The Wars Of The Ancient Greeks (2002) - Plot & Excerpts
This is a very general introduction to ancient Greek warfare that will only be of interest to those who are completely unfamiliar with the topic. Hanson's first chapter deals with "Early Greek fighting", here dated 1400 to 750 BC, and is clearly out of his depth when dealing with Mycenaean and "Dark-Age" warfare. His treatment of Homeric warfare borrows liberally from Hans van Wees's seminal treatments of the topic. Predictably, the second chapter, which focuses on the period between 750 and 450 BC, is entitled, "The rise of the city-state and the invention of Western warfare". He gets to repeat a lot of material that he has gone over time and again with the same lack of source criticism that has marked much of his other work. The other chapters are more or less rote summaries of major military events: the Persian and Peloponnesian Wars plus some later developments (chapter 3), the Macedonian war-machine (chapter 4), and finally Alexander and the successors (chapter 5). The conclusion, entitled "The Hellenic legacy", retreats yet more of the same tiresome material that was already treated extensively in his The Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece and is completely superfluous. The glossary is too basic to be useful. The suggestions for further reading tend to be good, even if the reader is not generally pointed in the direction of works that disagree heavily with Hanson's own notions, though his recommendation of the "excellent articles" in A.B. Lloyd's Battle In Antiquity is commendable.
t If you have the time to read only two books on the nature of war, then you read this one and Keegan's "The face of battle".This is concision, analysis, description and writing at its best. Most of Hanson's other books are repetitions of this one, with a bit more detail.
What do You think about The Wars Of The Ancient Greeks (2002)?
An account of the wars of the ancient greeks starts with the collapse of Mycenaean greece and ends with the Roman conquest.The first chapter covers early greek fighting and includes Mycenaean warfare and tactics,armour, and the palace systems of the times.It also discusses the Homeric battlefield.Other highlights for me in the chapters were hoplite battle gear,tactics,the so-called nomima or rules of battle and background on Sparta.The battles covered are too numerous to discuss here but mentioned are Thermopylae,Salamis,Peloponnesian,Chaeronea,Granicus and Gaugamela.Each being discussed over a few pages if not less.The book shows the progression and advancement of warfare throughout.It was not only educational but seemed well researched with the exception of a few conclusions.I would recommend it for the warfare enthusiast.
—Juliew.
