DOCSLIB.ORG

Warfare in Ancient Greece: a Sourcebook/Michael M.Sage

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Warfare in Ancient Greece: a Sourcebook/Michael M.Sage WARFARE IN ANCIENT GREECE Warfare in Ancient Greece assembles a wide range of source material and introduces the latest scholarship on the Greek experience of war. The author has carefully selected key texts, many of them not previously available in English, and provided them with comprehensive commentaries. For the Greek polis, warfare was a more usual state of affairs than peace. The documents assembled here recreate the social and historical framework in which ancient Greek warfare took place—over a period of more than a thousand years from the Homeric Age to the first century BC. Special attention is paid to the attitudes and feelings of the Greeks towards defeated peoples and captured cities. Complete with notes, index and bibliography, Warfare in Ancient Greece will provide students of ancient and military history with an unprecedented survey of relevant materials. Michael M.Sage is Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Cincinnati. He has published widely on Tacitus and aspects of ancient military history. WARFARE IN ANCIENT GREECE A Sourcebook Michael M.Sage London and New York First published 1996 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003. Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 © 1996 Michael M.Sage All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Sage, Michael M. Warfare in ancient Greece: a sourcebook/Michael M.Sage. p.cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Military art and science—Greece—History. 2. Military history, Ancient. 3. Greece—History, Military. I. Title. U33.S24 1996 355’.00938—dc20 95–39155 CIP ISBN 0-203-43944-9 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-74768-2 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-415-14354-3 (Print Edition) 0-415-14355-1 (pbk) For Jessica and Laura CONTENTS List of abbreviations ix Introduction x 1 EARLY GREEK WARFARE: HOMER AND THE DARK AGES 1 The hero and the heroic code 3 Weapons and preparation for battle 7 The practice of Homeric warfare 11 The results of war 17 The Dark Ages 18 2 THE AGE OF HOPLITE WARFARE 25 Introduction 25 Army organization 38 Light-armed troops 40 Cavalry 46 Provisioning and supply armies 55 Military and naval pay 58 Military command 60 Treaties of alliance 66 Hoplite battles 72 Greeks and non-Greeks in battle: the Persian Wars 81 The aftermath of battle 94 Siege warfare 107 Greeks and non-Greeks 120 The spoils of war 121 Truces and peace treaties 127 3 THE FOURTH CENTURY 135 Tactical developments 137 The use of light-armed troops 141 Mercenaries 147 Siege warfare 157 vii CONTENTS 4 THE RISE OF MACEDONIA: PHILIP AND ALEXANDER 162 The early Macedonian army 163 Philip II and the development of the Macedonian army 165 Alexander the Great 181 5 HELLENISTIC WARFARE 197 Some common causes of war 200 Hellenistic armies 203 The armies of the great powers 220 Suggested readings 228 Index of passages cited 240 Index 245 viii ABBREVIATIONS ABSA Annual of the British School at Athens AC L’Antiquité Classique ACD Acta Classica Universitatis Scientiarum Debreceniensis AHB Ancient History Bulletin AJA American Journal of Archaeology AJAH American journal of Ancient History AncSoc Ancient Society AncW Ancient World BCH Bulletin de Correspondance Héllenistique CE Chronique d’ Egypte ClasAnt Classical Antiquity CPh Classical Philology CQ Classical Quarterly CSCA California Studies in Classical Antiquity CW Classical World G&R Greece and Rome GRBS Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies HSCP Harvard Studies in Classical Philology JHS Journal of Hellenic Studies P&P Past and Present PBA Proceedings of the British Academy PP La Parola del Passato RhM Rheinisches Museum SO Symbolae Osloenses ZPE Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik ix INTRODUCTION The last quarter century has seen a renewed interest in the study of Greek and Roman warfare. This has developed as part of a more general revival of the place of war throughout the history of European society. An increasing number of books and journal articles bear witness to this trend. An important part of the revival has been a change of focus. Traditional military history has concentrated on strategy, tactics and the encounter of battle. A new perspective has emerged, however, that has led to a more comprehensive view of war as a social phenomenon whose outlines and substance are conditioned by the social and cultural system of those involved in making war. Studies have concentrated on the relationship between warfare and social solidarity and its links to sacral-religious views as well as on the ideology connected to fighting. THE GREEK UNDERSTANDING OF WAR This broadening of interest has led to the realization of the centrality of warmaking to Greek civilization and the profound formative effect it had on it. Satisfactory definitions of war and war-making are difficult to provide. At its center is the potential or actual use of violence by organized and politically independent groups. No definite line can be drawn to separate it from raiding and other organized violent activities. The Greeks themselves conceived of it as marked off from other pursuits by formal declarations and various symbolic and religious acts. The elaborate codes and procedures such as the erection of trophies or the asking for the bodies of the dead back to signify the acceptance of defeat are manifestations of this mentality (146, 153). In part such limitations reflected a desire to keep the human losses and the economic costs of warfare within limits that did not destroy the groups or states that waged them. The so-called “heraldless war” in