Ancient Greece 06: Ancient Greek Geography and Military

The Medieval World

Jan 1 2010 • 9 mins

In an earlier lecture, I emphasized the role of geography in the Ancient Mediterranean in general. In this lecture, I want to zoom in on Ancient Greece and study its geography. As we will see throughout this lecture, geography and proximity to water defined how certain civilizations developed in Ancient Greece. I also want to expose you to the names of Ancient Greek locations, i.e. the Peloponnese, Attica, etc. These will be vital for future lectures, so as we go through this lecture make sure to take time and familiarize yourself with these terms. In addition to this, I want to also discuss the general way in which Ancient Greek militaries organized themselves. In the previous lecture, I spoke of how the polis organized the military and declared war. In this lecture, I am more interested in what battle formations looked like and how the militaries of various poleis were generally structured. As will become clear in future lectures, the way in which the Ancient Greek poleis organized themselves militarily was both a strength and a weakness, so great a weakness, in fact, that it would ultimately lead to their downfall when Macedonia, a kingdom in the north moves southward to conquer them.

You Might Like

History Daily
History Daily
Airship | Noiser | Wondery
Lore
Lore
Aaron Mahnke
Dark History
Dark History
Audioboom Studios
The Ancients
The Ancients
History Hit
History That Doesn't Suck
History That Doesn't Suck
Prof. Greg Jackson
The Rest Is History
The Rest Is History
Goalhanger Podcasts
Ridiculous History
Ridiculous History
iHeartPodcasts
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities
iHeartPodcasts and Grim & Mild
Tides of History
Tides of History
Wondery / Patrick Wyman
Noble Blood
Noble Blood
iHeartPodcasts and Grim & Mild
BADLANDS
BADLANDS
Double Elvis
You're Wrong About
You're Wrong About
Sarah Marshall
Gone Medieval
Gone Medieval
History Hit