ANCIENT GREECE Military Matters

TRADITIONAL BATTLE FORMATIONS Group ambush No organized formations Individual combats

THE PHALANX AND THE HOPLITE Greek generals trained their soldiers to fight in lines, shoulder to shoulder, starting ~650 BCE In this way, each man was protected by the shield of the man standing next to him When they all marched forward together, no enemy spears or arrows could get through their wall of shields A hoplite was a soldier who fought in this formation

THE AWESOMENESS OF THE HOPLITE PHALANX Intense training in fighting in formation, fighting in full armour, and discipline  Poor timing would render the whole phalanx useless  One weak, wounded, or cowardly hoplite could render the whole phalanx useless Required equipment (total weight could reach 75 lbs):  Breastplate  Greaves (shin guards)  Hoplon (round shield)  Tunic of stiffened linen  Spear  Sword (only for use in second phase of battle) All the equipment earned Greek soldiers the nicknames, "men of bronze" (Herodotus, Histories, 2.152), or "men clad in iron" (Ptolemy III Chronicle).

EFFECTS OF THE PHALANX Made Greek soldiers very desirable mercenaries for hundreds of years Helped Greece to fight off the Persians during the Persian Wars (Battle of Marathon) New emphasis on the importance of each ordinary soldier  Contrast with the focus on the aristocratic heroes of the Iliad  Helped democracy to develop in Greece Equipment and armour requirements meant that only the wealthy could really afford to become hoplites The Romans used the same hoplite tactics to conquer the Greek empire

THE PERSIAN WARS Important battles:  Marathon: land battle  Athens wins, thanks to the modified phalanx and kairos – the opportune moment  Thermopylae (as shown in the movie, 300… sort of)  Persia wins, thanks to sheer numbers and treachery  ***Xerxes & Co. reach a deserted Athens and burn it to the ground***  Salamis: naval battle  Athens wins, thanks to its navy  Also the time when Xerxes is alleged to have ordered the waters to be beaten, lashed, and branded  Plataea: land battle  Sparta wins, thanks to its phalanx

THE BATTLE OF MARATHONMARATHON Greece (led by Athens) vs Persia (led by Darius) Athens appealed to Sparta for help  Sparta said her soldiers could come, but only after the next full moon Athens greatly outnumbered, but circumstances led to victory Origin of our modern-day marathon One of first recorded instances in which phalanx used Winner: Greece

THE PERSIAN WARS: IN SUMMARY

GREECE AT WAR…WITH ITSELF Athens and the Delian League vs. Sparta and the Peloponnesian League Deep suspicion and fear between two powers  Sparta is a land-based power; Athens a sea- based one 431 BCE: The Second Peloponnesian War begins 10 years later: stalemate Peace of Nicias: 30-year peace treaty ends the Peloponnesian War

GREECE AT WAR…WITH ITSELF…AGAIN 415 BCE: Alcibiades convinces Athens to attack Greek city-states on island of Sicily 413 BCE: Athenians defeated and fleet destroyed in Syracuse (in Sicily), leaving Athens powerless  Sparta attacks Athens 405 BCE: Athenian navy destroyed in a surprise attack by Lysander and the Spartans at Aegospotami 404 BCE: Athens totally surrenders to Sparta  Sparta installs oligarchic government in Athens End of the age of Athens and Classical Greece

AFTER THE PELOPONNESIAN WARS Sparta’s military strength in Greece does not last long  Sparta has trouble controlling other Greek city-states  Sparta insists on exporting their way of government and living to all the other city-states: no one is interested Sparta’s traditional education methods speed up its collapse  Spartans are trained to obey and follow tradition, which leads to stagnation in a society By 371 BCE, Sparta has lost its position as Greece’s leading military power Thebes becomes the new leading power, but only temporarily Next up: Macedonia