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- At the same time, however, the quarreling among Athens, Sparta, and other city-states that reached its apex in the ruinous Peloponnesian War so amply documented by Thucydides made clear to the Greeks the need for peace within the Greek world, and the fourth century was marked by repeated attempts at arbitration and efforts to establish koine eirene, a Common Peace.
academic.oup.com/edited-volume/42641/chapter/378368412
With conflicting states and interests, much as in Greece, ideas of peace were perhaps more free to develop than within single empires like Egypt. Kurt Raaflaub addresses ancient Greece within ‘Greek Concepts and Theories of Peace’ (122-57).
It discusses three examples that illustrate intense Greek efforts in the late fifth and fourth centuries to achieve peace by containing endemic inter-communal war and overcoming civil strife (stasis).
- Kurt A. Raaflaub
- 2016
- City-State Rivalries
- The Hoplite Phalanx
- War at Sea: The Trireme
- Battle Strategies
- Siege Warfare
- Logistics: Baggage & Supplies
- Spoils of Victory
- Conclusion
Evolving from armed bands led by a warrior leader, city militia of part-time soldiers, providing their own equipment and perhaps including all the citizens of the city-state or polis, began to move warfare away from the control of private individuals and into the realm of the state. Assemblies or groups of elite citizens sanctioned war, and general...
The mainstay of any Greek army was the hoplite. His full panoply was a long spear, short sword, and circular bronze shield and he was further protected, if he could afford it, by a bronze helmet (with inner padding for comfort), bronze breastplate, greaves for the legs and finally, ankle guards. Fighting was at close-quarters, bloody, and lethal. T...
Some states such as Athens, Aegina, Corinth, and Rhodes amassed fleets of warships, most commonly the trireme, which could allow these states to forge lucrative trading partnerships and deposit troops on foreign territory and so establish and protect colonies. They could even block enemy harbours and launch amphibious landings. The biggest fleet wa...
The first strategy was actually employed before any fighting took place at all. Religion and ritual were important features of Greek life, and before embarking on a campaign, the will of the gods had to be determined. This was done through the consultation of oracles such as that of Apollo at Delphi and through animal sacrifices (sphagia) where a p...
From an early stage, most Greek city-states had a fortified acropolis (Sparta and Elis being notable exceptions) to protect the most important religious and civic buildings and provide refuge from attack. However, as warfare became more mobile and moved away from the traditional hoplite battle, cities sought to protect their suburbs with fortificat...
The short duration of conflicts in the Greek world was often because of the poor logistics supplying and maintaining the army in the field. Soldiers were usually expected to provide their own rations (dried fish and barley porridge being most common) and the standard for Athens was three-days' worth. Most hoplites would have been accompanied by a s...
War booty, although not always the primary motive for conflict, was certainly a much-needed benefit for the victor which allowed him to pay his troops and justify the expense of the military campaign. Booty could come in the form of territory, money, precious materials, weapons, and armour. The losers, if not executed, could expect to be sold into ...
Greek warfare, then, evolved from small bands of local communities fighting for local territory into massive set-piece battles between multi-allied counterparts. War became more professional, more innovative, and more deadly, reaching its zenith with the Macedonian leaders Philip II and Alexander the Great. Learning from the earlier Greek strategie...
- Mark Cartwright
Oct 27, 2024 · Greek political ideas have influenced modern forms of government, Greek pottery and sculpture have inspired artists for millennia, and Greek epic, lyric, and dramatic poetry is still read around the world.
- Simon Hornblower
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- Ancient Greek civilization was concentrated in what is today Greece and along the western coast of Turkey. However, ancient Greek colonists establi...
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Peace of Brundisium between Antonius and Octavian that prompted Vergil to write the famous Fourth Eclogue with its vision, shining brightly in a dark age of civil wars, of the return of peace and a new Golden Age.
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This chapter examines the concept of war and peace in ancient Greece. It explains that the Greek word for war, polemos, often retained the physical resonance of fighting, combat or battle and that the Greeks thought of war as an activity that the gods themselves engaged in and approved of.
