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Review for Great naval Battles of the Ancient Greek World
Author/Director : Owen Rees
Format : Book
This is the story of thirteen major naval battles in a period of one hundred years. They are placed in their political/strategic context supported with details of the ships, the men and the tactics. Owen Rees has done a good job in bringing together the rather limited sources staying true to all of the original texts and filling in the gaps with well-reasoned conjecture. Interestingly he has shown, where texts disagree, how propaganda or ‘putting a slant on the record of events’ was well within the arsenal of writers in classical times.
The descriptions of the battles themselves really succeed in getting the reader into the picture. There were some rules of war but these were different from what we would expect today. Desperate hand to hand fighting, the slaughter of prisoners, some as sacrifices, and the execution of failed commanders all point to a bloodier age. Numerous battle plans add to the readers understanding as do the extensive endnotes and bibliography.
I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone interested in early naval warfare or classical Greece.
Published by : Pen & Sword Maritime, 2018
ISBN : 978 1 47382 730 1
Review last updated : 2019-03-04 11:44:29
