Osprey Elite 7 : The Ancient Greeks

Greek warfare in the Classical Period stretches from the Greek victories over the Persian Empire to the death of Alexander the Great at the end of the 4th century. The cradle of western civilisation, the ancient Greek world, was made up of a series of independent city states some of which, such as Athens and Sparta, grew to become major world powers. At the beginning of the 5th century BC Greece faced the might of the Persian Empire in a fight for survival. The primary weapon of the Greek was the phalanx. They were the inventors of it, and it had never failed during the Persian wars. The names of some of the battles (Marathon, Thermopylae, and Salamis) have become synonyms for fortitude and courage. Nicholas Sekunda focuses primarily on providing as full an account as possible of Greek military dress during this period accompanied by illustrations by Angus McBride.

Contents

• Introduction
• Hoplite Warfare
• 5th Century Cavalry
• The Peloponnesian
• The Lakedaimonian Hegemony
• The Expansion of Thebes
• The Plates - Key Notes