Bibliography
| Title: Hellenistic Military Leadership Secondary Title: War & Violence in Ancient Greece Pages: 315-335 Type: Book Section Year: 2000 Abstract: It is generally accepted that hellenistic kings were warriors, but some, like Walbank, have felt it 'anomalous' that the available sources have so little to say about duties and qualities specifically related to a king's performances in waging war (1984, 81). Beston emphasizes the didactic nature of ancient military history, particularly among the Hellenistic historians, combatting the trend to evaluate the writings on the basis of immutable military truths understood by modern scholars and applied to the ancient authors. The lessons to be learned from these ancient writings are more about morals than about tactics. In fact, the real reason for any success or defeat in battle lies in the moral qualities of the combatants. Beston illustrates his point under a number of headings, namely masculinity, training, on campaign (the general's role on the battlefield), and representation of combat (vivid depiction of commander's personal conduct). The qualities of the leader entitle him to lead, indeed make him better able to command than the mass of people who look to the generals for guidance. Crucial to the success of the leader are his moral qualities, his devotion to the people, and not least his training (paideia). On the whole these Hellenistic writings exhibit a world as the writers wished it to be, although at the same time they must have influenced powerfully the actual behaviour of commanders, as was notably Polybius' own aim in writing his Histories. Beston examines a fairly wide range of texts in his analysis of Hellenistic military leadership but most prominently Xenophon, Plutarch, Diodorus and Polybius. His conclusion upon study of these disparate writings is that there was in fact a 'universal' image of the selfless, intelligent, and brave commander; this image cannot be traced to a single 'propagandistic' source. Keywords: Polybius, Xenophon, Plutarch, military, warfare, leadership,hellenistic,morals, didactic |