THE HONOUR OF DYING FOR YOUR COUNTRY SPARTAN WAR POETRY BY TYRTAEUS

It is a fine thing for a brave man to die when he has fallen among the front ranks while fighting for his homeland, and it is the most painful thing of all to leave one’s city and rich fields for a beggar’s life, wandering about with his dear mother and aged father, with small children and wedded wife.

 For giving way to need and hateful poverty, he will be treated with hostility by whomever he meets, he brings disgrace on his line, belies his splendid form, and every indignity and evil attend him. If then there is no regard or respect for a man wanders thus, nor yet for his family after him, let us fight with spirit for this land and let us die for our children, no longer sparing our lives.

 Come, you young men, stand fast at one another’s side and fight, and do not start shameful flight or panic, but make the spirit in your heart strong and valiant, and do not be in love of life when you are fighting men. Do not abandon and run away from elders, whose knees are no longer nimble, men revered. For this brings shame, when an older man lies fallen among the front ranks with the young behind him, his head already white and his beard grey, breathing out his valiant spirit in the dust, clutching in his hands his bloodied genitals—this is a shameful sight and brings indignation to behold—his body naked.

 But for the young everything is seemly, as long as he has the splendid prime of lovely youth; while alive, men marvel at the sight of him and women feel desire, and when he has fallen among the front ranks, he is fair. Come, let everyone stand fast, with legs set well apart and both feet fixed firmly on the ground, biting his lip with his teeth. (Translation by  Douglas E. Gerber)

Τεθνάμεναι γὰρ καλὸν ἐνὶ προμάχοισι πεσόντα

ἄνδρ’ ἀγαθὸν περὶ ᾗ πατρίδι μαρνάμενον,

τὴν δ’ αὐτοῦ προλιπόντα πόλιν καὶ πίονας ἀγροὺς

πτωχεύειν πάντων ἔστ’ ἀνιηρότατον,

πλαζόμενον σὺν μητρὶ φίλῃ καὶ πατρὶ γέροντι

παισί τε σὺν μικροῖς κουριδίῃ τ’ ἀλόχῳ.

ἐχθρὸς μὲν γὰρ τοῖσι μετέσσεται οὕς κεν ἵκηται,

χρησμοσύνῃ τ’ εἴκων καὶ στυγερῇ πενίῃ,

αἰσχύνει τε γένος, κατὰ δ’ ἀγλαὸν εἶδος ἐλέγχει,

πᾶσα δ’ ἀτιμίη καὶ κακότης ἕπεται.

εἰ δ’ οὕτως ἀνδρός τοι ἀλωμένου οὐδεμί’ ὤρη

γίνεται οὔτ’ αἰδὼς οὔτ’ ὀπίσω γένεος,

θυμῷ γῆς πέρι τῆσδε μαχώμεθα καὶ περὶ παίδων

θνήσκωμεν ψυχέων μηκέτι φειδόμενοι.

ὦ νέοι, ἀλλὰ μάχεσθε παρ’ ἀλλήλοισι μένοντες,

μηδὲ φυγῆς αἰσχρῆς ἄρχετε μηδὲ φόβου,

ἀλλὰ μέγαν ποιεῖσθε καὶ ἄλκιμον ἐν φρεσὶ θυμόν,

μηδὲ φιλοψυχεῖτ’ ἀνδράσι μαρνάμενοι·

τοὺς δὲ παλαιοτέρους, ὧν οὐκέτι γούνατ’ ἐλαφρά,

μὴ καταλείποντες φεύγετε, τοὺς γεραιούς.

αἰσχρὸν γὰρ δὴ τοῦτο, μετὰ προμάχοισι πεσόντα

κεῖσθαι πρόσθε νέων ἄνδρα παλαιότερον,

ἤδη λευκὸν ἔχοντα κάρη πολιόν τε γένειον,

θυμὸν ἀποπνείοντ’ ἄλκιμον ἐν κονίῃ,

αἱματόεντ’ αἰδοῖα φίλαις ἐν χερσὶν ἔχοντα—

αἰσχρὰ τά γ’ ὀφθαλμοῖς καὶ νεμεσητὸν ἰδεῖν—

καὶ χρόα γυμνωθέντα· νέοισι δὲ πάντ’ ἐπέοικεν,

ὄφρ’ ἐρατῆς ἥβης ἀγλαὸν ἄνθος ἔχῃ,

ἀνδράσι μὲν θηητὸς ἰδεῖν, ἐρατὸς δὲ γυναιξὶ

ζωὸς ἐών, καλὸς δ’ ἐν προμάχοισι πεσών.

ἀλλά τις εὖ διαβὰς μενέτω ποσὶν ἀμφοτέροισι

στηριχθεὶς ἐπὶ γῆς, χεῖλος ὀδοῦσι δακών.

