28
votes
Accepted
In Antiquity, were Persian arrows considered superior to their Greek counterparts?
A slightly different translation reads as follows:
The Persian bows were also large, so that such of their arrows as were taken were useful to the Cretans, and they continued using their enemies’...
24
votes
Where can I find the earliest surviving versions of Herodotus's Histories?
For a critical discussion on how modern versions of Herodotus' Histories have been compiled from the surviving manuscript sources, you could do a lot worse worse than the 1983 essay On Editing ...
16
votes
What (primary) sources are there on the life of female slaves in Classical Greece, more specifically Athens?
Information on how slaves were treated in the 1,000 or so city states other than Athens is thin on the ground; for most of these city states we know next to nothing about them so comparisons between ...
13
votes
Accepted
Ancient Greek term rendered incorrectly as numbers and Latin letters, "01KCDÇ". What is it?
The version on display here is from a bad OCR of the word oikos
Screenshot from Erin Sullivan: The Astrology of Family Dynamics 2001 gBooks
The ancient Greek word oikos (ancient Greek: οἶκος, plural:...
11
votes
Accepted
Was (Mahanian) "control of the seas" an Athenian goal in the age of the trireme?
Given the lack of a clearer definition by the author, I would imagine that your interpretation of "Control of the seas in the modern sense" being "Mahanian" is probably a good ...
10
votes
Where can I find the earliest surviving versions of Herodotus's Histories?
There are early 1500's editions of Herodotus: see the wikipedia article about their publisher Aldus Manutius. That article refers to
Works published from the Greeks. Manutius printed thirty ...
10
votes
Accepted
Can Alexander III of Macedon's success be attributed to good logistics management?
The Macedonian army was indeed relying on a well-established logistics organization.
The following book, as already mentioned in the comments, is probably the most well-known one about the subject ...
8
votes
Accepted
Where is it recorded that Spartan common meals were followed by a recounting of noble deeds?
For Sparta, "great deeds" is mentioned by Xenophon (c. 431 to 354 BC) in Constitution of the Lacedaemonians where he relates this in the context of the young gaining part of their education ...
7
votes
Accepted
Why are the buildings built in classical style in the first half of the 19th century in Russia so frequently yellow-and-white - coloured?
These were the hallmarks of the Rococo style of painting and building, that originated in central Europe around the middle of the 18th century, and found its way to Russia in the early part of the ...
6
votes
Accepted
What percent of Sparta's population were citizens in various centuries?
Sparta always was a closed society, and the exact numbers of citizens (i.e. warriors) were an absolutely secret information all the time, no doubt.
After all, what do we know for sure? In the Battle ...
4
votes
Where is it recorded that Spartan common meals were followed by a recounting of noble deeds?
This is too long for a comment, but is certainly not a complete answer. However, with that caveat, Athenaeus of Naucratis certainly wrote about that practice in the Cretan commons in his ...
4
votes
Accepted
Was Pericles the only famous loss from the plague in Athens?
I think the answer is that, failing the discovery of a new primary source, we will never know.
Considering the sheer human cost of the Plague of Athens, its footprint in ancient literature does seem ...
3
votes
What is the difference between galli and metragyrtai?
We do not have to assume that there is a substantial difference in the persons of 'one of the galloi' or 'one of the metragyrtai'. Meaning it is not a given that 'galloi did that and were this, but in ...
3
votes
Were the ancient Greeks very poor compared to the ancient Persians?
There are certainly scholars who have tried to quantify economic growth and income disparities over the long term, most notably Paul Bairoch and, especially, Angus Maddison. I don't have their books ...
3
votes
Were there any wars in ancient Greece where religion played a major part?
Although I can see why Ricky’s answer has been downvoted, I think he is actually making one perfectly valid point. The point is that religious warfare today has the meaning of a clash between people ...
3
votes
Were Greek columns hollow?
I have read that they used lead pins to hold the sections together. The lead is no longer there because it was scavenged during modern times. Much of this took place during the Turkish occupation of ...
3
votes
Was (Mahanian) "control of the seas" an Athenian goal in the age of the trireme?
I interpret that claim as alluding to galley tactics.
Galleys of Antiquity and the Medieval period had severe limitations; cruising relied on wind power which was slow, and in combat they relied on ...
2
votes
Can Alexander III of Macedon's success be attributed to good logistics management?
Simply; no.
In war one must do a multitude of things well to win: logistics, command, morale, training, and battle tactics just for a start. Getting any one of these things seriously wrong is ...
2
votes
Were the ancient Greeks very poor compared to the ancient Persians?
Today, one way modern scholars determine civilization is by it's material prosperity and consumption levels. To be prosperous is for the man of today a good thing and we consider poverty in a nation ...
2
votes
Did people 'go to the beach' for pleasure during classical antiquity?
West Mersea
There are several examples available of Romans taking up residence near the sea for recreational purposes. One such example comes from West Mersea, were it is thought the Romans built &...
1
vote
Accepted
How significant was poetry as mnemonic device in technical / philosophical / scientific texts in classical Rome and Greece?
Perhaps that it's Hipparchus that you have in mind. Although he supposedly wrote fourteen works, the only one of his texts that we still have is Commentary on the Phaenomena of Eudoxus and Aratus, ...
1
vote
Were the ancient Greeks very poor compared to the ancient Persians?
No.
What IS true is that there were greater extremes of wealth and poverty in the Persian empire.
The Greeks were "wealthy" for their time. It's true that their rocky soil was not particularly good ...
1
vote
Was there an assassination attempt against Xerxes in the battle of Thermopylae?
The issue with asserting that the assassination attempt happened is multi-layered. Diodorus is heavily criticised for his uncritical accepting of information often combining mythology and history ...
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