Ambush: Surprise Attack in Ancient Greek Warfare by Rose Mary Sheldon

Ambush: Surprise Attack in Ancient Greek Warfare by Rose Mary Sheldon

There are two images of warfare that dominate Greek history. The better known is that of Achilles, the Homeric hero skilled in face-to-face combat to the death. He is a warrior who is outraged by deception on the battlefield. The alternative model, equally Greek and also taken from Homeric epic, is Odysseus, 'the man of twists and turns' of THE ODYSSEY. To him, winning by stealth, surprise or deceit was acceptable. Greek warfare actually consists of many varieties of fighting. It is common for popular writers to assume that the hoplite phalanx was the only mode of warfare used by the Greeks. The fact is, however, that the use of spies, intelligence gathering, ambush, and surprise attacks at dawn or at night were also a part of Greek warfare, and while not the supreme method of defeating an enemy, such tactics always found their place in warfare when the opportunity or the correct terrain or opportunity presented itself.AMBUSH dispels both the modern and ancient prejudices against irregular warfare and provides a fresh look at the tactics of the ancient Greeks.

Since the year 2000, Rose Mary Sheldon has been a professor at the Virginia Military Institute. She earned a PhD in ancient history from the University of Michigan in 1987 and has published extensively on the subject.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781848325920
ISBN 10	1848325924
Title	Ambush: Surprise Attack in Ancient Greek Warfare
Author	Rose Mary Sheldon
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Pen & Sword Books Ltd
Year published	2011-12-01
Number of pages	322
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.