This week we'll pick up the pace a bit, as we move into periods about which we can speak in more detail and with more confidence. For the first part of the week, we'll look at the development of the institution of the polis or city-state, and of the equipment and techniques of the hoplite infantryman. We'll also sketch out what we can say about specific military episodes in Greece before the Persian Wars (we know of a number, but in most cases very little about them aside from the participants and the outcomes).

By the end of the week, we'll start looking at the interactions between various Greek communities and the great Persian empire, and discuss the events that lead to the attempted Persian invasion of Greece, where at last we get some reasonably full accounts of specific battles.

1. Required readings

Sage, pp. 25 - 94. We won't be discussing all of this material this week, but this is a good time to pick up the necessary background details about hoplite warfare. Our aim will be to discuss hoplites in general terms just enough so that we can begin to approach accounts of specific battles, and then to use our understanding of the battles to fill out our picture of hoplite warfare. Pay special attention to sections 33 - 61 and 128 - 129, and, for Friday, pp. 81 - 91.

Hanson, pp. 55 - 88. Again, we won't discuss all this material in class, but it should help give us enough background to start looking at specific accounts of hoplite battles.

Hdt. I.1-5, V.1-54, V.97-VI.32. Save this for Friday. One thing you'll notice very quickly about Herodotus is his apparently digressive style: he frequently interrupts the chronological flow of his narrative to give his reader the 'back story', which can make things rather confusing. I'm only assigning the sections that are particularly relevant to our concerns, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to look through the parts that we're skipping (i.e. V.55-96) as well. One of the problems of skipping around is that sometimes Herodotus will be referring to people or events he's already introduced, but which we haven't read about, so don't be surprised if you occasionally feel a bit lost: do your best to follow the narrative; reading your recommended Greek history text before you tackle the Herodotus will probably help.

2. Recommended readings

Burn 83 - 125, 146 - 160.

Hdt. 4.1-144 (An account of Darius' Scythian campaign, which we'll discuss briefly).

 

3. Suggestions for further study

These are just a few fairly accesible books relevant to this week's material. There is a wealth of more specialized articles, some of which are listed in Sage's bibliography, others in the bibliography on this web site.

A. M. Snodgrass, Early Greek Armour and Weapons (Edinburgh 1964)

A. M. Snodgrass, Arms and Armour of the Greeks (Ithaca 1967)

O. Murray, Early Greece (Cambridge, Mass. 1993)

A. R. Burn, Persia and the Greeks (London 1962)

P. M. Green, The Greco-Persian Wars (Berkeley 1996)