Warfare in the Ancient Greek World

The course will take the following form:

—attendance at bi-weekly lecture, UN CLCV 1110

—weekly discussion session with extra readings (including in other languages than Egglish if possible)

—written assignments: two book reviews, final research paper. 

This course focuses on intercommunal and interstate conflict in the ancient Greek world during
the "archaic" and "Classical periods", i.e the four centuries or so from Homer to the first years of
Alexander the Great's reign, mainly in the Eastern Mediterranean (ca. 730 BCE-334 BCE). The
emphasis will be on the two elements of "military history": that is, we will pay equal attention to
all the elements of violent, murderous and destructive conflict on the battlefield and in various
forms of unconventional warfare, and to the social, economic and cultural history of war. In other
words, we will look at the experience of combat, tactics, strategy, operation, sieges, naval
warfare; but also at economics, social structure, cultural constraints, gender constructions. The
study of ancient Greek warfare, like everything else in the realm of ancient history, is very much
dependent on good handling of the complex, far from straightforward, and incomplete sources.
We will therefore think about, and practice, self-aware source criticism, of literary, documentary,
visual and material documents.