Greek Military Service in the Ancient Near East, 401–330 BCEThis is the first monograph dedicated to the history of Greek military service for the Achaemenid Persian Empire and the Kingdom of Egypt from the rebellion of Cyrus the Younger to the conquests of Alexander the Great. Through careful analysis of the political contexts of their recruitment and detailed reconstructions of their performances as soldiers and generals on the battlefield, Jeffrey Rop overturns the traditional view that the Greeks who fought in the Near East were mercenaries hired for their superior military skills as heavily armored hoplites. The presence of unprecedented numbers of Greek infantry in the armies of Persia and Egypt is not evidence that the levies of these states were militarily inferior or deficient, but a clear sign of unprecedented foreign political influence among the most powerful leaders and cities of Greece for much of the fourth century. |
Contents
The Greek Thesis | 1 |
The Battle of Cunaxa | 30 |
Greece and the Rebellion of Cyrus the Younger | 64 |
Greeks in Persia and Egypt ca 400360 | 88 |
The Revolt of Artabazus | 119 |
The Persian Conquest of Egypt | 148 |
The GrecoPersian Defense of Western Anatolia | 176 |
The Fall of the Achaemenid Persian Empire | 207 |
| 236 | |
| 258 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Achaemenid Empire Aegean Agesilaus Alexander Alexander's alliance allies Anabasis Anatolia ancient sources Arrian Arsites Artabazus Artaxerxes Artaxerxes III Athenian Athens attack barbaroi battle Briant campaign Cawkwell Chabrias Chares Clearchus command Conon Cunaxa Curtius Cyprus Cyrus the Younger Darius Darius III decision defeat defenders Demosthenes Devine Diodorus Dynamic Subordinate Egypt Egyptian Evagoras fighting fleet fourth century Gaugamela Granicus Greece Greek Greek hoplites Greek mercenaries Greek military service Greek soldiers Greek Thesis Hammond heavy infantry Hellenica hoplites Hyland invasion of Egypt Iphicrates kardakes King King’s left wing Levant light infantry Macedon Macedonian Memnon Mentor narrative Nectanebos Pammenes peltasts Pelusium Perinthus Persian army Persian cavalry Persian forces phalanx Pharaoh Pharnabazus Philip Plutarch political position rebel rebellion recruited revolt right wing royal Ruzicka Sardis satraps Sidon Spartan success suggests superior Tachos tactical Theban Thebes Tissaphernes Tithraustes Tragic Advisor triremes troops victory western Anatolia xenia Xenophon δὲ καὶ τὴν τοῦ τοὺς τῶν