Soldiers and Ghosts: A History of Battle in Classical Antiquity

Nonfiction, History
Cover of the book Soldiers and Ghosts: A History of Battle in Classical Antiquity by J. E. Lendon, Yale University Press
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Author: J. E. Lendon ISBN: 9780300128994
Publisher: Yale University Press Publication: October 1, 2008
Imprint: Yale University Press Language: English
Author: J. E. Lendon
ISBN: 9780300128994
Publisher: Yale University Press
Publication: October 1, 2008
Imprint: Yale University Press
Language: English

Sparta, Macedon, and Rome-how did these nations come to dominate the ancient world? What set their armies apart? Noting this was an age that witnessed few technological advances, J. E. Lendon shows us that the most successful armies were those that made the most effective use of cultural tradition. Ancient combat moved forward by looking backward for inspiration-the Greeks, to Homer; the Romans, to the Greeks and to their own heroic past. The best ancient armies recruited soldiers from societies with strong competitive traditions; and the best ancient leaders, from Alexander to Julius Caesar, called upon those traditions to encourage ferocious competition at every rank.
Ranging from the Battle of Champions between Sparta and Argos in 550 B.C. through Julian’s invasion of Persia in A.D. 363, Soldiers and Ghosts brings to life the most decisive military contests of ancient Greece and Rome. Lendon places these battles, and the methods by which they were fought, in a sweeping narrative of ancient military history. On every battlefield, living soldiers fought alongside the ghosts of tradition-ghosts that would inspire greatness for almost a millennium before ultimately coming to stifle it.

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Sparta, Macedon, and Rome-how did these nations come to dominate the ancient world? What set their armies apart? Noting this was an age that witnessed few technological advances, J. E. Lendon shows us that the most successful armies were those that made the most effective use of cultural tradition. Ancient combat moved forward by looking backward for inspiration-the Greeks, to Homer; the Romans, to the Greeks and to their own heroic past. The best ancient armies recruited soldiers from societies with strong competitive traditions; and the best ancient leaders, from Alexander to Julius Caesar, called upon those traditions to encourage ferocious competition at every rank.
Ranging from the Battle of Champions between Sparta and Argos in 550 B.C. through Julian’s invasion of Persia in A.D. 363, Soldiers and Ghosts brings to life the most decisive military contests of ancient Greece and Rome. Lendon places these battles, and the methods by which they were fought, in a sweeping narrative of ancient military history. On every battlefield, living soldiers fought alongside the ghosts of tradition-ghosts that would inspire greatness for almost a millennium before ultimately coming to stifle it.

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