which states opened hostilities without observing the traditional preliminaries was evidence of an intention to wage a total war that would lead to the extinction or total submission of the losing side. This institution throws into relief the importance of the normal mechanisms in containing the destructive effects of conflicts (128, 129, 153), though they were not always successful (168). x INTRODUCTION Though such limitations and boundaries may have checked the most destructive effects of conflict, it did little to restrain the frequency of war among Greeks states in the fifth and fourth centuries BC and into the Hellenistic period. Athens, the state we know best, was at war two out of every three years down to 338. Though we have no comparable figures for other Greek states, and Athens’ status as an imperial state for much of this period may have increased its involvement in war, the sources reveal that most states of any size were engaged in recurring conflicts with traditional or newly acquired enemies. The Greek view of relations between states reflected and justified this situation. Hostility was considered as the typical condition in Greek interstate relations and war and other forms of violence a normal expedient in political life (181). Further evidence for the normality of armed conflict is provided by the attempts of Greek intellectuals to analyze warfare. Though prone to generalization in other areas of political analysis, they offered no analysis of the causes of war. Rather they remained preoccupied with particular reasons for individual conflicts. It has been suggested, I think rightly, that the reason for such neglect was the view that war was simply a fact of human life and its ubiquity did not require explanation; only the specific reasons for a specific conflict warranted examination. Later periods of European history have also been marked by frequent war and violence but there were factors specific to Greek civilization that contributed to increase the frequency of armed conflict. The aristocratic ideology in the Homeric poems, which are among the earliest extant Greek literature, had as its center the idea of competition and struggle as the means to preeminence. Individual military success was the key area in which to achieve standing among a noble’s peers and the most important measure of a man’s worth (1–4). Developments in military tactics and equipment were to transmute and change the way this value system expressed itself but it remained intact and vital. In the Hellenistic period success in warfare was still the crucial element in legitimizing political power and remained the most important royal activity (271–275). The agonal conception that underlay Greek attitudes to war is perhaps most clearly expressed in the continuation of archaic, ritualized struggle between the Argives and the Spartans for the border territory of Cynouria extending from the sixth century on (129). Though specifying the exact effect of such ideology is difficult, the emphasis it placed on struggle and military success created a predisposition to resort to warfare to resolve conflicts. Warfare served other important functions, such as the acquisition of wealth in the form of land, money and slaves. From the Homeric period on, military activity was accepted as a source of profits and was practised for that reason. In the Iliad Achilles boasts to Agamemnon of the success of his plundering expedition in the Troad, and Athenian soldiers and sailors setting out in the summer of 415 on the conquest of Syracuse and the rest of Sicily had dreams of the wealth that would result from the conquest (5, 180). Treaties and other diplomatic agreements carefully detailed the division of spoils in the event of victory (187–189).
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Royal Power, Law and Justice in Ancient Macedonia Joseph Roisman
    Royal Power, Law and Justice in Ancient Macedonia Joseph Roisman In his speech On the Crown Demosthenes often lionizes himself by suggesting that his actions and policy required him to overcome insurmountable obstacles. Thus he contrasts Athens’ weakness around 346 B.C.E. with Macedonia’s strength, and Philip’s II unlimited power with the more constrained and cumbersome decision-making process at home, before asserting that in spite of these difficulties he succeeded in forging later a large Greek coalition to confront Philip in the battle of Chaeronea (Dem.18.234–37). [F]irst, he (Philip) ruled in his own person as full sovereign over subservient people, which is the most important factor of all in waging war . he was flush with money, and he did whatever he wished. He did not announce his intentions in official decrees, did not deliberate in public, was not hauled into the courts by sycophants, was not prosecuted for moving illegal proposals, was not accountable to anyone. In short, he was ruler, commander, in control of everything.1 For his depiction of Philip’s authority Demosthenes looks less to Macedonia than to Athens, because what makes the king powerful in his speech is his freedom from democratic checks. Nevertheless, his observations on the Macedonian royal power is more informative and helpful than Aristotle’s references to it in his Politics, though modern historians tend to privilege the philosopher for what he says or even does not say on the subject. Aristotle’s seldom mentions Macedonian kings, and when he does it is for limited, exemplary purposes, lumping them with other kings who came to power through benefaction and public service, or who were assassinated by men they had insulted.2 Moreover, according to Aristotle, the extreme of tyranny is distinguished from ideal kingship (pambasilea) by the fact that tyranny is a government that is not called to account.
