Fighting by the Rules: The Invention of the Hoplite Agôn (original) (raw)
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'THE ATHLETES OF WAR': AN EVALUATION OF THE AGONISTIC ELEMENTS IN GREEK WARFARE 1
Students of Greek warfare can scarcely avoid becoming saturated with the agonistic model of hoplite battle. In various manifestations it has dominated scholarship for over seventy years, and through all that time it has provoked very little criticism before some recent work of Peter Krentz, which has provided much of the groundwork for the present study. 2 Our purpose here will be to undertake a more thorough survey of the long history of scholarship on the matter; this should reveal some of the intellectual background from which the idea arose, as well as the ancient evidence which has most
The Homeric way of war: The Iliad and the hoplite phalanx (I)
Greece & Rome, 1994
THE HOMERIC WAY OF WAR: THE ILIAD AND THE HOPLITE PHALANX (I) By HANS VAN WEES Old warriors of the New Guinea highlands used to regale the anthropologist Margaret Mead with tales of battles they once fought. Their stories ran something like this: 'We met on the mountainside near Wihun. A man of our side, named Maigi, threw a spear at a man of their side, named Wea. He missed. Then a man of their side threw a spear and hit my cross-cousin from Ahalaseimihi. Then I was angry and threw a spear at Wena, a big man of their side, and missed ...', and so on.'
War in Archaic Athens: polis, Elites and Military power
Historia, 2019
The paper argues that Cleisthenes' military reforms were not improvised. The general view of war in Archaic Athens as a series of skirmishes between small contingents recruited on an almost private basis must be qualified, as there are indications to suggest a greater and more regulated involvement of the polis of Athens in the organisation of collective war. This was not entirely effective since it depended on "private" channels, the aristoi from different districts, who fought each other (stasis). Despite this, they were "institutionalised" as part of the common political and institutional framework. The sources seems to indicate that the existence of "Hoplites" in Peisistratid Athens was more widespread than is usually believed. Keywords: Aristoi and polis-Aeginetan and Megarian wars-Archaic militarised institutionswarfare in Peisistratid Athens * This research had the aid of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, Project HAR2015-65456-P. 1 A good recent compendium of the state of the question with opposing positions on this subject and with reference to the historiography of Hoplite warfare is the book edited by Kagan & Viggiano (eds.) 2013. 2 For the idea of gradual reform that began in the late 8th or early 7th centuries, see Snodgrass 1965; 1993; 2013 (with nuances). For the idea of a "Hoplite revolution", see Cartledge 1977; 1998; 2013. For the idea of citizen-soldiers, from a gradualist stance, see Raaflaub 1997; 2013 (in this paper, the author underlines the Eastern influence on phalanx formation). Hanson (1995) emphasises the importance of the middle class of farmers in the formation of the Hoplite phalanx. 3 Both the technical aspects and the phalanx formation are discussed, as well as those behind it; generally speaking, a long process is postulated that did not finish until the 5th century: Krentz 1985; 2007; 2013; Van Wees 2000; 2004; 2013a; these authors emphasise the role of light troops in Archaic war, in theoretically more open formations. For a compendium of historiography from a revisionist position: Echeverria 2012. 4 Centred on armament: Schwartz 2009; 2013. Viggiano (2013) returns to the idea of the "Hoplite revolution" in 650. For a recent review of the Hoplite question from the different (and sometimes opposing) positions of authors such as Snodgrass, Cartledge or Raaflaub, see Kagan & Viggiano (eds.) 2013. This material is under copyright. Any use outside of the narrow boundaries of copyright law is illegal and may be prosecuted. This applies in particular to copies, translations, microfilming as well as storage and processing in electronic systems.
