Expert Simon Elliott considers the different fighting styles of Greek
armies and discusses how Greek battles unfolded.
Ancient Greeks at War is a lavishly illustrated tour de force covering
every aspect of warfare in the Ancient Greek world from the beginnings
of Greek civilization through to its assimilation into the ever
expanding world of Rome. As such it begins with the onset Minoan culture
on Crete around 2,000 BC, then covers the arrival of the Mycenaean
civilization and the ensuing Late Bronze Age Collapse, before moving on
to Dark Age and Archaic Greece. This sets the scene for the flowering of
Classical Greek civilization, as told through detailed narratives of the
Greek and Persian Wars, Peloponnesian Wars and the rise of Thebes as a
major power.
The book then moves on to the onset of Macedonian domination under
Philip II, before focusing in detail on the exploits of his son
Alexander the Great, the all-conquering hero of the ancient world. His
legacy was the Hellenistic world with its multiple, never ending series
of conflicts that took place over a huge territory, ranging from Italy
in the west all the way to India in the east. Those covered include the
various Wars of the Successors, the rise of the Bactrian-Greek and
Indo-Greek kingdoms, the various wars between the Antigonid Macedonian,
Seleucid and Ptolemaic kingdoms, and later the onset of the clash of
cultures between the rising power of Rome in the west and the
Hellenistic kingdoms. In the long run the latter proved unable to match
Rome's insatiable desire for conquest in the eastern Mediterranean, and
this together with the rise of Parthia in the east ensured that one by
one the Hellenistic kingdoms and states fell. The book ends with the
destruction of Corinth in 146 BC after the defeat by Rome of the Achaean
League. The conclusion considers the legacy of the Ancients Greeks in
the Roman world, and subsequently.
