|
|
The Archidamian War is the name given to the first ten years of the Great Peloponnesian War, an inconclusive conflict that ended with an unstable peace between Athens and Sparta. As these articles make clear, this phase of the war involved large parts of the Greek world, with the Spartans campaigning on the northern shores of the Aegean, and the Athenians winning a major victory off the west coast. On the Athenian side the war is closely associated with Pericles, the most significant Athenian leader in the early years of the war, before his death in the plague that ravaged Athens, and one article looks at his war strategy. Sparta’s local rival Argos also attempted to take advantage of the war, but without any success. This first stage of the war ended as a costly draw, and a later issue looks at the second part of the war, which ended with a crushing defeat for Athens. The magazine covers a good range of topics within this war, giving an idea of just how widespread it was.
Two articles cover topics away from the main theme. The first looks at hundreds of surviving osraca, small letters that provide a fascinating insight into daily life in the Roman forts in the eastern desert of Egypt. Like the famous letters from Vindolanda, these give us a glimpse of a world that is otherwise almost entirely lost – a world of transfers, women and requests for leave. We finish with a look at the evidence for PTSD in the Roman World, producing some evidence for trauma amongst Roman military veterans, with a warning that the different nature of the Roman world would have altered the way they experienced trauma.
Go to Ancient Warfare Magazine Website
Contents
The Archidamian War - Historical Introduction
Pacifist or pragmatist? - The strategy of Pericles
Fighting for Athens - A new type of hoplite…
Siege of Plataea - Innovations in Greek siege warfare
Socrates at war - Talking the talk and walking the walk
The heart of Achilles - Brasidas and his northern campaign
Victory set in stone - The temple of Athena Nike
Clash of the Titans - Battle for supremacy on the Peloponnese
Letters from Didymoi - Roman Soldiers in Egypt's Desert
A Roman PTSD? Psychological trauma and Rome
The Viking Queen (1967) - Queen Boudica, we hardly knew you…