    [Show full text]
  • Alexander's Seventh Phalanx Battalion Milns, R D Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Summer 1966; 7, 2; Proquest Pg
    Alexander's Seventh Phalanx Battalion Milns, R D Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Summer 1966; 7, 2; ProQuest pg. 159 Alexander's Seventh Phalanx Battalion R. D. Milns SOME TIME between the battle of Gaugamela and the battle of A the Hydaspes the number of battalions in the Macedonian phalanx was raised from six to seven.1 This much is clear; what is not certain is when the new formation came into being. Berve2 believes that the introduction took place at Susa in 331 B.C. He bases his belief on two facts: (a) the arrival of 6,000 Macedonian infantry and 500 Macedonian cavalry under Amyntas, son of Andromenes, when the King was either near or at Susa;3 (b) the appearance of Philotas (not the son of Parmenion) as a battalion leader shortly afterwards at the Persian Gates.4 Tarn, in his discussion of the phalanx,5 believes that the seventh battalion was not created until 328/7, when Alexander was at Bactra, the new battalion being that of Cleitus "the White".6 Berve is re­ jected on the grounds: (a) that Arrian (3.16.11) says that Amyntas' reinforcements were "inserted into the existing (six) battalions KC1:TCt. e8vr(; (b) that Philotas has in fact taken over the command of Perdiccas' battalion, Perdiccas having been "promoted to the Staff ... doubtless after the battle" (i.e. Gaugamela).7 The seventh battalion was formed, he believes, from reinforcements from Macedonia who reached Alexander at Nautaca.8 Now all of Tarn's arguments are open to objection; and I shall treat them in the order they are presented above.
    [Show full text]
  • The Herodotos Project (OSU-Ugent): Studies in Ancient Ethnography
    Faculty of Literature and Philosophy Julie Boeten The Herodotos Project (OSU-UGent): Studies in Ancient Ethnography Barbarians in Strabo’s ‘Geography’ (Abii-Ionians) With a case-study: the Cappadocians Master thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Linguistics and Literature, Greek and Latin. 2015 Promotor: Prof. Dr. Mark Janse UGent Department of Greek Linguistics Co-Promotores: Prof. Brian Joseph Ohio State University Dr. Christopher Brown Ohio State University ACKNOWLEDGMENT In this acknowledgment I would like to thank everybody who has in some way been a part of this master thesis. First and foremost I want to thank my promotor Prof. Janse for giving me the opportunity to write my thesis in the context of the Herodotos Project, and for giving me suggestions and answering my questions. I am also grateful to Prof. Joseph and Dr. Brown, who have given Anke and me the chance to be a part of the Herodotos Project and who have consented into being our co- promotores. On a whole other level I wish to express my thanks to my parents, without whom I would not have been able to study at all. They have also supported me throughout the writing process and have read parts of the draft. Finally, I would also like to thank Kenneth, for being there for me and for correcting some passages of the thesis. Julie Boeten NEDERLANDSE SAMENVATTING Deze scriptie is geschreven in het kader van het Herodotos Project, een onderneming van de Ohio State University in samenwerking met UGent. De doelstelling van het project is het aanleggen van een databank met alle volkeren die gekend waren in de oudheid.
