Josho Brouwers

Henchmen of Ares seems like author Josho Brouwers – or, to be fair, maybe the publisher – could not quite decide if it was going to be a coffee-table book with pretty pictures or a scholarly treatise. It’s more successful at the later than the former. Brouwers discusses Greek warfare from Mycenean times to the Persian wars. There are some interesting insights along the way.

Brouwers sees Homer as a fairly accurate depiction of warfare, but not in the ostensible time – the Late Bronze Age – but in Homer’s actual time – the Early Iron Age. Brouwers notes that the palaces described by Homer don’t correspond to actual Mycenean structures; that Mycenaean society was considerably more bureaucratic – with administrative records kept in Linear B – than Homeric society, which seems barely literate; and Mycenean warriors are much less heavily armored than their Homeric counterparts. It is acknowledged that Hittite archives mention places that might be “Ilium” (Wilusa) and “Achaea” (Ahhiyawa) and people that might be Priam (Piyama-Radu) and Paris (Alaksandu; “Alexandros” is an alternative name for Paris). Thus Homeric epics might actually refer to dimly remember history. (For more about this see the Rape of Troy and The War That Killed Achilles).

During Iron Age time, the Greeks developed the “Argive” shield – which had a double grip; the holder passed his arm through a loop in the approximate center, and used a handgrip near the far edge. Brouwers contends this was originally intended to make the shield easier for a horseman to use, and it later facilitated “shield wall” tactics. The discussion of cavalry is interesting; the chariot disappears (except in mythic context) and is replaced by two mounted warriors – the hippobatas and hippostrophos; the hippobatas is an older fighter and the hippostrophos is a youth accompanying him on a second horse, thus vaguely analogous to a medieval knight and squire. However, the hippobatas apparently rode to battle but fought on foot. (See Cavalry Operations in the Ancient Greek World, although the emphasis is more on Macedonian times there’s some discussion of Mycenean chariots).

However, horses disappear by the time of the Persian Wars; Brouwers suggests this is because warriors became more heavily armored, making it more difficult to ride on a horse (he doesn’t note it, but stirrups hadn’t been invented yet). Another innovation is the trumpet, making it possible to communicate instructions to soldiers outside voice contact; at the same time helmet design changes to allow openings at the ears so trumpet signals could be heard. Naval warfare also develops, from single bank galleys with 25 or 50 oars (in Mycenaean times) through biremes and eventually the iconic trireme, outfitted with a bronze ram.

Heavily referenced, usually to scholarly publications. Brouwers draws heavily on painted pottery for depictions of Greek warriors, and there are lots of illustrations of these (although some fairly important ones are described rather than illustrated; a problem getting the rights, maybe? Don’t know. No formal bibliography, but an excellent section of “Bibliographic notes” for each chapter, supplemented by a “Sources” section, which cross references topics (“Horses”, for example) to passages in Homer, Herodotus, or other ancient authors where they are mentioned. Good maps, and a useful chronology. The only thing I didn’t like very much are the full page and page-and-a-half paintings that provide the “coffee table” element; I would have rather seen more illustration of archaeological finds.… (mehr)