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Popular ranged weapons were the bow , javelin and sling . While the bow was a relatively uncommon weapon (the wooden stave bow used had a limited range), some troops treated their arrows by thrusting them into rotting corpses, thus creating a crude form of biological weapon. [ 10 ]
Cretan archers were a well known class of warrior whose specialist skills were extensively utilized in both ancient and medieval warfare. [1] They were especially valued in armies, such as those of the Greek city-states, (notably Athens, Sparta, Eretria, and Macedonia) and those of ancient Rome, which could not draw upon substantial numbers of skilled archers from their native populations.
Since the early 3rd century BC, the pilos helmet had become almost standard within the Spartan army, being in use by the Spartans until the end of the Classical era. [citation needed] Also, after the "Iphicratean reforms," peltasts became a much more common sight on the Greek battlefield, and themselves became more heavily armed.
During the Carneia, military activity was forbidden by Spartan law; the Spartans had arrived too late at the Battle of Marathon because of this requirement. [50] It was also the time of the Olympic Games , and therefore the Olympic truce, and thus it would have been doubly sacrilegious for the whole Spartan army to march to war.
This new strategy did not attach absolute importance either to the territory (as in the traditional strategy) or to the city (as in the strategy of Pericles). It made a weighted and gradual use of both, with which it tried to diversify the possibilities of resistance around the urban core, which henceforth became the last redoubt of defense.
The Spartans did not feel strong enough to impose their will on a shattered Athens. Undoubtedly part of the reason for the weakness of the hegemony was a decline in the Spartan population . This did not go unnoticed by the Persian Empire, which sponsored a rebellion by the combined powers of Athens, Thebes , Corinth and Argos , resulting in the ...
In 412 the agents of Tissaphernes, the Great King's governor of such parts of the coast of Asia Minor as he could control, approached Sparta with a deal. The Great King would supply funds for the Spartan fleet if the Spartans would guarantee to the king what he considered ancestral lands; to wit, the coast of Asia Minor with the Ionian cities.
As the port of Gythium was an important Spartan base, the allies decided to capture it before they advanced inland to Sparta. The Romans and the Achaeans were joined outside the city by the Pergamese and Rhodian fleets. The Spartans held out, but one of the joint commanders, Dexagoridas, decided to surrender the city to the Roman legate.