Battles of the Ancient Greeks: towards the history of Ancient Greek Warfare

elective courses

The present course presented history of Ancient Greek Warfare as illustrated through major battles fought by Greek and Hellenistic stated over the centuries. Some of the battles to be discussed in the classroom have been selected because they are undoubtedly turning moments of Greek history (also political and intellectual). Others are included in the course owing to their value as the illustration of military developments and reforms that changed much more than just the battlefield. The chronological range spreads from the Archaic Period to the Late Hellenistic Age.

The students will be introduced to sources and modern literature step by step, using individual cases as illustrations of ancient warfare research complexity. The readings for each module will consist of a selection of source materials on a given battle (not necessarily literary accounts only) and modern works.

General:

W. K. Pritchett, The Greek State at War, 5 vols. Berkeley 1971-1991.

W. K. Pritchett, Studies in Ancient Greek Topography, Berkeley 1993.

J. Kromayer – G. Veith, The Atlas of Ancient Battlefields, Grójec 2016 (translation from Schlachten-Atlas zur antiken Kriegsgeschichte /1922/).

J. Lendon, Soldier and Ghosts, New Haven 2005.

H. van Wees, P. Sabin M. Whitby (eds.) Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare, Cambridge 2007.

For more specialized works see the reading section for each meeting as well as:

Topic-relevant Osprey’s volumes in the series of Campaigns and Men-at-Arms.

Paul Cartledge, The Spartans: The World of the Warrior-Heroes of Ancient Greece, From Utopia to Crisis and Collapse. Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press, 2003.

Christopher Matthew, Matthew Trundle, Beyond the Gates of Fire: New Perspectives on the Battle of Thermopylae. Barnsley: Pen and Sword Military, 2013.

Dennis L. Fink, The Battle of Marathon in Scholarship. Research, Theories and Controversies Since 1850. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company, Inc., Publishers, 2014.

Peter Krentz, The Battle of Marathon. Yale Library of Military History. New Haven/London: Yale University Press, 2010.

Barry S. Strauss, The battle of Salamis : the naval encounter that saved Greece--and Western civilization. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004

Paul Cartledge, After Thermopylae: The Oath of Plataea and the End of the Graeco-Persian Wars. Emblems of Antiquity. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.

Nicholas Victor Sekunda, Bogdan Burliga, Iphicrates, Peltasts and Lechaeum. Monograph series 'Akanthina', 9. Gdańsk: Foundation for the Development of Gdańsk University, 2014.

W. Heckel, The Conquests of Alexander the Great, New Haven 2007.

R. Waterfield, Dividing the Spoils: The War for Alexander the Great's Empire, Oxford 2012.

K_W04; K_W05; K_W10; K_U06; K_U07; K_U11.

The participants will read and interpret ancient texts and other source materials assigned to them using modern-era research works advised by the course’s instructor.

The final score for the course consists of 1. Evaluation of a participant’s activity in the classroom (50%); 2 Assessment of a critical book review on one books from the course’s additional reading list (up to 4 double-spaced pages or 1000 words – 50 %).

No more than 3 absences are allowed. Absences 2 and 3 may incur an additional assignment.