    [Show full text]
  • Herodotus, Xerxes and the Persian Wars IAN PLANT, DEPARTMENT of ANCIENT HISTORY
    Herodotus, Xerxes and the Persian Wars IAN PLANT, DEPARTMENT OF ANCIENT HISTORY Xerxes: Xerxes’ tomb at Naqsh-i-Rustam Herodotus: 2nd century AD: found in Egypt. A Roman copy of a Greek original from the first half of the 4th century BC. Met. Museum New York 91.8 History looking at the evidence • Our understanding of the past filtered through our present • What happened? • Why did it happen? • How can we know? • Key focus is on information • Critical collection of information (what is relevant?) • Critical evaluation of information (what is reliable?) • Critical questioning of information (what questions need to be asked?) • These are essential transferable skills in the Information Age • Let’s look at some examples from Herodotus’ history of the Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC • Is the evidence from: ― Primary sources: original sources; close to origin of information. ― Secondary sources: sources which cite, comment on or build upon primary sources. ― Tertiary source: cites only secondary sources; does not look at primary sources. • Is it the evidence : ― Reliable; relevant ― Have I analysed it critically? Herodotus: the problem… Succession of Xerxes 7.3 While Darius delayed making his decision [about his successor], it chanced that at this time Demaratus son of Ariston had come up to Susa, in voluntary exile from Lacedaemonia after he had lost the kingship of Sparta. [2] Learning of the contention between the sons of Darius, this man, as the story goes, came and advised Xerxes to add this to what he said: that he had been born when Darius was already king and ruler of Persia, but Artobazanes when Darius was yet a subject; [3] therefore it was neither reasonable nor just that anyone should have the royal privilege before him.
    [Show full text]
  • Marathon 2,500 Years Edited by Christopher Carey & Michael Edwards
    MARATHON 2,500 YEARS EDITED BY CHRISTOPHER CAREY & MICHAEL EDWARDS INSTITUTE OF CLASSICAL STUDIES SCHOOL OF ADVANCED STUDY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON MARATHON – 2,500 YEARS BULLETIN OF THE INSTITUTE OF CLASSICAL STUDIES SUPPLEMENT 124 DIRECTOR & GENERAL EDITOR: JOHN NORTH DIRECTOR OF PUBLICATIONS: RICHARD SIMPSON MARATHON – 2,500 YEARS PROCEEDINGS OF THE MARATHON CONFERENCE 2010 EDITED BY CHRISTOPHER CAREY & MICHAEL EDWARDS INSTITUTE OF CLASSICAL STUDIES SCHOOL OF ADVANCED STUDY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON 2013 The cover image shows Persian warriors at Ishtar Gate, from before the fourth century BC. Pergamon Museum/Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin. Photo Mohammed Shamma (2003). Used under CC‐BY terms. All rights reserved. This PDF edition published in 2019 First published in print in 2013 This book is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0) license. More information regarding CC licenses is available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ Available to download free at http://www.humanities-digital-library.org ISBN: 978-1-905670-81-9 (2019 PDF edition) DOI: 10.14296/1019.9781905670819 ISBN: 978-1-905670-52-9 (2013 paperback edition) ©2013 Institute of Classical Studies, University of London The right of contributors to be identified as the authors of the work published here has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Designed and typeset at the Institute of Classical Studies TABLE OF CONTENTS Introductory note 1 P. J. Rhodes The battle of Marathon and modern scholarship 3 Christopher Pelling Herodotus’ Marathon 23 Peter Krentz Marathon and the development of the exclusive hoplite phalanx 35 Andrej Petrovic The battle of Marathon in pre-Herodotean sources: on Marathon verse-inscriptions (IG I3 503/504; Seg Lvi 430) 45 V.
    [Show full text]
  • Ancient Greeks Victor Davis Hanson John Keegan, Series Editor
    SMITHSONIAN HISTORY OF WARFARE WARS OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS VICTOR DAVIS HANSON JOHN KEEGAN, SERIES EDITOR () Smithsonian Books (::::Collins An Imprint ofHarperCollinsPub/ishers For W. K. Pritchett, who revolutionized the study of Ancient Greek warfare Text © 1999 by Victor Davis Hanson Design and layout© 1999 by Cassell & Co. First published in Great Britain 1999 The picture credits on page 240 constitute an extension to this copyright page. Material in the introduction and chapter 5 is based on ideas that appeared in Victor Davis Hanson and john Heath, Who Killed Homer? The Demise if Classical Education and the Recovery ifGreek Wisdom (The Free Press, New York, 1998) 'and Victor Davis Hanson, "Alexander the Kille1~" Quarterly journal ifMilitary History, spring 1998, I 0.3, 8-20. WARS OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS. All rights reserved. No part of this title may be reproduced or transmitted by any means (including photography or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner. For infor­ mation, address HarperCollins Publishers, 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022. Published 2004 in the United States of America by Smithsonian Books Acknowledgments In association with Cassell Wellington House, 125 Strand London WC2R OBB would like to thank John Keegan and Judith Flanders for asking me Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data I to write this volume on the Ancient Greeks at war. My colleague at Hanson, Victor Davis. California State University, Fresno, Professor Bruce Thornton, kindly Wars of the ancient Greeks I Victor Davis Hanson ; John Keegan, general editor.
