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The Battle of Marathon in Scholarship
This is a thorough historiographic review of the Battle of Marathon. Full use is made of the major ancient sources and the debate over the value of Herodotus. The book covers the rise of the Persian Empire, relations between the Greeks and the Persian Empire and the Ionian revolt that set the stage for the Persian expedition in 490 that led to the Battle of Marathon. The book also examines the development of the Persian and Greek military systems, weapons, armor, fighting styles and military tactics. The battle itself is described along with the many questions, controversies and conflicting theories surrounding it, including an explanation of why the Athenians were able to defeat the mighty Persian Empire. The final chapter deals with the issue of the importance of the battle. The 1190 endnotes and bibliography of more than 400 sources dating from the 1850s to 2012 will allow readers to do more research on any of the topics covered.
The Battle of Thermopylae
'Tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here obedient to their laws we lie.' One of the most remarkable actions in ancient or modern military history took place at Thermopylae in 480BC. Rupert Matthews has personally examined the battlefield in order to try to explain how 300 Spartans could hold at bay the hordes of the Persian Emperor Xerxes. This was no vain sacrifice; the delay gave breathing space for the Greek states to organise their defence, and ultimately defend successfully their homelands. Among other intriguing revelations the author explains the importance of the half-ruined wall that sheltered the Spartans against the onslaught. With concise diagrams and maps of the entire campaign, the reader can begin to understand the extraordinary, apparently impossible outcome of the war.
Conflict in Ancient Greece and Rome
The complex role warfare played in ancient Greek and Roman civilizations is examined through coverage of key wars and battles; important leaders, armies, organizations, and weapons; and other noteworthy aspects of conflict. Conflict in Ancient Greece and Rome: The Definitive Political, Social, and Military Encyclopedia is an outstandingly comprehensive reference work on its subject. Covering wars, battles, places, individuals, and themes, this thoroughly cross-referenced three-volume set provides essential support to any student or general reader investigating ancient Greek history and conflicts as well as the social and political institutions of the Roman Republic and Empire. The set covers...
The Medousa Murders
Polydektos, former general and friend to Pericles is trying to live a quiet life outside of the walls of the great city-state Athens, after the tragic murder of his wife and daughter. Yet when a Spartan ambassador and his family arrive in Athens for peace talks between the two great Greek states, murder and mystery ensue. Yet they are no ordinary murders, the most famous Gorgon sister has returned from the Ages of Heroes: Medousa. Polydektos is once more drawn back into the city and tasked by Pericles the leader of Athens himself to find and destroy the creature before it makes them look weak before the Spartan delegation.
Battlefield Emotions in Late Antiquity: A Study of Fear and Motivation in Roman Military Treatises
Battlefield Emotions in Late Antiquity is a pioneering work, the first to present a comprehensive analysis of fear and motivation on the battlefields of Late Antiquity. By examining military treatises, Łukasz Różycki identifies means of manipulating the morale of soldiers on the same and on opposing sides, showing various examples of military trickery. The book analyzes non-combat properties of equipment, commanders’ speeches, war cries, keeping up appearances, and other methods of affecting the human psyche. The book is written in the spirit of new military history and combines the methodology of a historian, archaeologist, and philologist, and also considers aspects of psychology, particularly related to the functioning of groups and individuals in extreme situations.
The Athenian Army 507–322 BC
This fully illustrated study explores the formidable Athenian army, rivalled only by the Spartan army in terms of battlefield prowess and influence. In 508 BC, the reforms of Kleisthenes established the ten tribes of Athens, inaugurating a system of military organization that remained in place for nearly 200 years until Athens' eclipse by the growing power of Macedon in the early 3rd century BC. Fully illustrated, this lively study investigates the development and effectiveness of the armies fielded by Athens during its many wars with its Greek neighbours, notably Sparta, and other opponents such as the Persian Empire. A variety of different troop types made up these armies, ranging from for...
The Army of Alexander the Great
When Philip II ascended the throne in 359 BC, Macedonia was in danger of being engulfed by wild barbarian tribes to the north and wily Greek cities to the south. Philip had to expand the power of the throne or be swallowed up: the creation of a powerful army was imperative. When his son, Alexander, inherited his kingdom at the age of 20, he also inherited an army which was truly unrivalled. The Macedonians were veterans of battle, well equipped and eager for conquest. Add to this Alexander's supreme gifts as military commander and it is little wonder they achieved so much.
Alexander the Great and Egypt
This volume presents the papers of an interdisciplinary conference held in Wroclaw in 2011, dedicated to Alexander’s expedition to Egypt as well as to his afterlife and legend tied to Egypt and Alexandria. Regarding military aspects, there are papers focusing on Egypt’s strategic significance in 4th-century Greek sources as well as on Alexander’s conquest in comparison to earlier conquests of the land of the Nile. Furthermore, they re-examine the chronology of Alexander’s stay in Egypt and discuss the founding of Alexandria, e.g. by linking it with 4th-century urban developments in the Eastern Mediterranean. Since Alexander’s policy in Egypt is in large part reflected by hieroglyph...
Persian Responses
A generation ago the Achaemenid Empire was a minor sideshow within long-established disciplines. For Greek historians the Persians were the defeated national enemy, a catalyst of change in the aftermath of the fall of Athens or the victim of Alexander. For Egyptologists and Assyriologists they belonged to an era that received scant attention compared with the glory days of the New Kingdom or the Neo-Assyrian Empire. For most archaeologists they were elusive in a material record that lacked a distinctively Achaemenid imprint. Things have changed now. The empire is an object of study in its own right, and a community of Achaemenid specialists has emerged to carry that study forward. Such commu...
Macedonian Armies after Alexander 323–168 BC
The death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC threw the Macedonians into confusion; there was no capable heir, and no clear successor among the senior figures in Alexander's circle. For well over a century the largely mercenary armies of Alexander's successors imposed their influence over the whole of the Near East, while absorbing local military practices. After Rome's decisive defeat of Carthage in 202 BC, Macedonia came under increasing pressure from the Romans. Three wars between the two powers culminated in the Roman victory at Pydna in 168 BC, which laid Alexander's empire to rest and established Roman hegemony in the Near East. Drawing upon a wide array of archaeological and written sources and written by a noted authority on the Hellenistic period, this survey of the organization, battle history and appearance of the armies of Alexander's successors is lavishly illustrated with specially commissioned full-colour artwork.
