in the Hellenistic world. Highlights the interdependence of warfare and social phenomena. Covers a wide range of topics, including social conditions as causes of war, the role of professional warriors, the discourse of war in Hellenistic cities, the budget of war, the collective memory of war, and the aesthetics of war. Draws on the abundance of primary sources available.




The Fight for Greek Sicily


Book Description

The island of Sicily was a highly contested area throughout much of its history. Among the first to exert strong influence on its political, cultural, infrastructural, and demographic developments were the two major decentralized civilizations of the first millennium BCE: the Phoenicians and the Greeks. While trade and cultural exchange preceded their permanent presence, it was the colonizing movement that brought territorial competition and political power struggles on the island to a new level. The history of six centuries of colonization is replete with accounts of conflict and warfare that include cross-cultural confrontations, as well as interstate hostilities, domestic conflicts, and government violence. This book is not concerned with realities from the battlefield or questions of military strategy and tactics, but rather offers a broad collection of archaeological case studies and historical essays that analyze how political competition, strategic considerations, and violent encounters substantially affected rural and urban environments, the island’s heterogeneous communities, and their social practices. These contributions, originating from a workshop in 2018, combine expertise from the fields of archaeology, ancient history, and philology. The focus on a specific time period and the limited geographic area of Greek Sicily allows for the thorough investigation and discussion of various forms of organized societal violence and their consequences on the developments in society and landscape.




Warfare in Ancient Greece


Book Description

Discussing the background, weapons and tactics of the ancient Greeks, this title describes the weapons, armour, chariots and other military equipment used from 1550 to 150 BC. It traces how and when various pieces of equipment came into use; where they were introduced from; the effectiveness of the equipment; and when and why things changed.




Commemorating Classical Battles


Book Description

This is a study of the commemoration of Classical Greek battles, approaching monuments and other mnemonic practices as vital elements in the creation and curation of memories. It analyzes the diachronic development of battlefield, sanctuary, and city spaces, as evidenced by archaeological remains and ancient literary sources. In addition, it explores the experience of the commemorative spaces through the application of theories of space, phenomenology, and social memory. Following a biographical approach, the commemoration of each battle is organized into stages of initial commemoration, official monumentalization, memory curation, memory lapse, and reception. The research has led to several conclusions. While the commemoration of each battle can be divided into stages, these stages are not always discrete. There is variation in the types of commemorations within the stages, dependent on time, surrounding space, and the parties involved. Single commemorations can resonate differently with multiple audiences. The processes within the stage of memory curation lead to the subsequent lapse. The final stage of commemoration for each battle begins with the rediscovery of ancient monuments and continues to this day. The battles of Marathon, Leuktra, and Chaironeia are case studies for three reasons. First, they effectively span the period of Classical Greece (Marathon in 490 BCE to Chaironeia in 338 BCE). Secondly, these battles had different participants, thus allowing a variety of perspectives of both the victorious and the defeated. Lastly, these were battles that left lasting impacts in the material and literary record, making their commemoration relevant not only in antiquity, but also in the modern world.




The Psychology of the Athenian Hoplite


Book Description

Using current socio-psychological research, this book reveals exactly why amateur Athenian hoplites unhesitatingly engaged their enemies in savage close-quarters combat.