New Approaches to Greek and Roman Warfare
Wiley, 2019
New Approaches to Greek and Roman Warfare brings together essays from specialists in ancient history who employ contemporary tools and approaches to reveal new evidence and increase knowledge of ancient militaries and warfare. In-depth yet highly readable, this volume covers the most recent trends for understanding warfare, militaries, soldiers, non-combatants, and their roles in ancient cultures. Chronologically-organized chapters explore new methodologies, evidence, and topics while offering fresh and original perspectives on recent documentary and archaeological discoveries. Covering the time period from Archaic Greece to the Late Roman Empire, the text asks questions of both new and re-examined old evidence and discusses the everyday military life of soldiers and veterans. Chapters address unique topics such as neurophysiological explanations for why some soldiers panic and others do not in the same battle, Greek society’s handling of combat trauma in returning veterans, the moral aspects and human elements of ancient sieges, medical care in the late Roman Empire, and the personal experience of military servicemembers and their families. Each chapter is self-contained to allow readers to explore topics in any order they prefer. Providing new material and topical focus, New Approaches to Greek and Roman Warfare is an ideal text for Greek History or Roman History courses, particularly those focusing on ancient warfare, as well as scholars and general readers with interest in the ancient militaries.
The Archaeology of Greek Warriors and Warfare from the Eleventh to the Early Seventh Century B.C.E.
2014
This thesis studies the evidence related to warfare and warriors in the Early Iron Age of Greece, from the eleventh to the early seventh century B.C.E. It argues that “warrior” identity, as expressed through burial with weapons or depictions of armed men and combat in pictorial painting and literature, is connected to violent action in order to create, maintain, and reinforce the relationship between authority and violent action. The forms that this violent action took were variable, from interregional conflict to overseas raids. This is outlined in Chapter 1, which is followed by two chapters summarizing the palatial (Chapter 2) and postpalatial (Chapter 3) background to the Early Iron Age. Chapters 4 to 7 present the evidence. In order to provide a more thorough analysis the focus is limited to the regions of Attica, central Euboea, the Argolid, and Knossos. The study of warfare in this period has been dominated by the study of weapons; in this thesis the approach focuses on the contexts in which these weapons are found, burials (Chapter 4), sanctuaries (Chapter 5), and occasionally settlements (Chapter 6). In these chapters the particular treatment and emphasis on weapons and armour is considered based on an understanding of these contexts in the period. In Chapter 7, representations and the treatment of warriors and warfare in Early Iron Age pictorial pottery is considered, as is briefly the literary evidence from the end of this period, which form the means by which contemporary people came to understand warfare. Chapter 8 discusses the evidence, while Chapter 9 summarizes the conclusions. This thesis shows that while warrior identity and the practice of war are closely related, in these areas of Early Iron Age Greece there are variations in the identification of men as warriors and in the intensity with which war is fought. Throughout the period, these regions express warrior identity in broadly similar ways, but with variations in duration, accessibility, and meaning. The eighth century is particularly a period of change with the intensification of warfare manifest in the destruction of settlements, but these changes are not restricted to this century, and are in many ways similar to the preceding centuries on a larger scale.
The heavily armoured infantryman, known as the hoplite, began to emerge on the battlefields of Greece in the mid-seventh century BC. 1 The seventh century was also witness to a wave of changes in the governments of some Greek cities, which resulted in the established oligarchies and monarchies being replaced by tyrannies. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which the emergence of the hoplite class impacted upon the political developments in Greece, and specifically with regards to the tyrannies that were established across the Greek world between c.650-500 BC. 2 During the seventh century, tyrants took control of Corinth (Cypselus), Katane (Euarchus), Megara (Theagenes), Miletus (Thrasybulus), Mytilene (Melandrus), Samos (Demoteles), Sicyon (Orthagoras), and a failed attempt to seize power in Athens (Cylon). In order to understand the extent to which hoplites may have affected these political developments in Greece, it is important to examine their influence on the battlefields. Warfare in the eighth century BC was essentially a long range skirmish oriented affair, fought by individual aristocratic warrior specialists. 3 This method of warfare was generally inconclusive, and it did not always descend into a decisive melee phase. 4 The introduction of the hoplite as a solider, and the gradual development of the phalanx as a tactical unit, was specifically implemented to " supersede long-range fighting " with decisive melee encounters decided by an increasingly uniformly armed force. 5 This emergence then eventually led to the implementation of massed phalanx based battlefield tactics, which in turn required a number of similarly armoured men in order to be effective. In order to maximise the military potential of the hoplite, and additionally to protect themselves as best they could from attacks on their flanks and rear, Greek aristocrats were obliged to recruit a sufficient number of these heavily-armoured warriors from outside of the ranks of the traditional aristocracy. To achieve this, the aristocrats were forced into widening the qualification requirements to include wealthy non-aristocratic farmers. As a consequence, for the first time warfare, which had hitherto been the domain of specialist aristocratic warriors, was opened up to include the wealthier farmer-soldiers who could afford to arm themselves with the hoplite panoply of arms and armour.
