Phalanx Warfare Transformed: Innovation in Ancient Greek Warfare 431–331 BCE | Part 2: Leuctra and Gaugamela
Greek and Macedonian warfare continued to develop after Mantinea, exemplified by the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BCE where Theban general Epaminondas devised a new tactic using the deep phalanx to destroy the myth of Spartan superiority, and the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BCE where Alexander the Great employed all the tactical advances developed over the previous one hundred years to defeat Darius’ Persian army which was twice the size of his own. Read more…
Phalanx Warfare Transformed: Innovation in Ancient Greek Warfare 431–331 BCE | Part 1: Mantinea
Three great battles—Mantinea (418 BCE), Leuctra (371 BCE), and Gaugamela (331 BCE)—demonstrate the development of Greek and Macedonian warfare from the simple hoplite phalanx employed by Greek farmers defending their fields, into the powerful, tactically flexible army which allowed Alexander the Great to conquer the Persian Empire. Read more…
CHS Online Open House | “Beautiful Bodies or Beautiful Minds: Disability Studies in Homer.”Joel Christensen
We are pleased to welcome Joel Christensen of Brandeis University, Department of Classics for a CHS Online Open House discussion about Disability in Homer. It will take place on Thursday, April 19, at 11:00 a.m. EDT, and will be recorded. In preparation, you might like to read these focus passages. Read more…
The Theoretical Ship
The myth of Theseus’ sacred journey’ continued to be re-enacted in an Athenian state festival held in honor of Apollo at Delos. The ritualized journey in which the two-times-seven Athenian youths sailed to Delos and back again to celebrate that they had been saved was called a theōriā. But what evidence is there about what this ship looked like? Read more…
Book Club | April 2018: The Tears of Achilles
“In an epic text, how were poets able to represent emotion? How can we understand today their way of speaking? Did Achilles “copy” the behavior of warriors from those distant times? Or might it be the reverse: did the epic influence certain real behaviors?” Our Book Club selection for April is taken from Hélène Monsacré: The Tears of Achilles, newly available online at CHS in an English translation. Read more…
CHS Online Open House | Heroine cult and tragedy, with Richard P. Martin
We were pleased to welcome Professor Richard Martin, Anthony and Isabelle Raubitschek Professor in Classics at Stanford University, for a CHS Online Open House discussion about heroine cult and tragedy, with special reference to the Medea of Euripides.
There is a handout of the slides available as a PDF. Read more…
Forthcoming Book Club selections | Spring 2018
Here is a foretaste of what is to come during Spring 2018 at the Book Club, in which we read selections from secondary sources and from ancient Greek and Roman primary texts. Look out for further announcements in April, May, and June with details of the selections, links to free online versions, and the hangout dates. We are all looking forward to future conversations.
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Aiakos: Judge Among the Immortals?
Whether Aiakos actually settled disputes among the gods themselves is supported by Pindar when referring to the nymph Aegina who “…bore Aeacus [Aiakos], the dearest of all men on earth to the loud-thundering father. Aeacus [Aiakos] settled disputes even for the gods.” Read more…
