April 25th, 2010 
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Product Description
The ancient Greeks were for the most part a rural, not an urban, society. And for much of the Classical period, war was more common than peace. Almost all accounts of ancient history assume that farming and fighting were critical events in the lives of the citizenry. Yet never before have we had a comprehensive modern study of the relationship between agriculture and warfare in the Greek world. In this completely revised edition of Warfare and Agriculture in Classic… More >>
Warfare and Agriculture in Classical Greece, Revised edition
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The author uses his concrete experience as a farmer in the San Fernando Valley to develop a fine point about the “low intensity” character of Classical Greek warfare. He argues that, the Greek city-states waging warfare through part-time citzen militias, the war strategy of all Greek polities centered on the idea of forcing a pitched battle in order not to keep citzens away too long for harvesting at home. The means used to force such a battle being to disturb the enemy’s harvest, which, however, given the low technology tools avaliable and the resilience of the crop-species – specially olive trees – could never amount to permanent damage. Therefore the general low-intensity, boarding game character of much of Classical Greek military history. A fine argued, important book, specially for the firm grasp of the concrete realities at play.
Rating: 5 / 5
Warfare and Agriculture is a scholarly, yet very readable, analysis of the effects of war on agriculture and rural life in classical Greece. Drawing heavily on contemporary sources, Hanson clearly illustrates the inextricable connection between war and agriculture in the Greek world. With the notable exception of Sparta, Greek infantrymen typically were farmers themselves who were often torn between their role as ravagers of agriculture in enemy territory, and the need to tend to their own crops.
Hanson’s main premise is that many previous analyses of agricultural devastation in classical Greece have overstated the severity of its effects. He points out the ravaging was usually a means to incite battle with enemy infantry rather than an end in itself, and argues convincingly that the ravaging often associated with the seasonal cycle of warfare, while certainly contributing to hardship among the invaded population, was far from complete and had relatively short-term effects. Drawing on his first-hand experience as a farmer, Hanson illustrates some of the practical difficulties with destroying the olive trees, vines, and grains that formed the staples of Greek agriculture. In the course of his analysis, he brings to life the Greek countryside and its relationship to the urban center of the polis.
Although Warfare and Agriculture will be of interest to any reader interested in the classical world, it is probably of greatest interest to readers with some familiarity with Greek history. The extensive references to contemporary and modern sources, including many recent sources cited in the Updated Commentary to this revised edition, guide the interested reader to a wealth of additional information on the subject.
Rating: 5 / 5