With her army under siege in Palmyra, Zenobia escaped, hoping to reach the Persians and broker an alliance, but was soon captured by the Romans. She is shown here before Emperor Aurelian, who planned for her to adorn his Triumph in Rome.

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece, the cornerstone of Western civilization, was a northeastern Mediterranean society that flourished from the 12th century B.C. to approximately A.D. 600. Through the centuries, Ancient Greece was the cradle of Western thought and culture as the ideals of philosophy, medicine, mathematics, theater, democracy, and others were conceived and flourished at various times. Ancient Greece was also involved in numerous wars, both as city-states such Athens and Sparta vied for supremacy, and as foreign invaders sought to dominate the Peloponnese, the geographic peninsula that was its nexus.

Meeting with leaders of Tyre, Alexander the Great hoped to capture the city without the use of force. Alexander is shown in this detail of a 17th century fresco depicting his life.

Ancient Greece

Siege of Tyre: Alexander the Great’s Assault on the Persians

By Marc G. De Santis

It was the autumn of 333 bc and Alexander the Great stood triumphant on the battlefield of Issus. Read more

Ancient Greece

The Eagle at Asculum: General Pyrrhus of Epirus

By Jeffrey A. Easton

By the middle of the 4th century bc, the Roman Empire had steadily expanded its reach into the southern half of Italy. Read more

Ancient Greece

Famous Military Generals: Chabrias the Athenian

By Charles Hilbert

On a warm summer day in the year 378 BC, a large Spartan army stood baffled on the plain of Boeotia in central Greece. Read more

Ancient Greece

Misplaced Aggression: The Athenian Defeat at Syracuse

By Barry Porter

By the spring of 415 bc, a peace treaty between the warring city-states of Athens and Sparta had held firm for six years. Read more

Ancient Greece

Judas Maccabeus, Hammer of the Jews

By Kelly Bell

By 167 bc, when a full-scale revolt erupted in Judea, it had been more than 400 years since an organized Jewish army had taken up arms against an enemy. Read more

Ancient Greece

The Athenian Soldier Versus the Spartan Hoplite

By Fred Eugene Ray

The wars fought by Sparta and Athens in the fifth century bc pitted one city-state with ancient Greece’s greatest army against one boasting her most powerful fleet. Read more

Ancient Greece

Zenobia’s Bloody War of Independence

By Glenn Barnett

The pages of history tend to dwell on the men who created empires. No matter how ephemeral may be the famed exploits of an Alexander, Caesar or Napoleon, historians have written volumes on their behalf. Read more

Ancient Greece

Learning from David and Goliath: The True Origin of the Sling Weapon

By Erich B. Anderson

More than 3,000 years ago, an army of Israelites led by King Saul confronted a force of Philistine invaders in the valley of Elah. Read more

Athenian general Iphicrates modified the battle gear of his peltasts, shown in this Johnny Shumate illustration wearing lightweight linen instead of bronze armor and carrying half-moon shields, swords, and javelins.

Ancient Greece

General Iphracates: Innovative Commander of Ancient Greece

By Charles Hilbert

The 3rd century BC in Greece was an age of military innovation. The lessons learned in the Peloponnesian War (431-404) led to the increased use of lightly armed troops and cavalry. Read more

A Greek trireme rams a Persian trireme in Salamis Bay while hoplites and archers engage each other with spears and arrows.

Ancient Greece

High Stakes at Salamis

By Erich B. Anderson

As the sun rose shortly after dawn on a morning in late September 480 BC, 170 rowers densely packed on three tiers within an Athenian warship strenuously pushed their oars to propel their vessel forward as fast as possible. Read more

Macedonian King Alexander's counterattack pierces the left-center of the Persian line and puts Darius to flight on the plain of Gaugamela.

Ancient Greece

Alexander’s Triumph at Gaugamela

Eric Niderost

It was nighttime, and a great battle was soon to be fought at Gaugamela, in the dusty plains and rolling hills of modern-day northern Iraq. Read more

A modern illustration shows Roman legionnaires on the march. The front ranks typically charged into battle, stopping to hurl their pilum before closing with the enemy using their gladius. In the melee, they used their scutum to knock their opponents off balance.

Ancient Greece

Roman Armageddon at Pharsalus

By William E. Welsh

The snow-capped peaks of the Ceraunian Mountains stared down on the sturdy barks hunting for a suitable place to land on the coast of Epirus on January 5, 48 bc. Read more

Alexander the Great’s soldiers are shown attacking Tyre in a modern illustration. Simultaneous attacks by Alexander’s fleet on both of the city’s harbors after six months of fighting put an impossible strain on the Tyrians’ resources.

Ancient Greece

The Fall of Tyre

By Alexander Zakrzewski

As Alexander the Great marched his army south along the Levantine coast in January 332 bc, he must have felt as if the fates were unquestionably on his side. Read more

Ancient Greece

Unstoppable God Of War Alexander At Issus

By Charles Hilbert

Those rare qualities that set the extraordinary military commanders apart from the average ones were present in Alexander the Great, wrote the Greek historian Arrian, who drew on the account of Alexander’s general, Ptolemy. Read more

Greek hoplites armed with large shields and iron-tipped spears charge the Persians at Marathon.

Ancient Greece

Athenian Glory at Marathon

By Erich B. Anderson

In 491 bc, heralds sent by Persian Emperor Darius I traveled throughout Greece with a message for each of the city-states of the Greek peninsula. Read more

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greek General Epaminondas

By Tim Miller

Astounding news swept through Greece in the summer of 371 bc. In Boeotia, a crossroads for armies that was usually littered with the dead of its own citizens, the invading Spartans had been beaten, and one of their two kings had been slain in battle. Read more

Ancient Greece

Vanguard of Elephants on the Hydaspes River

By Gabrielle Esposito

The Macedonian soldiers stood transfixed on the flood plain as the Pauravan army advanced toward them. The ground shook with each step the great lumbering war elephants took as they advanced toward the wide-eyed Greeks. Read more

Ancient Greece

Greek Triumph at Plataea

By Eric Niderost

Persian King Xerxes I “The Great” was a man who liked to solicit different opinions before he made a decision on any important matter. Read more

Ancient Greece

Alexander’s Triumph at Granicus

In the spring of 334 bc, Alexander of Macedon paused with his army on the western side of the Granicus River. Read more

Ancient Greece

Alexander the Great in India

By Martin Leavitt

It was raining, raining with a force and intensity few had ever experienced. The Macedonian army was marching upstream near the northern banks of the Hydaspes River in India (now Pakistan), trying to reach a ford under the cloak of darkness. Read more

Ancient Greece

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