Skip to content
Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter June 11, 2021

Thucydides and Topography: the neglected prevalence and significance of elevated terrain in Classical Greek battles

  • George Harrold EMAIL logo

Abstract

This article uses Thucydides’ literary evidence to argue that elevated terrain was prevalent in the battles of the Peloponnesian War, contrary to the orthodox view of the Classical Greek battlefield. This argument has four parts. First, Thucydides’ battles are defined and listed. Second, the references to terrain in these battle accounts are catalogued. Third, this collated data is analysed to demonstrate that elevated terrain was indeed prevalent on the battlefields of the Peloponnesian War. And, fourth, some of the military effects of this elevated terrain are explored.

Bibliography

Bettalli, M. “I trofei sui campi di battaglia nel mondo Greco.” MEFRA 121 (2009): 363–371.10.3406/mefr.2009.10898Search in Google Scholar

Butera, C. and M. Sears. Battles and Battlefields of Ancient Greece. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military: 2019.Search in Google Scholar

Cartledge, P. “Surrender in ancient Greece”. In How Fighting Ends, edited by H. Afflerbach and H. Strachan, 15–28. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 2012.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199693627.003.0003Search in Google Scholar

Cawkwell, G. “Orthodoxy and hoplites.” CQ 39 (1989): 375–389.10.1017/S0009838800037447Search in Google Scholar

Crowley, J. Psychology of a Hoplite. Cambridge: Cambridge U. P., 2012.Search in Google Scholar

Detienne, M. “La phalange: problèmes et controverses.” In Problèmes de la guerre en Grèce ancienne, edited by J. Vernant, 119–142. La Haye: Mouton, 1968.Search in Google Scholar

De Vivo, J. “The memory of Greek battle: material culture and/as narrative of combat.” In Combat Trauma and the Ancient Greeks, edited by P. Meineck and D. Konstan, 163–184. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.Search in Google Scholar

Foster, E. “Campaign and battle narratives in Thucydides.” In The Oxford Handbook of Thucydides, edited by R. Balot, S. Forsdyke and E. Foster, 301–315. New York: Oxford U. P., 2017.10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199340385.013.6Search in Google Scholar

Funke, P. and M. Haake. “Theatres of war: Thucydidean topography.” In Brill’s Companion to Thucydides, edited by A. Rengakos and A. Tsakmakis, 369–384. Leiden: Brill, 2006.Search in Google Scholar

Garlan, Y. War in the Ancient World. Trans. J. Lloyd. London: Chatto & Windus, 1975.Search in Google Scholar

Goldsworthy, A. “The othismos, myths and heresies: the nature of hoplite battle.” War in History 4 (1997): 1–26.10.1191/096834497667100325Search in Google Scholar

Gomme, A. A Historical Commentary on Thucydides: Books II-III.2, The Ten Years War. Oxford: Clarendon, 1956.10.1093/actrade/9780198140016.book.1Search in Google Scholar

Hammond, M. Thucydides: The Peloponnesian War. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 2009.Search in Google Scholar

Hanson, V. “The ideology of hoplite battle, ancient and modern.” In Hoplites, edited by V. Hanson, 3–11. London: Routledge, 1991.Search in Google Scholar

Hanson, V. “Hoplite battle as ancient Greek warfare: when, where, and why?” In War and Violence in Ancient Greece, edited by H. van Wees, 201–232. London: Duckworth, 2000.Search in Google Scholar

Hanson, V. The Western Way of War. Second edition. Berkeley: University of California, 2009.Search in Google Scholar

Hanson, V. “The hoplite narrative.” In Men of Bronze, edited by D. Kagan and D. Viggiano, 256–275. Princeton: Princeton U. P., 2013.10.23943/princeton/9780691143019.003.0012Search in Google Scholar

Hau, L. “Nothing to celebrate? The lack or disparagement of victory celebrations in the Greek historians.” In Rituals of Triumph in the Mediterranean World, edited by A. Spalinger and J. Armstrong, 57–74. Leiden: Brill, 2013.10.1163/9789004251175_006Search in Google Scholar

