Greek Military Service in the Ancient Near East, 401–330 BCE

Rewrites the military and political history of Greek military service in ancient Persia and Egypt.

Jeffrey Rop (Author)

9781108499507, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 20 June 2019

290 pages
23.5 x 15.7 x 2 cm, 0.56 kg

'… a most relevant contribution to a central subject that deserves to attract more scholarly attention, the book is recommended to all who are working on the political and military history of the fourth century BC.' Sabine Müller, Global Military Studies Review

This is the first monograph dedicated to the history of Greek military service for the Achaemenid Persian Empire and the Kingdom of Egypt from the rebellion of Cyrus the Younger to the conquests of Alexander the Great. Through careful analysis of the political contexts of their recruitment and detailed reconstructions of their performances as soldiers and generals on the battlefield, Jeffrey Rop overturns the traditional view that the Greeks who fought in the Near East were mercenaries hired for their superior military skills as heavily armored hoplites. The presence of unprecedented numbers of Greek infantry in the armies of Persia and Egypt is not evidence that the levies of these states were militarily inferior or deficient, but a clear sign of unprecedented foreign political influence among the most powerful leaders and cities of Greece for much of the fourth century.

1. The Greek thesis
2. The Battle of Cunaxa
3. Greece and the rebellion of Cyrus the Younger
4. Greeks in Persia and Egypt, ca. 400–360
5. The revolt of Artabazus
6. The Persian Conquest of Egypt
7. The Greco-Persian defense of Western Anatolia
8. The fall of the Achaemenid Persian Empire
Conclusion: the other Persian wars.

Subject Areas: Military history [HBW], Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1], Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA]