The Bronze Harvester
Ravaging and Plundering in Greek Warfare
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9666809 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nicholas Lindberg (0009-0001-0818-9915, Santa Clara University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 73 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 532-540 |
| Publication date | 2023-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Classical Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0009-8388 • E-ISSN: 1471-6844 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0009838823000939 |
| OpenAlex | W4392372213 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 15 |
This article argues that the purpose of ravaging in Greek warfare was not to goad the enemy into fighting or to cause systematic economic harm but to facilitate plundering. The cereal harvest was commonly chosen as a time for invasion, because it maximized the amount of plunder an invading force could expect to find in the enemy countryside. While ravagers were unlikely to cause permanent economic harm to a community as a whole, they could imperil the livelihoods of individual farmers, both directly through theft and destruction and indirectly by preventing farmers from processing the harvest in a timely fashion. This explains the consistent fear of plundering and ravaging present in our sources
Ancient history · Bronze · Ancient and Medieval Archaeology Studies · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Engineering · History
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Famine and Food Supply in the Graeco-Roman World
Two Oxen Ahead
Coinage and the Economics of the Athenian Empire
Warfare and Agriculture
The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare
Warfare and Agriculture in Classical Greece, Revised edition
The Ancient Greeks at War
War in The Hellenistic World
The Making of the Ancient Greek Economy
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |