Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece

Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece
Author: Nigel Wilson
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 829
Release: 2013-10-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 113678800X

Examining every aspect of the culture from antiquity to the founding of Constantinople in the early Byzantine era, this thoroughly cross-referenced and fully indexed work is written by an international group of scholars. This Encyclopedia is derived from the more broadly focused Encyclopedia of Greece and the Hellenic Tradition, the highly praised two-volume work. Newly edited by Nigel Wilson, this single-volume reference provides a comprehensive and authoritative guide to the political, cultural, and social life of the people and to the places, ideas, periods, and events that defined ancient Greece.

Great Battles of the Classical Greek World

Great Battles of the Classical Greek World
Author: Owen Rees
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Total Pages: 195
Release: 2016-10-14
Genre: History
ISBN: 1473881773

This book presents a selection of eighteen land battles and sieges that span the Classical Greek period, from the Persian invasions to the eclipse of the traditional hoplite heavy infantry at the hands of the Macedonians. This of course is the golden age of the hoplite phalanx but Owen Rees is keen to cover all aspects of battle, including mercenary armies and the rise of light infantry, emphasising the variety and tactical developments across the period. Each battle is set in context with a brief background and then the battlefield and opposing forces are discussed before the narrative and analysis of the fighting is given and rounded off with consideration of the aftermath and strategic implications. Written in an accessible narrative tone, a key feature of the book is the authors choice of battles, which collectively challenge popularly held beliefs such as the invincibility of the Spartans. The text is well supported by dozens of tactical diagrams showing deployments and various phase of the battles.

Encyclopedia of Greece and the Hellenic Tradition

Encyclopedia of Greece and the Hellenic Tradition
Author: Graham Speake
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 2407
Release: 2021-01-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 1135942137

Hellenism is the living culture of the Greek-speaking peoples and has a continuing history of more than 3,500 years. The Encyclopedia of Greece and the Hellenic Tradition contains approximately 900 entries devoted to people, places, periods, events, and themes, examining every aspect of that culture from the Bronze Age to the present day. The focus throughout is on the Greeks themselves, and the continuities within their own cultural tradition. Language and religion are perhaps the most obvious vehicles of continuity; but there have been many others--law, taxation, gardens, music, magic, education, shipping, and countless other elements have all played their part in maintaining this unique culture. Today, Greek arts have blossomed again; Greece has taken its place in the European Union; Greeks control a substantial proportion of the world's merchant marine; and Greek communities in the United States, Australia, and South Africa have carried the Hellenic tradition throughout the world. This is the first reference work to embrace all aspects of that tradition in every period of its existence.

Commemorating Classical Battles

Commemorating Classical Battles
Author: Brandon Braun
Publisher: Oxbow Books
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2023-07-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1789259371

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.

Herodotus and the topography of Xerxes’ invasion

Herodotus and the topography of Xerxes’ invasion
Author: Jan Zacharias Van Rookhuijzen
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 390
Release: 2018-11-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 3110612534

In his Histories, Herodotus of Halicarnassus gave an account of Xerxes’ invasion of Greece (480 BCE). Among the information in this work features a rich topography of the places visited by the army, as well as of the battlefields. Apparently there existed a certain demand among the Greeks to behold the exact places where they believed that the Greeks had fallen, gods had appeared, or Xerxes had watched over his men. This book argues that Herodotus’ topography, long taken at face value as if it provided unambiguous access to the historical sites of the war, may partly be a product of Greek imagination in the approximately fifty years between the Xerxes’ invasion and its publication, with the landscape functioning as a catalyst. This innovative approach leads to a new understanding of the topography of the invasion, and of the ways in which Greeks in the late fifth century BCE understood the world around them. It also prompts new suggestions about the real-world locations of various places mentioned in Herodotus’ text.

Sparta At War

Sparta At War
Author: Scott M. Rusch
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Total Pages: 572
Release: 2011-12-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1783830484

The story of this military powerhouse of ancient Greece, and its nearly two centuries of battlefield triumphs. During the eighth century BC, Sparta became one of the leading cities of ancient Greece, conquering the southern Peloponnese, and from the mid-sixth century BC until the mid-fourth, Sparta became a military power of recognized importance. For almost two centuries the massed Spartan army remained unbeaten in the field. Spartan officers also commanded with great success armies of mercenaries or coalition allies, as well as fleets of war galleys. Although it is the stand of the Three Hundred at Thermopylae that has earned Sparta undying fame, it was her victories over both Persian invaders and the armies and navies of Greek rivals that upheld her position of leadership in Greece. Even a steady decline in Spartiate numbers, aggravated by a terrible earthquake in 464 BC, failed to end Spartan dominance. Only when the Thebans learned how to defeat the massed Spartan army in pitched battle was Sparta toppled from her position of primacy. In this volume, Scott Rusch examines what is known of the history of Sparta, from the settlement of the city to her defeat at Theban hands, focusing upon military campaigns and the strategic circumstances that drove them. Rusch offers fresh perspectives on important questions of Spartan history, and illuminates some of antiquity’s most notable campaigns.

Agesilaos and the Crisis of Sparta

Agesilaos and the Crisis of Sparta
Author: Paul Cartledge
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Total Pages: 528
Release: 1987
Genre: History
ISBN:

An account of a critical period of Greek history, focusing on a single career.