Light Infantry of Ancient Greece
For a long time peace was understood in negative fashion,
simply as the absence of war.
-Yvon Garlan
Kendrick Pritchett in the introduction to the book "The Greek State at War" points out that in order to write history of Greek Warfare one
"…would require a knowledge of many aspects of Greek life. The would-be investigator would have to be familiar with terrain in the case of any given battle, have an acquaintance with the archaeological artifacts of various types, close familiarity with the written sources, and most important, an understanding of the general economic picture. He would also need some insight into ancient religion and acquaintance with military and naval procedures and strategy."
There is a definite truth about the statement. Even such narrow subject as development of light infantry in ancient Greece requires inquiries in multiple areas of overall Greek history. The knowledge of what ancient Greeks considered light infantry, an insight on development of ancient Greek infantry in general, agricultural warfare, key historical event that assisted in changing Greek outlook on war: these areas are absolutely essential in researching the subject of light infantry in Ancient Greece.
Researching the primary sources for the subject of "light infantry" an investigator would find a puzzling fact; there are little or no references to the subject of inquiry. Ancient historians Thucydides, Xenophon, Herodotus, do not refer to "light infantry" troops, instead they use term peltast. It appears that the term peltast signifies a "light armored warrior" for the ancient historians. The term itself comes from pelta or pelte - a small shield that inhabitants of Thrace ...
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... decisive land battle. Armies met in the pass of Thermopylae.
Bibliography:
Bibliography
Hanson, Victor, "The Western Way of War. Infantry Battle in Classical Greece"
Ferrill, Arthur, "The Origins of War. From the Stone Age to Alexander The Great"
Greeks at War, Men at Arms Series (Osprey Publishing, London, 1979)
Herodotus "The Histories" (Penguin, New York, 1996)
* Xenophon in Seven Volumes, 3. (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA; William Heinemann, Ltd., London, 1980.)
* Plutarch, "Moralia" http://www.persus.tufts.edu, Persus Project.
* Xenophon, "Hellenica"
* Xenophon, "Anabasis"
* Diodorus Book 15
* Thucydides "History of Peloponnesian War"
Ancient Greece (Cambridge University Press, 1998)
(*) - Machine readable text
Copyright 1995 Perseus Project, Harvard University.
Demand, Nancy. A History of Ancient Greece, Indiana University. McGraw-Hill, Janson by Ruttle, Shaw & Wetherill, Inc., 1996, pp. 185-196.
“No man ever proves himself a good man in war unless he can endure to face the blood and the slaughter, go against the enemy and fight with his hands.” The preceding was quoted from “The Spartan creed” by the poet Tyrtaeus. There are two authors in this primary resource reading which include Tyrtaeus as well as Xenophon, whom authored “The laws and customs of the Spartans”. These two works give great detail to the Spartan society. As history has presented it, Sparta was a smaller polis and yet was one of the most, if not most, influential societies in history. What we know of this culture comes to us from excavation of its heritage as well as literary works such as these. But are these “eyes” into history factual and creditable enough to base our own interpretations of such a masterful race? These writings are great resources for Spartan’s war enhanced values and societal customs, but lack in evidence of governmental affairs and religion. This lacking may have been due to both writer’s motives for their work.
Sophocles. Oedipus the King. Trans. Robert Fagles. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed. Maynard Mack et al. 6th ed. Vol. 1. New York: Norton, 1992.
Works Cited Robinson, C.E. (2007). Hellas – A Short History of Ancient Greece. Pantheon Books Bury, J. B.; Russell Meiggs (2000). A History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great Lazenby, JF. The Defence of Greece 490–479 BC.
The Greek and Roman empires were so successful for many reasons. But one of the main reasons was their military powers. Many people think that the military is brutal and has alot of big guns, but its deeper than that. They require advanced weapons, superior strategy, and finally they need leaders to come up with these things. The Greeks came up with these, and then the Romans built upon the Greeks knowledge and fine combed it.
In this paper I wanted to get a good general understanding of cultural anthropology and how it related to Ancient Greece, so I made sure that one of my references was an overview of the subject – Cultural Anthropology, The Human Challenge. This would lay the foundation for the research. I then sought out a book on Greek culture in general – The Greeks and Greek Civilization by Jacob Burckhardt – and one about the great war between Sparta and Athens – The Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan. It was through these two books where I learned most of the cultural details about Sparta, as well as some context in comparison to some of the other Greek states.
“Anabasis” represents the best adventure of the Greeks confronting the “barbarian” world. Through his narration in the expedition, Xenophon offers a unique insight to the ritual of the ancient Greek army. The character of the Greek generals, culture of Greek military and religion are described in “Anabasis”. However, Xenophon conceals his authorship by using third-person forms to refer to his own actions during the retreat. He presents himself as one of the most influential role in the Greek army and which a large proportion of the books are centered on him. After Book Three onwards, it was suspected that Xenophon was writing an apologia about his vital role in the expedition and to oppose his critics. He was trying to defend his criticisms over the last few books. He conveyed his royalty to the Greeks and only acted for their benefit.
The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "Peloponnesian War (ancient Greek History)."Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 Dec. 2013. Web. 05 Apr. 2014
soldiers, Greece was showing its ultimate power. Not only was it necessary to take war prisoners
The causes of the Peloponnesian War proved to be too great between the tension-filled stubborn Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta. As Thucydides says in Karl Walling’s article, “Never had so many human beings been exiled, or so much human blood been shed” (4). The three phases of the war, which again, are the Archidamian war, the Sicilian Expedition and the Decelean war, show the events that followed the causes of the war, while also showing the forthcoming detrimental effects that eventually consumed both Athens and eventually Sparta effectively reshaping Greece.
Soldiers were forced to live like turtles, carrying their “homes” (tents and such) along with them in battle. Their equipment was also a hassle, but protected them well in battle. It consisted of mainly helmets and shields. They also carried personal equipment such as shoes, belts, over garments, etc. A soldier had to carry his weapons and artillery with him as well. He had spears, pilums, and pikes to be heaved at enemies. Pilums are spear like weapons that would be thrown at enemies in an attempt to pierce them through their shields. Gladiuses (swords) and Pugios (daggers) were the common hand held weapons. The Gladius was the perfect weapon for the legions because of their light weight and maneuverability. The Pugio was not only a weapon of war, but also had many common purposes.
Archibald, Zofia. Discovering the World of the Ancient Greeks. New York: Facts On File, 1991. Print.
The Greeks basic soldier was a foot soldier that was trained for close combat. The basic combat soldier in Rome was a horse rider and an expert bowman. This was also due in part to the increase in technology as well. The Grecian hoplite would also carry a spear that compared to the Roman pilum as a predecessor. The pilum was much longer and could be thrown a lot further.
Works Cited:.. Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1991.
Because of the tranquil times, the civilization’s society had more time to focus on writing, math, astronomy, and artistic fields, as well as trade and metallurgy. Out of all the city-states of Greece, two excelled over all the rest, Sparta and Athens. Even though they were the most advanced and strong civilizations, they were bitter enemies. While Athens focused mainly on the people’s democracy and citizen rights, Sparta were ferocious and enslaved its original inhabitants, making them unable to leave and kept under a close eye to prevent insurgence (History of Greece:The Golden Age of Greece). Additionally, Sparta had strict and trained soldiers that underwent intense physical exercising and instruction.