    [Show full text]
  • Stories from Greek History
    TO ARCHIBALD R.B. HALDANE Conditions and Terms of Use My dear Archie, Copyright © Heritage History 2010 Some rights reserved Do you remember that bright summer morning last This text was produced and distributed by Heritage History, an year when we lay out on the lawn and read together the organization dedicated to the preservation of classical juvenile history "Labours of Heracles," and how you once interrupted to ask "if books, and to the promotion of the works of traditional history authors. the tales were true?" The books which Heritage History republishes are in the public domain and are no longer protected by the original copyright. They may The tales in this little book are true, and beside the therefore be reproduced within the United States without paying a royalty winter fire I wrote them, fancying that I still had your eager to the author. face beside me, heard still your eager demand for "another The text and pictures used to produce this version of the work, story." Will you like these as well, I wonder? however, are the property of Heritage History and are subject to certain Your loving friend restrictions. These restrictions are imposed for the purpose of protecting the Ethelwyn Lemon integrity of the work, for preventing plagiarism, and for helping to assure that compromised versions of the work are not widely disseminated. In order to preserve information regarding the origin of this text, a copyright by the author, and a Heritage History distribution date are TABLE OF CONTENTS included at the foot of every page of text.
    [Show full text]
  • Rethinking Athenian Democracy.Pdf
    Rethinking Athenian Democracy A dissertation presented by Daniela Louise Cammack to The Department of Government in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the subject of Political Science Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts January 2013 © 2013 Daniela Cammack All rights reserved. Professor Richard Tuck Daniela Cammack Abstract Conventional accounts of classical Athenian democracy represent the assembly as the primary democratic institution in the Athenian political system. This looks reasonable in the light of modern democracy, which has typically developed through the democratization of legislative assemblies. Yet it conflicts with the evidence at our disposal. Our ancient sources suggest that the most significant and distinctively democratic institution in Athens was the courts, where decisions were made by large panels of randomly selected ordinary citizens with no possibility of appeal. This dissertation reinterprets Athenian democracy as “dikastic democracy” (from the Greek dikastēs, “judge”), defined as a mode of government in which ordinary citizens rule principally through their control of the administration of justice. It begins by casting doubt on two major planks in the modern interpretation of Athenian democracy: first, that it rested on a conception of the “wisdom of the multitude” akin to that advanced by epistemic democrats today, and second that it was “deliberative,” meaning that mass discussion of political matters played a defining role. The first plank rests largely on an argument made by Aristotle in support of mass political participation, which I show has been comprehensively misunderstood. The second rests on the interpretation of the verb “bouleuomai” as indicating speech, but I suggest that it meant internal reflection in both the courts and the assembly.
