Rulers of the Sea

Maritime Strategy and Sea Power in Ancient Greece, 550–321 BCE

John Nash

• Publisher: De Gruyter Oldenbourg
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN:
  9783112215555
  9783111342856
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9783111343167
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Ancient History
• Index: History

This is a study of sea power and maritime strategy in the Classical Greek world. More than just a study of navies and battles, it examines how the sea was used to influence events ashore and how the use of naval power combined with land power had a defining impact on the period. After an examination of the oft-overlooked practical issues of navigation and administration, the book explores the idea of a 'maritime consciousness' in Greece and how this shaped the way the Greeks engaged in war. Naval operations from the Persian Wars down to the rise of Thebes are examined at the operational and strategic level, including a catalogue of the hundreds of different maritime operations from the 5^th and 4^th centuries BCE. Further, while the great sea power Athens is most prominent, it looks at other city-states to examine how they utilised sea power. This new approach uses modern theory to highlight some enduring lessons of sea power. It demonstrates that Classical scholars should embrace sea power as an important concept in the Greek world. Modern scholars of naval and strategic studies should cast their gaze further back in time when looking for lessons in sea power. This book helps to bridge the scholarship between these two disciplines.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Notes on spelling, names, and translations
• Introduction: ‘sea power’ and other concepts
• Chapter One Setting the scene: geography, environment, navigation, and fishing
• Chapter Two Wooden walls: ships and naval organisation
• Chapter Three The ship of state: Greek maritime consciousness
• Chapter Four The birth of navies – sixth-century Greece
• Chapter Five Divine Salamis: the Persian Wars
• Chapter Six Rulers of the sea: Athens and the Delian League
• Chapter Seven The great war: the Peloponnesian war from Corcyra to Sicily
• Chapter Eight The triumph of sea power: Sicily and the Ionian War
• Chapter Nine No easy thing: the fall of Spartan sea power and Athens’ return
• Chapter Ten Aegean awakening: Thebes, war in the North, and the rise of Macedon
• Chapter Eleven The lessons of sea power
• Conclusion
• Index