In Ancient Greece, the reputation of the hoplite was well known throughout the world. However, this is not where the Greeks had their most lasting effect on the ancient world. Above all else, the Ancient Greeks were sailors. In the time before the Classical Period (500-300 B.C.E.), the Greeks had colonized much of the area around the Middle (Mediterranean) Sea extending from Spain to Southern Russia. Their only serious rivals were the Phoenicians.  Their trading networks also spanned the entire Middle Sea. You could buy goods made in Egypt and have them as household wares in Neopolis, or ..read more

The Parthenon A guest blog from our friends at The Athens Insiders Team. Their webpage is located at http://www.athensinsiders.com/   Restoring the masterpiece of Classical Greece. The Parthenon challenge. While the ancient Athenians built the Parthenon in a surprisingly short period of approximately nine years, the modern repair project has required four time as much time already and is nowhere near completion. The process of consolidating the ancient masterpiece of Greek architecture appears to raise much more troubling problems than the initial construction did.    During the ..read more

Below are a list of blogs I have come across that might be helpful http://www.thehistoryofancientgreece.com For more technical treatments of life in the ancient world. https://bookfever11.blogspot.com/ For a blog on books of all kinds The post Other Blogs, Other Opinions appeared first on Wilbur Arron ..read more

In Ancient Greece, the reputation of the hoplite was well known throughout the world. However, this is not where the Greeks had their most lasting effect on the ancient world. Above all else, the Ancient Greeks were sailors. In the time before the Classical Period (500-300 B.C.E.), the Greeks had colonized much of the area around the Middle (Mediterranean) Sea extending from Spain to Southern Russia. Their only serious rivals were the Phoenicians.  Their trading networks also spanned the entire Middle Sea. You could buy goods made in Egypt and have them as household wares in Neopolis, or ..read more

Figure 1 Following the end of the Peloponnesian War came the rise of Philip II of Macedon and his son Alexander the Great. With them came a great change in Greek Warfare. Gone were the lines of heavy hoplites and in its place a new formation arose, the Macedonian Phalanx. (See Figure 1) Historically, it is an invention attributed to Philip II. In the phalanx you take the order and concentrated might of a hoplite formation and combine with a weapon designed to keep the enemy at distance. That weapon was the sarissa. It was a long sphere: 13-20 feet long (4-6 meters). It weighed between 14-16 p ..read more

Greek Warfare was endemic in ancient Greece for all periods. In this blog we will deal with warfare in the classical age of Greece from about 500 B.C.E. to around 404 B.C.E. This was the time that ancient Greece fought off the Persian Empire twice, and then entered into a fratricidal war with itself that ended in 404 B.C.E. with the defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War. What kind of people fought in these wars? What equipment did they use? This blog gives a basic introduction to these topics.   The Hoplite The figure above show ..read more

Ancient Greek Life: Governments One of the hallmarks on how we judge any any culture is how they choose to govern themselves. Many people think that in Greek life, if you are a citizen, then all you need to do is go down to the assembly and make yourself heard to you fellows.  Well not so fast. At different times in history, the Ancient Greeks use different forms of government. I will attempt to give a brief description of these governments in both the Classical and Hellenistic periods. Finally, I will describe the government stru ..read more

Question: In Ancient Greece Society, just how did people communicate? Answer: Slowly!   In Greece Sending messages in Ancient Greek Society was not as easy as using your cell phone. If you wanted to send a message from Point A to Point B in Ancient Greece, you had to physically take it there. Mostly people lived within walking distance of each other. In ancient times people thought nothing of walking 20 miles to your destination with a message. If you wanted to send a message far away from where you lived, you had a choice of giving ..read more

Why Greece Why in the world do you want to write an Ancient Greek Fantasy novel set in a world most of us know little or nothing about? Well, there are several reasons why. First and foremost, it is really unexplored territory. Most Greek fantasy up to this time has been in the mythical age with Gods and ancient heroes like Achilles, Hector, Hercules, Jason and Perseus, There were all mighty Greek warriors whose claim to fame is beating the snot out of monsters and their enemies. The Greek Gods were also very important in guiding t ..read more

So what is this magik that Mage Alexio is able to call on? Where does it come from, what does it do, and how can you control it, and why does it vary so much in power? What is Magik First off, let us look at classical magic. In classical magic, mostly anything goes. The magic users with a few well chosen words and gestures can seemingly create anything out of thin air, be it fireball, arrows, shields, or even conjure a demon. As a retired engineer, I got a real problem with this. Moving large amounts of energy and in particular mass ..read more