    [Show full text]
  • Ideals and Pragmatism in Greek Military Thought 490-338 Bc
    Roel Konijnendijk IDEALS AND PRAGMATISM IN GREEK MILITARY THOUGHT 490-338 BC PhD Thesis – Ancient History – UCL I, Roel Konijnendijk, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. Thesis Abstract This thesis examines the principles that defined the military thinking of the Classical Greek city-states. Its focus is on tactical thought: Greek conceptions of the means, methods, and purpose of engaging the enemy in battle. Through an analysis of historical accounts of battles and campaigns, accompanied by a parallel study of surviving military treatises from the period, it draws a new picture of the tactical options that were available, and of the ideals that lay behind them. It has long been argued that Greek tactics were deliberately primitive, restricted by conventions that prescribed the correct way to fight a battle and limited the extent to which victory could be exploited. Recent reinterpretations of the nature of Greek warfare cast doubt on this view, prompting a reassessment of tactical thought – a subject that revisionist scholars have not yet treated in detail. This study shows that practically all the assumptions of the traditional model are wrong. Tactical thought was constrained chiefly by the extreme vulnerability of the hoplite phalanx, its total lack of training, and the general’s limited capacity for command and control on the battlefield. Greek commanders, however, did not let any moral rules get in the way of possible solutions to these problems. Battle was meant to create an opportunity for the wholesale destruction of the enemy, and any available means were deployed towards that goal.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 6 Studying and Comparing Second-Order Elections
    Chapter 6 Studying and Comparing Second-Order Elections. Examples from Greece, Portugal and Spain. Stavros Skrinis and Eftichia Teperoglou University of Athens,Greece Abstract Since the formulation of the second-order election model there have been many studies comparing first and second order contests, in particular national and European elections. However, few analyses have been conducted on the relationship between different types of SOEs. This paper uses the Index of Dissimilarity, a measure used to compare elections of different types, in order to shed light on the relationship between municipal (local level) and European (supra-national level) elections in three Southern European countries, Greece, Portugal and Spain. We use aggregate electoral results from the capitals of Greek prefectures (51), the capitals of Portuguese districts (18 district capitals of mainland Portugal plus the capitals of Azores and Madeira) and the capitals of Spanish provinces (50). We focus on the last three municipal elections in each country, which are compared with the closest European (and parliamentary) contests. We observe high dissimilarity, which makes us believe that local and European contests are quite independent from one another and that voting choice is affected by different criteria. 164 Stavros Skrinis and Eftichia Teperoglou Introduction In the study of different types of elections in Europe, there are some topics that have been examined more than others. One of the less favoured ones deals with the relationship between local and European contests. Interest in examining the relationship between the two different sorts of second order elections may be placed in a narrow framework about the application and the prospects of the second order model or in a broader one.
    [Show full text]
  • Thucydides on the Outbreak of War
    THUCYDIDES ON THE OUTBREAK OF WAR by Seth N. Jaffe A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy Graduate Department of Political Science University of Toronto © Copyright by Seth Nathan Jaffe (2012) Abstract Thucydides on the Outbreak of War By Seth N. Jaffe A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Political Science University of Toronto (2012) This project illuminates Thucydides’ political thought through a novel interpretation of the first book of the History of the Peloponnesian War. It explores how Thucydides reveals the human causes of war through the outbreak of a particular war, the Peloponnesian war. The primary claim is that Thucydides intends the breakdown of the Thirty Years’ Peace between Athens and the Peloponnesians, which inaugurates the great Peloponnesian war, to be understood by grasping how the characters of the Athenian and Spartan regimes contribute to the outbreak of the war and, crucially, how Athens and Sparta differently express human nature. In broad outline, the History’s first book reveals how the regime characters of Athens and Sparta inform their respective foreign policies, but also how the interaction between the two cities—informed by the distinctive necessities pressing upon them— causes the Hellenic status quo to tremble and fall. Throughout the first book, while never obscuring the specific events triggering war, Thucydides progressively develops and expands his original statement that it was Spartan fear of Athenian power that compelled the fighting. The study argues that necessity (or compulsion) is the bright thread that Thucydides uses to guide his reader through the episodes of the first book, from the immediate causes of the Peloponnesian war to the human causes of war, from the particular events to the History’s universal themes.
    [Show full text]
  • Philip II of Macedon: a Consideration of Books VII IX of Justin's Epitome of Pompeius Trogus
    Durham E-Theses Philip II of Macedon: a consideration of books VII IX of Justin's epitome of Pompeius Trogus Wade, J. S. How to cite: Wade, J. S. (1977) Philip II of Macedon: a consideration of books VII IX of Justin's epitome of Pompeius Trogus, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/10215/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. PHILIP II OF MACEDON: A CONSIDERATION OF BOOKS VII - IX OF JUSTIN* S EPITOME OF POMPEIUS TROGUS THESIS SUBMITTED IN APPLICATION FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS - by - J. S. WADE, B. A. DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICS UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM OCTOBER 1977 ABSTRACT The aim of this dissertation is two-fold: firstly to examine the career and character of Philip II of Macedon as portrayed in Books VII - IX of Justin's epitome of the Historiae Phillppicae .of Pompeius Trqgus, and to consider to what extent Justin-Trogus (a composite name for the author of the views in the text of Justin) furnishes accurate historical fact, and to what extent he paints a one-sided interpretation of the events, and secondly to identify as far as possible Justin's principles of selection and compression as evidenced in Books VII - IX.
    [Show full text]