Category: Ancient Greece
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The Honey And The Hemlock: Democracy & Paranoia In Ancient Athens & Modern America (1991) by Eli Sagan
I wanted to love this book. It directly addresses a topic that has been vexing since I began studying ancient Athenian democracy in earnest this past year: Why were classical Athenians – both individually and collectively – capable of both genius and stupidity? How could the same people who created the Parthenon and theatrical tragedy…
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The Origins Of Western Warfare: Militarism And Morality In The Ancient World (1996) by Doyne Dawson
The twentieth century was the bloodiest in history. Given how bloody other centuries have been, that is really saying something. Why is western civilization, so remarkably progressive in so many ways, so obstinately aggressive and warlike? In “The Origins of Western Warfare: Militarism and Morality in the Ancient World,” historian Doyne Dawson argues that the…
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Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army (1978) by Donald W. Engels
Few military commanders have succeeded quite like Alexander the Great. At the age of 33 he had conquered much of the known world. In this slim monograph (122 pages) first published in 1978, scholar Donald Engels argues that Alexander’s novel system of logistics was the cornerstone of his vaunted military machine. Although the details of…
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Democracy: A Life (2016) by Paul Cartledge
You’d think there would be a lot of great books available about the democracy of ancient Athens, but you’d be wrong. Over the past few years, I have taken several excellent online courses on the subject, including one by Yale University’s Donald Kagan, the American doyen of classical studies. However, I’ve found that I struggle…
