FURTHER READING
Further Readirg
JHrnr ARE GENERAL cHAnTERS for the non-specialist on fighting of
I the ancient Near East, Egyptians and the Mycenaeans in A. Ferrill's
The Origins of War (New York, 1985). The best recenr survey of late
Bronze Age battle is Robert Drews'The End of the Bronze Age. Changes
in Warfare and tbe Catastrophe c. , 1993). H. van
1200 ac (Princeton
Ylees' Status'Warriors. Violence and Society in Homer and History
(Amsterdam, 1992) is a valuable and original review of Homeric battle
descriptions.
The field of Greek military history has exploded in the last rwenry years,
as a result of continuing publication of !( K. Pritchett's vast work of some
twenty-five years of ceaseless devotion, Tbe Greek State at War, Parts I-V
(Berkeley I97l-91), and his accompanying eight volumes, Studies in
Ancient Greek Topography (Berkeley 1955-89; Amsterdam, t991-3),
which deal with battlefields and campaign roures in Greece. Early Greek
warfare before the fifth century is the subject of P Greenhalgh's s ober Early
Greekwarfare: Horsemen and Chariots in tbe Homeric and Arcbaic Ages
(Cambridge, UK,1973);the rise of hoplites is tied to the emergence of a
new agrarian class and ideology in V D. Hanson's The Other Greeks.The
AgrarianRoots of Western Ciuilization (New York, 1995).
Reliable and quite readable are the accounts on tactics, strategy, and
the evolution of hoplite war in F. Adcock, The Greek and Macedonian
Art of War (Berkeley, 1957),P. Ducrey, Warfare in Ancient Greece (New
York, Y Garlan, War in the Ancient Woild (New York, I97 5) , and
1.985),
especially J. K. Anderson, Military Theory and Practice in the Age of
Xenopbon (Berkeley, 1970). Some interesting artistic re-creations of
Greek warfare, as well as valuable maps and charts, are found in the
surveys of J. Hackett (ed.), A History of War in the Ancient World
(London, 1989) , J. Warry, '\)(arfare in tbe Classical World (New York,
1980), and P. Connolly, Greece andRorne atWar (London, 1981). There
is now a brief sourcebook of ancienr passages on Greek warfare in M.
Sage (ed.), Warfare in Ancient Greece (London, 1995) .
LZ2
The environment and experience of hoplite fighting are covered by V
D. Hanson, The'Western'Wayof 'War.Infantry Battle inClassical Greece
(New York, 1989), and in a collection of essays by nine military
historians, V D. Hanson (ed.), Hoplites: The Ancient Greek Battle
Experience (London, 1991). See also the excellent articles in A. B. Lloyd
(ed.) , Battle in Antiquity (London, 1996). Social and economic problems
of Greek warfare concern V. D. Hanson , Warfare and Agriculture in
Classical Greece (Pisa, 1983; 2nd ed. BerkeleS 1998), and J. Rich and G.
Shipley (eds.),War and Society in the Greek'World (London, 1993).
Doyne Dawson, Tbe Origins of Western'Warfare. Militarism and
Morality in the Ancient Greek'World (Boulder, 1996) ,has a fine synopsis
of the philosophical assumptions of the Greeks concerning war.
The study of Greek arms and armour rests still on the work of A.
Snodgrass, Early Greek Armour and'V/eapons (Edinburgh ,1964) and
Arms and Armour of tbe Greeks (lthaca, NY, 1967), now updated by E.
Jarva's curious but original A rcbaiologica on Archaic GreekBody Armour
(Rovaniemi, Finland, 1995). There are excellent studies on the regionalism
and specialization in Greek warfare; see especially, J. Lazenby,The Spartan
Army (\Xlestminster, UK, 1985), and J. Best,Thracian Pebasts and their
Influence on Greek Warfare (Groningen, 1969). For ancient cavalry, now
see the trio of G. Bugh,The Horsemen of Athens (Princeton, 1988), L.
rJforley, Hippeis. The Caualry of Ancient Greece (Boulder, 1994), andl.
G. Spence, Tbe Caualry of Classical Greece. A Social and Military History
witb Particular Reference to Athens (Oxford, 1993).
A comprehensive catalogue of Greek battles in English is desperately
needed to update J. Kromayer and G. Veith, A ntike Scblacbtfelder (Berlin,
1903-31). D. Kagan's four-volume New History of the Peloponnesian
War (lthaca,NY, 1959-37) has brief, though fine, accounts of the major
land and sea battles between 431 and 404. R. Gabriel and D. Boose Jr.
have very general accounts of a few Greek battles inThe Great Battles of
Antiquity ('Westport, Conn., 1994).
No comprehensive survey exists for the long and complicated story of
Hellenistic warfare, but the general outlines can be pieced together through
Lz3
 1'H I.t \\'ARS ()F',l'H U ANCiI FlN'1' (] R t.tUKs
Here a craftsman cuts auay imperfections from a rccently cdst corintbian bronze
boplite helmet. Armour fabrication is a fauourite tbeme of tbe classical uase-painters,
tuho uere not only aware of the centrality of military equipment in Greek life, but
also sensitiue to the artistic beauty of the boplite panoply itself. A
fully armoured
phalanx on the moue, like a trireme uith oars in motion, ruas not merely an
instrument of death, but a terrifyingly beautiful object in its oun rigbt.
of excellenr, though specialized studies. A dated, but sdll valuable
a variery
overview are $7. 'S7. Tarn's lectures, Hellenistic Military and Naual
Deuelopments (Cambridge, UK, 1930). More detailed is the introductory
volume of H. Delbrtick,Warfare in Antiquity (rWestport, Conn., 1975).
Too numerous to list are the scores of biographies of Alexander the
Great that discuss his military record in detail. N. G. L. Hammond's
Alexander tbe Great: King, Commander, and Statesman (London, 19g1)
reveals the author's lifetime masrery of Greek military hisrory Srill useful
Lz4
C. Fuller's, The Generalship of Alexander the Great (London,
is J. F.
1960). For Alexander's army on the move, cf. D. Engels, Alexander the
Great and tbe Logistics of the Macedonian Army (Berkeley, 1978). An
honest appraisal of Alexander is best found in A. B. Bosworth, Conquest
and Empire. The Reign of Alexander the Great (Cambridge, 1988).
The growing fourth-century and Hellenistic practice of hiring armies
is the subjectof G. T Griffith's Mercenaries of tbe Hellenistic World
(Cambridge, UK, 1935), and H. 'W. Parke's Greek Mercenary Soldiers
(Oxford, 1933). It is sometimes forgotten that P. Cartledge's Agesilaos
and the Crisis of Sparta (Bakimore,1987) contains the best synopsis of
fourth-century Greek warfare. Fortifications and the massive walls of
Hellenistic cities are covered well by A. 'Sil. Lawrence, Greek Aims in
F o rt if i c at i o n Oxford, I97 9), F. E. Winter, G re e k F o rti fi cat i ons (Tor onro,
(
l97l), and J. Ober, Fortress Attica. Defense of tbe Athenian Land
Frontier. 404-322 (Leiden, 1985) . F. W. Marsden reviews the evolution of
catapults and siegecraft in his two-volume Greek and Roman Artillery
(Oxford, I959-7I). H. H. Scullard,Tbe Elephant in the Greek and
Roman World (lthaca, NY, 1974), is primarily concerned with military
applications of elephants in the battles between Greeks and Romans. B.
Bar-Kochava , The Seleucid Army (Cambridge, UK, 1.976) , is the sole
specialized account devoted to the armies of the Successors. Both E. L.
Wheeler, Stratagem and the Vocabulary of Military Trickery (Leiden,
1988), and D. Whitehead, Aineias the Tactician: How to Suruiue Under
Slege (Oxford , '1,990), discuss the growing genre of Greek military science
and contemplation.
In general what is now needed is a comprehensive - tactics, topography
of the major Greek
and source criticism - and systematic catalogue
battles from Marathon to Pydna. In addition, a strictly military history
of the Peloponnesian war is long overdue, as is an accout.tt of the Theban
army. No single-volume, comprehensive work exists on Hellenistic
warfare. A military prosopography that might catalogue the battle
service of all major Greek figures would be useful, as well as a strictly
economic analysis of the costs of Classical and Hellenistic fighting.
zz5
 STATISTICS