Hornblower, S. Thucydides. London: Duckworth, 1987.Search in Google Scholar

Hornblower, S. A Commentary on Thucydides, Vol. III. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 2008.Search in Google Scholar

Hunt, P. “Warfare.” In Brill’s Companion to Thucydides, edited by A. Rengakos and A. Tsakmakis, 385–414. Leiden: Brill, 2006.10.1163/9789047404842_016Search in Google Scholar

Kagan, D. and D. Viggiano. “The hoplite debate.” In Men of Bronze, edited by D. Kagan and D. Viggiano, 1–56. Princeton: Princeton U. P., 2013.10.1515/9781400846306-004Search in Google Scholar

Konijnendijk, R. “Mardonius’ senseless Greeks.” CQ 66 (2016): 1–12.10.1017/S0009838816000367Search in Google Scholar

Konijnendijk, R. Classical Greek Tactics. Leiden: Brill, 2017.10.1163/9789004355576Search in Google Scholar

Krentz, P. “Casualties in hoplite battles.” GRBS 26 (1985a): 13–20.Search in Google Scholar

Krentz, P. “The nature of hoplite battle.” ClassAnt 4 (1985b): 50–61.10.2307/25010823Search in Google Scholar

Krentz, P. “Fighting by the rules: the invention of the hoplite agôn.” Hesperia 71 (2002): 23–39.10.2972/hesp.2002.71.1.23Search in Google Scholar

Krentz, P. “War.” In The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare, edited by P. Sabin, H. van Wees and M. Whitby, 147–185. Cambridge: Cambridge U. P., 2007.10.1017/CHOL9780521782739.007Search in Google Scholar

Krentz, P. “Hoplite hell: how hoplites fought.” In Men of Bronze, edited by D. Kagan and D. Viggiano, 134–156. Princeton: Princeton U. P., 2013.Search in Google Scholar

Lazenby, J. “The killing zone.” In Hoplites, edited by V. Hanson, 87–109. London: Routledge, 1991.10.4324/9780203423639_chapter_4Search in Google Scholar

Lendon, J. Soldiers and Ghosts. New Haven: Yale U. P., 2005.Search in Google Scholar

Luginbill, R. “Othismos: the importance of the mass-shove in hoplite warfare.” Phoenix 48 (1994): 51–61.10.2307/1192506Search in Google Scholar

Ober, J. “Hoplites and obstacles.” In Hoplites, edited by V. Hanson, 173–196. London: Routledge, 1991.10.4324/9780203423639_chapter_7Search in Google Scholar

Ober, J. The Athenian Revolution. Princeton: Princeton U. P., 1996.10.1515/9780691217970Search in Google Scholar

Paul, G. “Two battles in Thucydides.” Echos du Monde Classique 31 (1987): 307–312.Search in Google Scholar

Pritchett, W. Studies in Ancient Greek Topography, Part 2: Battlefields. Berkeley: University of California, 1969.Search in Google Scholar

Pritchett, W. The Greek State at War, Part II. Berkeley: University of California, 1974.10.1525/9780520342064Search in Google Scholar

Raaflaub, K. “War and the city: the brutality of war and its impact on the community.” In Combat Trauma and the Ancient Greeks, P. Meineck and D. Konstan, 15–46. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.Search in Google Scholar

Rawlings, L. The Ancient Greeks at War. Manchester: Manchester U. P., 2007.10.7228/manchester/9780719056574.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Tritle, L. A New History of the Peloponnesian War. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.10.1002/9781444315677Search in Google Scholar

Trundle, M. “Commemorating victory in Classical Greece: why Greek tropaia?” In Rituals of Triumph in the Mediterranean World, edited by A. Spalinger and J. Armstrong, 123–138. Leiden: Brill, 2013.Search in Google Scholar

van Wees, H. Greek Warfare. London: Duckworth, 2004.Search in Google Scholar

Waterfield, R. Herodotus: the Histories. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 2008.Search in Google Scholar

Wilson, J. Pylos 425 BC. Warminster: Aris & Phillips, 1979.Search in Google Scholar

Published Online: 2021-06-11
Published in Print: 2021-06-26

© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Downloaded on 1.12.2023 from https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/jah-2020-0002/html
Scroll to top button