All posts tagged: Ancient Greece

10 Types of ancient warriors.

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Picture from 1zoom.net The Hoplite. Normally a farmer by trade, when the call came he took up his large Hoplite shield, dons his breastplate, greaves, and helmet and marches to war.  Such warriors were the backbone of each Greek city state’s strength.  In more peaceful times they could compete in different forms of physical prowess in the Olympic games. Picture from mindenkilapja.hu The Spartan.  Spartan society was based on one thing: war! At twelve years old each young boy was taken under the wing of an elder veteran and incorporated into the great Spartan Phalanx.  The sight of which was feared throughout Greece and Persia.  The three hundred Spartans who held the pass at Thermopylae have passed into legend. Picture from monolith.dnsalias.org The Immortal.  The Persian Emperors finest men, the bodyguard and elite of his army were skilled with spear, blade, and bow.  This small army consisted of 10,000 warriors, never more, never less.  As soon as one died or was gravely wounded he was replaced by another of equal skill immediately so that their numbers always remained constant and thus gave …

Borderlands and frontiers part 2: Historical

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Last week I looked at the borderlands in the fantasy genre, the contested boundaries that have been immortalised by writers.  This week I want to look at the borderlands in our own world, and look back into history to find the lands along borders that can be a great place to set a historical novel. picture: thewardrobedoor.com Greece – Asia Minor. 1200 BC to AD 334 Some of the most famous settings for the great scenes of classical world took place on Greece’s border with her neighbour.  Agamemnon’s siege of Troy, when the King of Kings led all the nations of Greece against the great city to its ultimate downfall.  Then a few hundred years later, you have the Persians being held up at the pass of Thermopylae by Leonidas and his three hundred Spartans, before Xerses can lay ruin to the Greek mainland.  Finally you have Alexander the Great going back the other way and landing in Asia Minor and defeating the Persian Satraps at the battle of Granicus.  Literally thousands of books have been …

Ancient Roman sites to inspire you…

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Whilst writing my novel Roman Mask, I was inspired by many of the great ancient sites that can be found all around Europe and the Mediterranean basin.  This is by no means a complete list of all the wonderful sites that are in existence, but here are a few that inspired me… Rome, Italy.  How could I start anywhere else?  The ancient city that was at the heart of her Empire has to be on everyone’s list of places to visit if they are interested in Ancient Rome.  So much still remains and is easily accessible in this fantastic city.  The Colosseum was incredible, but as it was built later than my novel was set I couldn’t use it for research, but it still gives an amazing perspective on the sheer power and dominance that Rome held over the world at the time.  The Augustan palace on the top of the Palatine Hill nearby was very useful for me, and stretches all the way to the ancient forum at the centre of Ancient Rome.  But …

A reminder of everything that Greece has done for us…

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I certainly don’t want to join the political debate raging through Europe at the moment regarding the Greek bail-out, but I have heard a few unflattering comments regarding Greece and their contribution to the European community lately.  So I thought it only fair to remind everyone, how much we all owe to the Greeks and how their culture and ideas help shape the modern world, and that their values were the foundations upon which Western society was based. Medicine.  The ancient Greeks were the first to develop theories that could be tested by symptoms and results.  This in itself, was a massive shift forward from the previous beliefs systems held by virtually every society of the ancient world that illnesses were either punishments or gifts from their respective gods or deities.  The foundation of modern medicine, ‘cause and effect’ was born. The Greek physician Hippocrates (460 BC – 370 BC) is now considered the ‘father of modern medicine’ after he devised the ‘Hippocratic oath’ and the methodology and value system that is still in use …

‘Lion of Macedon’ and ‘Dark Prince’ by David Gemmell

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Where Fantasy and History blend. For those of you looking for a comprehensive and detailed history of Ancient Greece followed by Alexander the Great’s invasion of the Persian Empire you might find this series not exactly what you were expecting.   I think when Alexander starts fighting alongside Centaurs in a parallel world, this would steer you off the path of generally accepted mainstream history taught in most universities and schools…well, at least in this world. However, that’s not the point of these novels, and as with a lot of books written by the sadly departed David Gemmell, he is fascinated by the concept of parallel lands similar to our own but imbued with magic.   This series focuses on the personalities of Alexander, his father Phillip, and in particular their General Parmenion.  It is the story of Parmenion that Gemmell’s tale is based, with him being brought up in Sparta in their fighting tradition under the harsh military regime of that land.  Any fans of the film 300 will love this part of the story as …

Great periods of history to write about – STAGE 1 (Ancient to Medieval)

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Okay, so you want to write a historical novel, but what period of history do you choose?  The list is endless, but here are a few options…. Featured novel: The King Must Die by Mary Renault Ancient Greece 1200BC – 300BC:  Greek gods, myths, large scale battles of Hoplites… PRO’s:  The birthplace of democracy, the Olympics, philosophy, and other ideas that shaped the modern world, give you lots of subject matter to base your novel around; whilst the mythology of Ancient Greece allows your novel to be full of gods, goddesses, and all the mysticism that goes with it.  If you prefer a little more action, don’t worry – you have the warlike Spartans, their rivalry with the Athenians, or Alexander the Great’s invasion of Persia.  Disclaimer: I couldn’t resist the last on that list, so I tried my hand at that myself in the first novel I wrote. CONS:  It can be more difficult than you think to research a historical period so far in the past.  Although there are a host of non-fictional books …