Statistics THE COST OF RUNNING A WAR

1 drachma = about a day's wage in the fifh century
PERFORMANC E CHARACTERISTIC S
OF ANCIENT WEAPONS
Weapon Weight Speed lmpast area Areaofwound lmpactenergy
EXPEl'ISES

in pounds in ftet per in inches in inches in bot-pounds

second T0 send 40,000 men from Athens to Sicily for a two-year campaign 20,500,00 drs
Stone mace 1.8 60 3.0 9.0 10t.3
To conduct the Athenian military for a year during the Peloponnesian War 12,000,000 drs
Gladius (hacking) 1.8 60 1.5 4.0 101 .0

Penetrating axe 2.2 4B 0.5 1.75 77.5 To conduct a large siege for a year }{,000,000 drs

Sickle sword 1.8 53 4.0 6.5 77.5

To man 100 triremes lor a month (pay and supplies) 1,400,000 drs
Spear(overhand) 1.5 55 1t32 3.6 70.8
Cutting axe 2.0 48 2.5 70.5 To tield an army of 10,000 hoplites for a week 70,000 drs
Eye axe 2.0 48 0.75 2.25
To field 1,000 horsemen for a week 14,000 drs
Javelin 1.3 58 1/32 2.6 67.1

Anow S53grains 197 1t32 2.0 47.4

Gladius (thrust) 1.8 28 4.7 21.3
Sling SOOgrains 120 0.75 16.0
CAPITAT OUII.AY FOR WEAPONS AI'ID EOUIPMEI{T
Spear (underhano 1.5 24 1/32 3.6 13.5
(From R. Gabriel andK. Metz,From Sumer to Rome (Vlestport, C! 1991),59 The cost ol building a fortification circuit wall of 4 miles 1,500,000 drs

The cost of building/outfitting a single trireme 1G-l2,000 drs

DEATH RATES IN CLASSICAL
The cost oJ a good war horse 50G{,000
AND HELLENISTIC BATTLES drs

The cost ol a hoplite's panoply 00-300 drs

Batte lMnners Losers Wnners killed Losers killed
I

Marathon 10,000 30,000 192(2W 6,400 (2170)

490 bc Athenians Persians

Delium 18,500 c.10,000 500Q.7Vo\ 1,000+ (10%)

424M, Boeotians Athenians COMPARATIVE NON.MILITARY EXPENDITURES

Gaugamela 50,000 c.250,000 c. 500 (1%) 50,000+ (20%) Tle cost ol building the Parthenon 5,000,000 drs
331 bc Macedonians Persians

The cost of putting on a Sophoclean play

fodna 30,000 c.44,000 statistically 20,000 (45.4%)
1,500-3,000 drs
168bc Romans Macedonians unimportanl
The cost of a slave 300-500 drs