Reinstating the hoplite : arms, armour and phalanx fighting in archaic and classical Greece / Adam Schwartz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schwartz, Adam, 1973-

Series:

Historia (Wiesbaden, Germany). Einzelschriften ; Heft 207.

Geschichte (Franz Steiner Verlag)

Historia (Wiesbaden, Germany). Einzelschriften

Geschichte

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Armor, Ancient--Greece.

Armor, Ancient.

Weapons, Ancient--Greece.

Weapons, Ancient.

Greece--History, Military--To 146 B.C.

Greece.

History, Military.

Military art and science--History--To 500.

Military art and science.

History.

Physical Description:

337 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Stuttgart : Franz Steiner Verlag, 2009.

Summary:

"Recent research into the military history of ancient Greece has questioned the central role traditionally ascribed to the famous hoplite phalanx by historians and suggested that even as late as the Persian Wars of 480-479 BC, Greek battles consisted essentially of open fighting and duels between individual combatants, in an almost Homeric fashion. In this meticulous study, Adam Schwartz in turn questions the new orthodoxy. Departing from a detailed scrutiny of hoplite equipment and its physical characteristics, the author demonstrates that this equipment must in fact have been developed specifically to meet the needs of warriors fighting in closed formation, which, it is shown, can be traced back into the eighth century BC. In this way, the study is not only a reappraisal of the role of the phalanx, but also a significant contribution to the study of Archaic Greek history. Great emphasis is, furthermore, placed upon the illumination of such crucial questions as the duration of the average hoplite battle and the role of the othismos - pushing - in deciding the outcome. In short, this book will quickly claim its place as one of the basic studies of ancient Greek hoplite battle."--BOOK JACKET.

Contents:

Introduction. Conventions ; Aims and purposes ; Research history ; Sources and methods

Hoplite equipment and its limitations. The hoplite shield ; Headgear ; Body armour ; Offensive weapons ; Physical limitations-conclusions

The phalanx. The development of the phalanx : myth or reality? ; The shield in phalanx fighting ; Deployment ; Othismos

Duration of hoplite battles. The problem of temporal designations ; Contributing factors ; Unusually long battles ; Excursus : the possible influence of literary conventions

Conclusions

Appendix. Battle inventory.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [293]-302) and indexes.

ISBN:

9783515093309

3515093303

OCLC:

464588835