Military of Ancient Greece Essay

The entire Spartan society revolved around the army, essentially making it the key aspect of Spartan life and culture. The army influenced areas such as education and social structure as well as being the most important defence of Sparta in both combat and reputation.

The Greek Empire occurred before the Romans and when compared to the Roman Empire, seems to be modest, not as great. The Greeks did not have as much conquered lands, which lessens their power. What they did have conquered was divided into parts amongst different rulers, who were constantly at war with each other, lacking the peace that Pax Romana had. The conquered Greek lands did not have a chance to civilize as one great empire as the Romans had.

The classical period was a time of war and conflict, and showed “an era of unprecedented political and cultural achievement,” (“Classical Greece”), during this time period, the Persians began to invade the mainlands and Greek Islands. “In 499 BCE, some Greek city-states and others in the eastern Mediterranean revolted against the Persians…” (Pollard 136) The civilization needed men to be warriors. Among the fact that Persia was invading Greece, it was the beginning of

     The ancient Greek and Roman civilizations of Europe began to progress toward a more civilized order of society. As there were no previous establishment to base their ideals on, it was understandable that there were some difficulties in their progression as a society. Although the ancient Greek and Roman governments fell, both had similar paths of creation, conquest, and destruction.

The civilians of Ancient Greece had to be resourceful. Most civilizations had rivers to channel, irrigate, and predict. Ancient Greece is a series of islands. This means that the people of Ancient Greece had to learn to live on the ocean. They had to deal with being more vulnerable to land attacks as they were used to battling with ships. And they also had to deal with huge ocean storms. These storms could destroy a new society with no notice. (Acrobatic, 2014)

Ancient Greece is one is one of the most important civilizations in history. Why? Simply because they were the base of many things that we believe in, practice, or build upon today. Some examples are language, architecture, art, science, and much more. Over hundreds and thousands of years technology, agricultural techniques, weapons, and education has advanced and evolved. Many of these ideas not only started within Ancient Greece, but within other ancient civilizations as well. Have you ever wondered what life would have been like if the ideas and inventions that Ancient civilizations had uncovered had not been shared with other societies?

The video on YouTube named “THE ANCIENT GREEKS - ENGINEERING AN EMPIRE - Discovery History Science (full documentary)” by AncientDiscoveryHistory tells the story of the Ancient Greece. The video mentions that for over one thousand years, the charismatic and strong people of Greece made the most advanced technological wonders that the world has ever seen. Greece is a country of islands and city-states that was ruled by leaders whose thirst for greatness united people. However, Persia was the world’s superpower of that time. Persians were self-confident and multi-ethnic. Persia was a land power. A Persian invasion force of epic proportions came to Greece to add it to its empire, but Greece was ready to battle.

Athens was the starting point of the new age in government and took some time for the full effect to take place. In the military, if one were of age, they had to fight, whether for themselves and/or to protect their land. The Greeks also left behind a legacy. Democracy itself was the Greeks’ big achievement, one that still exists today. Their military strictness also exists in today’s armies and military forces, in the form of training and discipline. After all this, the Greeks may have been one of the hardest civilizations in terms of their people, but they will always have a huge influence in the history and formation of the world to what it is

King Leonidas, a superior tactician, accurately assessed the Persian army’s motivations and capabilities and decided to use the natural terrain to his advantage. Assuming that the Persians would challenge the Greek forces from their staging point, derived from pervious knowledge during the Battle of Marathon and the Persians encampment location, King Leonidas had chosen to eventually maneuver his forces into the Pass of Thermopylae, also known as Hellespont; saddled between a mountain range and the Gulf of Maliakos (Frye, 2006). Hellespont would provide the Spartans some significant tactical advantages, where within the pass, at its narrowest portion which was only 50 feet wide; countering the Persian greatest strength of archery and mounted horsemen (Frye, 2006).

The Roman Army The Roman army is still admired today by historians and many others alike. How far advanced technologically the Romans were over 2000 years ago still amazes many people today. They built roads that a still used today, their baths are still admired with many still standing and much of today's archaeology dates back to Roman and Greek principals. The Roman army itself was the most feared army of that period and it too is a cause of fascination.

Classical Greek culture had a powerful influence on the Roman Empire, which carried a version of it to many parts of the Mediterranean region and Europe. Greek culture influenced the development of Roman civilization because at first Rome absorbed ideas from Greek colonists in southern Italy, and they continued to borrow from Greek culture after they conquered Greece. Ancient Greece has had an enormous amount of impact on culture in the western world. For this reason, Classical Greece is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the foundation of Western civilization. Rome conquered the Greek empire and its civilization, but Greek culture conquered imperial Rome. Furthermore, the Romans willingly

The battle of Thermopylae was the Greek’s first stand against the massive army of King Xerxes, and was the most influential battle of the entire war. Up to this point, the Persian army was seen as too massive and powerful to be stopped. The once warring city-states of Greece knew they couldn’t stand against the Persians alone, and knew in order to defend their homeland they would have to unite. A unity of command was agreed upon; King Leonidas of Sparta was chosen to lead the Greek forces. He was chosen to lead because of the unsurpassed warring abilities the Spartans were so well known for made him perfect for the objective of stopping the Persians.

During these wars, the Athens won many battles abroad through the use of bravery and power to endure the clashes with the Greeks (Dutton, Marchand, Harkness, 2014, pp. 68). Additionally, the use of strategy became very important within Greek warfare, as the Athenians made minor trials in and around the battlefield. Athens in the fourth to fifth century BCE had a different arrangement of government, whereby every single male had equal political rights, the right to speak freely, and the chance to take an interest openly in the political arena (Dutton, Marchand, Harkness 2014, pp.68). This system was called democracy. Through this democratic system, the Athenians were obedient to all higher authorities and towards the established laws. Citizens also effectively served in the organizations that represented them, which helped in controlling all parts of the political procedures. The Athens military was mostly different from the opposing adversaries, where they openly accepted any visitors to their city, to observe and learn any useful findings. The Athens strongly believed in trust, towards the spirit of battle rather than materialistic equipment (Dutton, Marchand, Harkness, 2014, pp.68). Military movement progressively included bigger quantities of citizens, who designed tightly organized all around facilitated lines of infantry and naval forces, for the port cities, which also relied on extensive

In The Iliad, by Homer, many of the characters can qualify as the Greek definition of a hero. In this epic, a hero is not solely represented as the most valiant warrior but rather on other characteristics that can be admired. Diomedes possesses these characteristics that represent a hero on and off of the battlefield. Thus, he is one of the greatest heroes of the entire epic.

Every idea has a start and a history that can be traced back in time. An incredible amount of these ideas and thoughts were started by great ancient civilizations. These ancient civilizations are the base of all modern knowledge. No ancient civilization has contributed more to this base than the civilization of Ancient Greece. The unique ways of ancient Greek agriculture have left a profound influence on the agriculture of today.