Sparta and the Commemoration of War

Sparta and the Commemoration of War PDF Author: Matthew A. Sears
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316519457
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 295

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Book Description
Explores how the Spartan commemoration of war prompts reconsideration of the contemporary relationship between conflict and memory.

Sparta and the Commemoration of War

Sparta and the Commemoration of War PDF Author: Matthew A. Sears
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316519457
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 295

Get Book Here

Book Description
Explores how the Spartan commemoration of war prompts reconsideration of the contemporary relationship between conflict and memory.

Sparta and the Commemoration of War

Sparta and the Commemoration of War PDF Author: Matthew A. Sears
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781009010535
Category : Collective memory
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"An engaging, authoritative exploration of the ways in which the ancient Spartans thought about and remembered their wars and their war dead. Matthew Sears shows that the Spartan commemoration informs contemporary acts of remembrance. Thinking about Sparta, he suggests, inspires us to reconsider our own relationship to conflict and memory"--

Thucydides' Other "Traps"

Thucydides' Other Author: Alan Greeley Misenheimer
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781072555421
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 76

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Book Description
The notion of a "Thucydides Trap" that will ensnare China and the United States in a 21st century conflict-much as the rising power of Athens alarmed Sparta and made war "inevitable" between the Aegean superpowers of the 5th century BCE-has received global attention since entering the international relations lexicon 6 years ago. Scholars, journalists, bloggers, and politicians in many countries, notably China, have embraced this beguiling metaphor, coined by Harvard political science professor Graham Allison, as a framework for examining the likelihood of a Sino-American war. This case study examines the Thucydides Trap metaphor and the response it has elicited. Hewing closely to what the historian of the Peloponnesian War actually says about the causes and inevitability of war, it argues that, while Thucydides' text does not support Allison's normative assertion about the "inevitable" result of an encounter between "rising" and "ruling" powers, the History of the Peloponnesian War (hereafter, History) does identify elements of leadership and political dynamic that bear directly on whether a clash of interests between two states is resolved through peaceful means or escalates to war. It is precisely because war typically begins with a considered decision by a national command authority to reject other options and mobilize for conflict (and thus always entails an element of choice) that insight from Thucydides' History remains relevant and beneficial for the contemporary strategist, or citizen, concerned in such decisions.Accordingly, this case study concludes that the Thucydides Trap, as conceived and presented by Graham Allison, draws welcome attention both to Thucydides and to the pitfalls of great power competition, but fails as a heuristic device or predictive tool in the analysis of contemporary events. Allison's metaphor offers, at best, a potentially misleading over-simplification of Thucydides' nuanced and problematic account of the origins of the epochal conflict that defined his age. Moreover, it overlooks actual insights from the History that can help political decisionmakers-including, but not limited to, those of the United States and China-either avoid war or, if ignored, pose genuine policy "traps" that can make an avoidable war more likely, and a necessary war more costly.

Brill's Companion to Greek Land Warfare Beyond the Phalanx

Brill's Companion to Greek Land Warfare Beyond the Phalanx PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004501754
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
Brill’s Companion to Greek Land Warfare Beyond the Phalanx brings together emerging and established scholars to build on the new consensus of multiform Greek warfare, on and off the battlefield, beyond the usual chronological, geographical, and operational boundaries.

Sparta

Sparta PDF Author: Stephen Hodkinson
Publisher: Classical Press of Wales
ISBN: 1910589322
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 451

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Book Description
The history of Sparta is increasingly seen as important, not only for its own sake but also for understanding Athenian literature and the political history of numerous Greek states. Traditional approaches to Sparta are now being supplemented by contributions from archaeology and the social sciences. The renewed interest in Sparta is international. The volume includes, for the first time, original contributions from most of the world's leading authorities on Spartan history.

Plutarch's Politics

Plutarch's Politics PDF Author: Hugh Liebert
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316790959
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 283

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Book Description
Plutarch's Lives were once treasured. Today they are studied by classicists, known vaguely, if at all, by the educated public, and are virtually unknown to students of ancient political thought. The central claim of this book is that Plutarch shows how the political form of the city can satisfy an individual's desire for honor, even under the horizon of empire. Plutarch's argument turns on the difference between Sparta and Rome. Both cities stimulated their citizens' desire for honor, but Sparta remained a city by linking honor to what could be seen first-hand, whereas Rome became an empire by liberating honor from the shackles of the visible. Even under the rule of a distant power, however, allegiances and political actions tied to the visible world of the city remained. By resurrecting statesmen who thrived in autonomous cities, Plutarch hoped to rekindle some sense of the city's enduring appeal.

