1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910788254103321

Autore

Roisman Joseph <1946->

Titolo

Alexander's veterans and the early wars of the successors / / Joseph Roisman

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Austin, : University of Texas Press, 2012

ISBN

0-292-74288-6

0-292-73597-9

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (281 pages)

Collana

Fordyce W. Mitchel Memorial Lecture Series

Disciplina

938/.08

Soggetti

Veterans - Greece - History - To 1500

Generals - Greece - History - To 1500

Greece History Macedonian Hegemony, 323-281 B.C

Greece History Macedonian Hegemony, 323-281 B.C Historiography

Greece Kings and rulers Succession History To 1500

Greece History, Military To 146 B.C

Babylonia History, Military

India History, Military

Turkey History, Military

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Map of Alexander's Campaigns -- Motives and Bias in the History of Hieronymus of Cardia -- Alexander and Discontent : The King and His Army in India and Opis, Mesopotamia -- The Veterans and the Macedonian Internal Strife in Babylon (323) -- The Dissolution of the Royal Army, I : The Veterans of   Perdiccas and Craterus -- The Dissolution of the Royal Army, II : The Veterans of Eumenes, Neoptolemus and Alcetas, and the Meeting in Triparadeisus -- The Veterans, Eumenes, and Antigonus in Asia Minor -- Eumenes and the Silver Shields -- The Silver Shields in Battle and Eumenes' Death.

Sommario/riassunto

From antiquity until now, most writers who have chronicled the events following the death of Alexander the Great have viewed this history through the careers, ambitions, and perspectives of Alexander’s elite successors. Few historians have probed the experiences and attitudes



of the ordinary soldiers who followed Alexander on his campaigns and who were divided among his successors as they fought for control of his empire after his death. Yet the veterans played an important role in helping to shape the character and contours of the Hellenistic world. This pathfinding book offers the first in-depth investigation of the Macedonian veterans’ experience during a crucial turning point in Greek history (323–316 BCE). Joseph Roisman discusses the military, social, and political circumstances that shaped the history of Alexander’s veterans, giving special attention to issues such as the soldiers’ conduct on and off the battlefield, the army assemblies, the volatile relationship between the troops and their generals, and other related themes, all from the perspective of the rank-and-file. Roisman also reexamines the biases of the ancient sources and how they affected ancient and modern depictions of Alexander’s veterans, as well as Alexander’s conflicts with his army, the veterans’ motives and goals, and their political contributions to Hellenistic history. He pays special attention to the Silver Shields, a group of Macedonian veterans famous for their invincibility and martial prowess, and assesses whether or not they deserved their formidable reputation.