Wars of Ancient Greece
This is an excerpt from the paper...
War is a devastating human activity, one that decimates populations, destroys property, and alters political and social structures for both victor and vanquished. The history of mankind has been a history of warfare to a great extent, and few civilizations have been able to avoid war for long. At certain points in history war has been aggrandized as a glorious effort to promote a social or political agenda, while at other times society has frowned on war and has resorted to it only when all else fails. The world of ancient Greece produced some of the most important philosophical concepts in human history, ideas that have continued to prevail to this day. Yet, the Greeks as well were subject to war both with outside forces and among themselves. An example of the latter was the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, an event that had major consequences for the development of the ancient world. The Peloponnesian War (431 404 BC) was a struggle between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies. The war resulted in Athens being defeated and stripped of its empire and in Sparta becoming the acknowledged leader of the Greek world. The war was chronicled by the ancient historian Thucydides, who stated in his great history of the war that the underlying cause was Spartan fear of Athens's expansive power. However, the war was actually triggered by hostility between Athens and Corinth, Sparta's major ally. Athens concluded an alliance with the Corinthian colony Corcyr
. . .
s acquired the western portion of the lower Peloponnesus by conquering Messenia in the First Messenian War in the late 8th century. The Messenians, who were also Dorians, rebelled and were suppressed in the Second Messenian War in the mid 7th century. Tyrtaeus was an active participant in the war and described it in his poetry, so we have a good account of it today.
The relationship between these events and Sparta's amazing social and military reorganization is obscure. Some elements of the "new" Sparta seem to be primitive survivals paralleled elsewhere, notably in Crete, while others seem to derive from its need to control its subject population. Sparta's agrarian and stagnant economy also played a role. In any case, Sparta was transformed into a collectivist warrior society. Seven year old boys of the ruling class were removed from their families to be trained for war. They were educated by the state and grew up in barracks, where they learned discipline and austerity. Spartans became the best warriors in Greece, and as a result the word Spartan has since become a byword for endurance and rugged simplicity.
By the mid 6th century Sparta had taken possession of Argive territory along the southeastern Peloponnesi
. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
Messenian War, Peloponnesian War, Potidea Corinthian, , BC Finley, Dorian Sparta, Greece Spartan, Athens Sparta, Unlike Herodotus, Nicias Athens, peloponnesian war, history peloponnesian war, history peloponnesian, ancient world, war broke, athens sparta, historical writing, war athens, messenian war, sealey 1976, thucydides writing history, 1833 athens, stage war called, development ancient world, sealey 1976 pp,
Approximate Word count = 2030
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)
|
Customer Service
to Over
32,000 Professionally Written Papers!!!