Athenian Democracy at War

Athenian Democracy at War PDF Author: David Pritchard
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108422918
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
Studies all four branches of the Athenian armed forces to show how they helped make democratic Athens a superpower.

States of Memory

States of Memory PDF Author: David C. Yates
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190673567
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
The Persian War was one of the most significant events in ancient history. It halted Persia's westward expansion, inspired the Golden Age of Greece, and propelled Athens to the heights of power. From the end of the war almost to the end of antiquity, the Greeks and later the Romans recalled the battles and heroes of this war with unabated zeal. The resulting monuments and narratives have long been used to reconstruct the history of the war itself, but they have only recently begun to be used to explore how the conflict was remembered over time. States of Memory focuses on the initial recollection of the war in the classical period down to the Lamian War (480-322 BCE). Drawing together recent work on memory theory and a wide range of ancient evidence, Yates argues that the Greek memory of the war was deeply divided from the outset. Despite the panhellenic scope of the conflict, the Greeks very rarely recalled the war as Greeks. Instead they presented themselves as members of their respective city-states. What emerged was a tangled web of idiosyncratic stories about the Persian War that competed with each other fiercely throughout the classical period. It was not until Philip of Macedonia and Alexander the Great dealt a devastating blow to the very notion of the independent city-state at the battle of Chaeronea that anything like a unified memory of the Persian War came to dominate the tradition.

Commemorating War and War Dead

Commemorating War and War Dead PDF Author: Maurizio Giangiulio
Publisher: Franz Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden GmbH
ISBN: 9783515121750
Category : War and society
Languages : en
Pages : 362

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Book Description
Since Bouthoul's seminal work on polemology (1951), war studies have been increasingly influenced by sociology, psychology and psychoanalysis, memory studies, and even literary theory; while also weathering the storms of the cultural turn and, more generally, postmodernism. These are challenges that raised new questions, or offered new answers. How is war memorialized and commemorated? How do individuals react to war trauma? How are individual reactions and narratives implemented in collective thoughts, narratives and memories? How do societies remember wars, and how do these memories, in turn, affect political structures? How are public commemorations organized? These are some of the questions contemporary war studies are still engaged in. By presenting case studies both ancient and modern, from the ancient Greeks and Romans through medieval and modern times to contemporary history, this volume stimulates reflection on how and why individuals and societies remember and commemorate war.

After Thermopylae

After Thermopylae PDF Author: Paul Cartledge
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019991155X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
The Battle of Plataea in 479 BCE is one of world history's unjustly neglected events. It decisively ended the threat of a Persian conquest of Greece. It involved tens of thousands of combatants, including the largest number of Greeks ever brought together in a common cause. For the Spartans, the driving force behind the Greek victory, the battle was sweet vengeance for their defeat at Thermopylae the year before. Why has this pivotal battle been so overlooked? In After Thermopylae, Paul Cartledge masterfully reopens one of the great puzzles of ancient Greece to discover, as much as possible, what happened on the field of battle and, just as important, what happened to its memory. Part of the answer to these questions, Cartledge argues, can be found in a little-known oath reputedly sworn by the leaders of Athens, Sparta, and several other Greek city-states prior to the battle-the Oath of Plataea. Through an analysis of this oath, Cartledge provides a wealth of insight into ancient Greek culture. He shows, for example, that when the Athenians and Spartans were not fighting the Persians they were fighting themselves, including a propaganda war for control of the memory of Greece's defeat of the Persians. This helps explain why today we readily remember the Athenian-led victories at Marathon and Salamis but not Sparta's victory at Plataea. Indeed, the Oath illuminates Greek anxieties over historical memory and over the Athens-Sparta rivalry, which would erupt fifty years after Plataea in the Peloponnesian War. In addition, because the Oath was ultimately a religious document, Cartledge also uses it to highlight the profound role of religion and myth in ancient Greek life. With compelling and eye-opening detective work, After Thermopylae provides a long-overdue history of the Battle of Plataea and a rich portrait of the Greek ethos during one of the most critical periods in ancient history.