Jerusalem 33 AD A raw Roman recruit refuses to abuse a prisoner already condemned to death. This denial of a corrupt, sadistic order leads to a lifetime of trial and persecution for the Spartan born warrior. Marcus Tychon Triarius is sent to the dreaded Bithynia mines to die a slave but his destiny is yet to be decided. The Roman Empire is never far off his heels, particularly a brutal centurion who has taken the youth's honorable stance personally. Heartbreak follows for the idealistic Marcus who remains a non-believer, even when he encounters the mother of the crucified prisoner, someone about to change the world forever. It is easy to join in with a mob, to inflict cruelty on the weak and defenseless, but when the victim is someone extraordinary . . . beyond extraordinary . . .
In this compilation from Plutarch's Moralia of famous sayings from over sixty Spartans we are shown that not were these ancients brave warriors in battle but had a complete philosophy of life which guided all their actions. Include all 372 footnotes.
Plutarch's vivid and engaging portraits of the Spartans and their customs are a major source of our knowledge about the rise and fall of this remarkable Greek city-state between the sixth and third centuries BC. Through his Lives of Sparta's leaders and his recording of memorable Spartan Sayings he depicts a people who lived frugally and mastered their emotions in all aspects of life, who also disposed of unhealthy babies in a deep chasm, introduced a gruelling regime of military training for boys, and treated their serfs brutally. Rich in anecdote and detail, Plutarch's writing brings to life the personalities and achievements of Sparta with unparalleled flair and humanity.
In the middle of the 3rd century B.C. Sparta was a shadow of its glorious past. Politically and militarily weakened and with huge inner social problems, she seemed to have followed the fate of most contemporary city- states and fallen on the fringe of the political developments of her time. The 3rd century was a time when the great states and the Hellenistic empires were prominent. But contrary to the other city states, which compromised with the new political forces of their time, Sparta resisted stubbornly and tried to reclaim the hegemony of southern Greece. In this fight, Sparta showed unexpected vigor, even defying one of the most formidable powers of the time: Macedonia. The uneven collision that followed culminated tragically and painfully for Sparta at the Battle of Sellasia in 222BC. And still Sparta refused to compromise. After a while, she managed to recover and became once more a player on the international stage, not hesitating this time to challenge the most powerful state of the ancient world: Rome. This last Spartan twilight, the revolutionary movement that sparked it and the two ultimate turning points of her history [the battle of Sellasia and the siege of Sparta by the Romans] are analysed in this book with exhaustive bibliography and special emphasis on the military aspects of this epic fight. The original Greek edition of In the Name of Lykourgos received great critical acclaim and was named winner of the 2009 Lakedaimonian Prize of the Academy of Athens. It is here translated into English for the first time.
WARS CHANGE, WARRIORS DON'T We are all warriors. Each of us struggles every day to define and defend our sense of purpose and integrity, to justify our existence on the planet and to understand, if only within our own hearts, who we are and what we believe in. Do we fight by a code? If so, what is it? What is the Warrior Ethos? Where did it come from? What form does it take today? How do we (and how can we) use it and be true to it in our internal and external lives? The Warrior Ethos is intended not only for men and women in uniform, but artists, entrepreneurs and other warriors in other walks of life. The book examines the evolution of the warrior code of honor and "mental toughness." It goes back to the ancient Spartans and Athenians, to Caesar's Romans, Alexander's Macedonians and the Persians of Cyrus the Great (not excluding the Garden of Eden and the primitive hunting band). Sources include Herodotus, Thucydides, Plutarch, Xenophon, Vegetius, Arrian and Curtius--and on down to Gen. George Patton, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, and Israeli Minister of Defense, Moshe Dayan.
The story of the long battle between Rome and Carthage (264 - 146 BCE) tends to neglect the role of a third city, a city that was at least as prosperous as Rome, and was possibly even superior in its heritage and culture. It was Syracuse, the pearl of Magna Graecia, a beacon of civilisation and military power that found itself - unfortunately for her - an ally of Hannibal at the wrong time. A course of action that Rome never forgave. Despite being overpowered by her enemy in terms of men and arms, Syracuse resisted the siege of the Roman fleet and legions for two years, from 214 to 212 BCE, thanks largely to the remarkable inventions of Archimedes, one of the most brilliant scientists of all time. If misfortune (and the Syracusans themselves) had not prevented Archimedes from taking full advantage of his brilliant inventions, that long siege might have had a different outcome. This novel recounts the world of the eminent mathematician, and describes his fascinating discoveries and how they were deployed during the historic face off.
The thrilling look into the last decades of ancient Greek freedom leading up to Alexander the Great's destruction of Thebes--and the saga of the greatest military corps of the age, the Theban Sacred Band.
