Warfare in the Ancient Greek World

This course focuses on intercommunal and interstate conflict in the ancient Greek world, from Homer to the Hellenistic age, mainly in the Eastern Mediterranean (730 BCE-100 BCE). The emphasis will be on the two elements of "miltary history": that is, we will pay equal attention to all the elements of violent, murderous and destructive conflict on the battlefield and in various forms of unconventional warfare, and to the social, economic and cultural history of war. In other words, we will look at the experience of combat, tactics, strategy, operation, sieges, naval warfare; but also at economics, social structure, cultural constraints, gender constructions. The study of ancient Greek warfare, like everything else in the realm of ancient history, is very much dependent on good handling of the complex, far from straightforward, and incomplete sources. We will therefore think about, and practice, self-aware source criticism, of literary, documentary, visual and material documents.