Greek warfare practices and the development of city-states

History provides us with insight on how cultures of the past operated and understood their existence and way of life. During the peak of Greek civilization, many new developments occurred that set apart this culture from others. One such development that played a significant role in their identity was the way the Greeks settled their disputes through warfare. The Greek's distinct contributions to warfare and international relations reflects not only the way these people lived but also expressed how they thought and treated each other revealing much about the civilization in general.

Ancient Greece was often balkanized and internally conflicted throughout its lifetime. Disputes often arose and rules were set into place, and followed, in order to create some sense of rationality and professionalism to the idea of warfare, much different than what the world has seen over the past century. In order to understand how their warfare practices played out, it is necessary to examine both the Greek's rules on war and the technology and tactics it used to fulfill these principles.

Greeks distinguished internal conflicts and external conflicts within its loosely arranged boundaries suggesting a sense of family and understanding that this group was different than the rest of the world.[footnoteRef:1] for these internal fights, certain rules applied that included: war be declared before actually fighting begins, returning and respecting dead combatants to their region of origin, strict obeying of not harming non-combatants, torture was disallowed and battlegrounds were selected upon their non-intrusiveness. [1: Michael, Sage, Warfare in Ancient Greece (London, Routledge, 1996) 12.]

Besides these rules of laws, the hoplite soldier and the phalanx style of war also distinguishes this civilization from others. Hoplite warfare saw Greek soldiers form large boxes of soldiers, armed with long spears and giant shields. This moveable block was then crashed into other phalanxes and fighting ensued. While appearing arcane and limited by today's standards, this was an effective and preferred way of fighting for these people.

Question 2

The Greeks developed city-states, also known as a polis to define their way of life and to express their culture to a proficient degree. These city-states were often small but retained a real sense of self-determination and independence. The polis was organized and managed by often rich and powerful families that passed down from generation to generation.[footnoteRef:2] Even though this appeared as something less than a democracy there were still democratic ideals installed within the polis. [2: Ibid, 33.]

Aristotle developed the idea of the polis as an effective and fair means of governance[footnoteRef:3]. [3: Leonidas Polopulus, Athens, Greece: A City State That Grew From Optimality in the Golden Era. University of Florida, Viewed 19 April 2013.]

Each polis was distinguished from one another as determined by the constituents of that region. The idea of independence played a significant role in the constitution of these city-states. The all male congress that comprised of the leadership of these city-states provided many features to its people not seen in other cultures up to this point in history. Rules and laws were made public and distributed to the people in this system where many differing tribes and were blended together in geographic regions that unified a certain ideal and approach to managing the areas resources, both human and natural.

Since each city-state had its own way of doing things, some developed ideas that had more of an impact than others. Athens, the most significant of the Greek's polis was considered to be the breeding ground of democracy and democratic ideals.[footnoteRef:4] Athenian democracy emphasized justice and equal opportunity in its constitution and provided juries and courts to those who were expected of breaking laws. Wealth was often ignored as power and each individual voice was important and respected in this political organizations. "every polis was different from another. For example, some poleis had different names for the months of the year. Although there were similarities and differences between the city-states, they all made the effort to preserve their own unique identity. What we call the ancient Greek world was really hundreds of independent city-states or poleis. No one polis was a replica of another. Those who lived within the confines of a city state considered everyone else to be inferior. Furthermore, those people who did not speak Greek were referred to as barbar, the root of our word barbarian."[footnoteRef:5] [4: Ibid] [5: Ibid]

Question 4

The most impactful of ancient Greece's contributions to evolving Western Civilization is the philosophy espoused by its great thinkers. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle serve as a trinity of great Greek thinkers whose influence is seen in many aspects of today's world.

Philosophy was king for these people and served as means to both religious inclinations and political ambitions. Plato's Republic has served as a how-to manual for much of the last two hundred years history of governments, while Aristotle's contributions to politics, logic and science cannot be underestimated as he is commonly referred to as the greatest thinker of all history.[footnoteRef:7] Aristotle's mentorship of Alexander the Great serves as fine example of how clear thinking and fair treatment could expand empires and conquer the world. [7: Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Ancient Greek Philosophy.]

Philosophy was essentially invented by the ancient Greeks as this practice has branched off into many other studies. These studies include religion, psychology, metaphysics, logic, aesthetics and many other important disciplines that have contributed to all successive philosophers throughout the past two millennia. Thinking itself became a priority and finding one's own place in the world was the endgame to the practice. This distinct Greek trait has contributed much towards the attitudes and politics of Western thought. America would not exist if it were not for the Greek philosophers.

The thought behind the Socratic Method, Aristotelian logic and Platonic relationships all come from these great thinkers. These thinkers believed that fraternity was the greatest form of existence and promoted this ideal to the world. Philosophers throughout modern history must all take the Greek philosophic way of life as the origin from their thoughts. Although some more disturbing trends from this era still remain in today's thinking patterns, such as slavery homosexuality and the importance of the republic over the wishes of the individual, this further attests to the strength of the influence that Greek philosophy has had over Western Civilization.