2011, "Taktikè Téchne. The Neglected Element in Classical Hoplite Battles"
Ancient Society, 2011
Influential and widespread approaches to archaic and classical Greek warfare maintain that pitched battles were simple and straightforward clashes of heavy infantry, fought according to a set of highly ritualized protocols that ultimately entailed the rejection of any kind of tactical refinement. This denial of tactics is supposed to be the result of the agricultural and agonistic nature of Greek warfare. Literary evidence, however, shows that Greek commanders had a constant concern about tactical issues and multiple tactical choices at hand. What will be suggested here is a revision of the concept of ‘tactics’ applied to archaic and classical Greece. The idea of ‘cultural tactics’, the set of pragmatic decisions taken on the battlefield according to the ideological and cultural framework of the polis, will be put forward. This concept entails that all tactical decisions were guided by the cultural principle of favoring and protecting the citizen body.
Several Remarks About the Near-Eastern Contribution to Early Archaic Greek Warfare
Studies in Ancient Art and Civilisation 22 (January), 7-22, 2019
In recent years Archaic Greek warfare has become one of the issues most often raised among scholars focused on Ancient Greece in general. Questions about the emergence of the phalanx, evolution of fighting styles and types of weapons feature prominently in the mentioned discourse. The considerations of the provenance of these innovations certainly do not go beyond the frames of that debate. Taking the vast scope of interactions between the Near East and the widely understood Greek world into account, presuming the possible presence of the Near-Eastern influences in Archaic Greek warfare seems to be legitimate. The aim of this paper is an attempt to point out archaeologically traceable solutions in the terms of weapons and tactics in Greek warfare which may have been drawn from the Oriental area and assess their potential significance for the development of Greek warfare. https://journals.akademicka.pl/saac/article/view/602
2015, "Heroic Fiction, Combat Scenes, and the Scholarly Reconstruction of Archaic Greek Warfare"
Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, 2015
Combat scenes depicted on vases are a critical source for the reconstruction of Greek warfare in the archaic period. They are the subject of a lively debate over their accuracy and reliability as historical sources, and the degree to which they represent historical ways of fighting among archaic Greeks has been questioned. A particularly common argument used to question, or even in some cases, to reject some scenes as potential sources is to identify them as depicting ‘archaizing’ and/or ‘heroizing’ topics, that is, images drawn from a legendary past or from the myths. This scepticism has often been based on the identification of a few elements in the pictures which have traditionally been regarded as belonging to myth or to a period prior to the introduction of the phalanx. It is shown here that an examination of both these specific elements and the larger combat scenes in the light of new theories about the phalanx and the hoplite in the archaic period offer fresh grounds for analysis.
ARCHAEOLOGY AND SCIENCE 12 2016 , Center for New Technology Institute of Archaeology Belgrade, 2016
The Homeric epics are the only descriptive literary source which possess enough detail to interpret material and illustrative evidence into a functional context of war fighting, especially with a view to technique, tactics and, to a lesser extend overall practice. The instrumental role of fighting between two elite, heavily armed warriors is indeed a nice read or story, but this does not exclude functionality and realism; the middle-ages warfare is an exact analogue. Thus if the epic is taken at face value as it was used to be and clearly intended to be, a coherent picture emerges, with armies based on 50-strong basic units, different troop types used in specific mission profiles in tactically competent ways, maneuvering reminiscent of much later eras and both massive and individual approaches for a decisive outcome. The latter, seen both during the campaign of Alexander but also in the Middle Ages is described in great extend and produces an integrated picture of the skills and methods involved, both in set-piece, ritualistic and strictly regulated duels and in more or less random, but unregulated and spontaneous personal encounters leading to single combat within the context of a larger fight.