Louis Rawlings - The Ancient Greeks at War

Louis Rawlings

Copyright Louis Rawlings 2007

The right of Louis Rawlings to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Published by Manchester University Press

Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9NR, UK

and Room 400, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA

www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk

Palgrave, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York,

NY 10010, USA

UBC Press, University of British Columbia, 2029 West Mall,

Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z2

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 0 7190 5657 4

First published 2007

16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Typeset

by Action Publishing Technology Ltd, Gloucester

Printed in Great Britain

by Bell & Bain Ltd, Glasgow

This book grew out of a course on army and society that Hans van Wees had proposed to teach at Cardiff University. I was fortunate enough to be able to take over his idea (and his office) when I moved to Cardiff from London, while he moved in the other direction. I have found teaching the students at Cardiff inspirational, and I extend my thanks to the many enthusiastic and engaging people who have followed my courses and made a great difference to my thinking about ancient warfare and Greek society. My colleagues at Cardiff have been extremely supportive and I owe a great debt of gratitude to them for their good-natured conversations and contributions throughout this works evolution. In particular, I would like to thank Kate Gilliver and Nick Fisher for reading drafts of the chapters and providing many thoughtful and thought-provoking observations throughout, but mostly for encouraging me to persevere. Of colleagues who have moved on to new horizons, I would also thank Adrian Goldsworthy for the many lively and formative discussions of my ideas, and Sian Lewis for asking me to dredge up things I had forgotten I had ever possessed. Beyond Cardiff, a whole host of colleagues have provided encouragement, feedback and inspiration, and I would not wish to embarrass my memory or tire the reader with an attempt to recount them all. I hope they will accept my thanks nonetheless. Two individuals, however, have supported my endeavours and have made the most important contributions to the development of this book. Tim Cornell has been an inspiration, and I can never thank him enough for the time he has taken to read and listen to my outpourings. Most important of all, however, are the qualities he possesses as teacher and thinker; all of the time I have spent in his presence has been to my profit. Hans van Wees constantly finds new ways of looking at the world; I am fortunate that his attention is drawn so very often to Greek society and warfare. I would like to thank him for his extensive comments on my text, which have made a considerable difference to the final version and, over the years, to his generous insights and observations in all matters. Without reservation, therefore, I offer my deepest gratitude to both of them.

In the production of this text, I would like to thank Janet Goodall for helping to bring the bibliography into a semblance of order, Ann Williams for proofreading both drafts in such a professional and timely manner, the anonymous reader whose supportive suggestions have much improved this work, and all the staff at Manchester University Press for bringing this project to fruition.

I must also thank my parents and brothers as always, Megan and Archie for all the good times and, most especially, Ann: who has shared all the good times and the bad, but who never once wavered in her belief.

Most Greek names have been given in their most commonly accepted Anglicised forms. Abbreviations have generally followed those of the Oxford Classical Dictionary (3rd edn) or are listed below.

This book examines the developments in warfare in Greece from the Late Bronze Age (c. 1600 BC) to the end of the classical period (c. 323 BC). It is by no means exhaustive in coverage, since the quality and quantity of ancient material varies considerably, but it has tried where possible to adopt a wide-ranging and thematic approach. One central observation is that organised violence between Greek communities manifested itself in a variety of ways. The ancient Greeks, by land and by sea, conducted raids, ambushes and police actions; they embarked on campaigns of intimidation, conquest and annihilation. Some wars were very intense and bloody and others less so. It must be remembered that there were many Greek communities, some big, many small, and these were spread not just across what is now modern Greece and the Aegean, but also the coasts of the north Aegean, Asia Minor and Cyprus. From the eighth century BC onwards, Greek communities established themselves along the edges of the Black Sea, Sicily, Southern Italy, North Africa, Spain and Southern France. In the fourth century, the Greeks and Macedonians took military forces into the Persian Empire and, with Alexander the Great, ultimately as far as India. The nature of warfare across these wide areas of time and space varied considerably.