Greek Warfare: Myth and Realities / Edition 1

by Hans van Wees

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780715629673
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	08/19/2004
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	380
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.78(d)

About the Author

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.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations and Sources
Acknowledgements
Conventions and Abbreviations
Introduction
Part I. War and Peace
1. Kinsmen, Friends and Allies: the society of states
2. Justice, Honour and Profit: causes and goals of war
3. Pleonexia: structural causes of war
Part II. Citizens and Soldiers
4. Men of Bronze: the myth of the middle-class militia
5. The Other Warriors: light infantry, cavalry, body-servants and mercenaries
6. Politics and the Battlefield: ideology in Greek warfare
Part III. Amateur Armies
7. Bodies of Men: training and organisation of the militia
8. The Bare Necessities: mobilisation and maintenance of armies
Part IV. Agonal and Total Warfare
9. Ritual, Rules and Strategies: the structure of campaigns
10. Ambush, Battle and Siege: changing forms of combat
Part V. The Experience of Combat
11. The Deeds of Heroes: battle in the Iliad
12. The Archaic Phalanx: infantry combat down to the Persian Wars
13. The Classical Phalanx: infantry combat transformed
Part VI. Ruling the Waves
14. The Wall of Wood: ships, men and money
15. War at Sea: classical naval campaigns
Conclusion. The Development of Greek Warfare: war and the state
Appendices
1. Athenian manpower in 480 and 431 BC
2. Changes in Spartan military organisation from 480 to 371 BC
3. The historicity and date of Homeric warfare
Notes
Bibliography
Select Index of Passages
General Index

Editorial Reviews

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

From the Publisher

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.

The NYMAS Review A. A. Nofi