(Tyrtaeus, fr. 10)

Tyrtaeus ( Greek: Τυρταῖος Tyrtaios; fl. mid-7th century BCE) was a Greek elegiac poet from Sparta whose works speculated to fill five books. His poetry survives from quotations and papyri, and include 250 lines or parts of lines. He wrote at a time of two crises affecting his city: a civic unrest threatening the authority of kings and elders, later recalled in a poem named Eunomia ("Law and Order"), where he reminded citizens to respect the divine and constitutional roles of kings, council, and demos; and the Second Messenian War, during which he served as a sort of "state poet", exhorting Spartans to fight to the death for their city. In the 4th century BCE, when Tyrtaeus was an established classic, his poerty was recited to the Spartan armies on campaign.  It is also known that he wrote martial songs; these were important in Spartan festivals and were done through anapaestic and iambic chants that accompanied armed dances and processions.

THE LOST GREEK CITIES OF CENTRAL ASIA ~~~ VIDEO

 For centuries, Bactria - a region shared by modern Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan - was part of the Hellenistic world. Conquered by Alexander the Great, Bactria became the heart of a powerful Greek kingdom. And even after the Greco-Bactrian kingdom was overrun by nomads, its cities continued to thrive. This video explores their fates. 

Source toldinstone YouTube channel

SPARTAN WAR POETRY

 

You should reach the limits of virtue, before you cross the border of death. '

'How glorious fall the valiant, sword in hand, in front of battle for their native land!'

'Rise up, warriors, take your stand at one another's sides, our feet set wide and rooted like oaks in the ground. '

'...learn to love death's ink-black shadow as much as you love the light of dawn. '

'Here is courage, mankind's finest possession, here is the noblest prize that a young man can endeavor to win

Spartan poet Tyrtaeus

GOOGLE MAP WITH ANCIENT GREEK ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES

This very interesting Google map includes a lot of major Ancient Greek archaeological sites in various countries and it is regularly updated. For those interested, it is worth visiting. 

Major Places of Ancient Greece

Click here >>>>Map of Ancient Greece   

Source https://ancient-greece.org/maps/map-of-ancient-greece/

THE GREEK PRESENCE IN INDIA AND THE SPREADING OF HELLENIC CULTURE IN ASIA

 

The Indo-Greek Kingdom, or Greco-Indian Kingdom, also known historically as the Yavana Kingdom, was a Hellenistic-era Greek kingdom covering various parts of Afghanistan, the northwest regions of the Indian subcontinent, (all of present Pakistan), and a small part of Iran; from 180 BCE to around 10 CE.

The Kingdom began when the Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius invaded India in 180 BCE, ultimately creating an entity which seceded from the powerful Greco-Bactrian Kingdom centered in Bactria.

 

Preliminary Greek presence in India

In 326 BCE, Alexander The Great conquered the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent as far as the Hyphasis River, and established satrapies.

Later in 303 BCE, after a peace treaty between Seleucus and Chandragupta, Seleucus received 500 elephants from Chandragupta, settled Megasthenes in Pataliputra, whereas Chandragupta married Helena,the sister of Seleucus. This strengthened the relations between the two kingdoms and and established Greek culture and knowledge in the royal court of Chandragupta.  

Also, several Greeks, such as the historian Megasthenes followed by Deimachus and Dionysius, went to reside at the Mauryan court. The two rulers continued to exchange presents.

On these occasions, Greek populations apparently remained in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent under Mauryan rule.

Further, in his edicts, Ashoka claims he sent Buddhist emissaries to Greek rulers as far as the Mediterranean.

The Greeks in India played an active role in the propagation of Buddhism.

Greek rule in Bactria

Bactria or Bactriana, was an ancient region in Central Asia.

Alexander also had established in neighboring Bactria several cities (Ai-Khanoum, Begram) and an administration that lasted more than two centuries under the Seleucids and the Greco-Bactrians, all the time in direct contact with Indian territory.

History of the Indo-Greek kingdom

The invasion of northern India, and the establishment of the “Indo-Greek kingdom,” started around 180 BCE when Demetrius I, son of the Greco-Bactrian king Euthydemus I, led his troops across the Hindu Kush.

Apollodotus, seemingly a relative of Demetrius, led the invasion to the south, while Menander, led the invasion to the east.

Possibly at a later period, the Greeks advanced to the Ganges River, apparently as far as the capital Pataliputra, under the orders of Menander.

According to the Greek geographer Strabo (Greek Geographer), Greek advances temporarily went as far as the Sunga capital Pataliputra (today Patna) in eastern India.

To the south, the Greeks may have occupied the areas of the Sindh and Gujarat down to the region of Surat (Greek: Saraostus) near Mumbai (Bombay), including the strategic harbor of Barygaza (Bharuch)

The majority of historians consider Menander (reigned c.165/155 –130 BCE) the most successful Indo-Greek king, and the conqueror of the greatest territory.

Following Menander’s reign, about 20 Indo-Greek kings ruled in succession in the eastern parts of the Indo-Greek territory.

Later at around 125 BCE, The Indo-Greeks thus suffered encroachments by the Greco-Bactrians in their western territories.

An inscription on a signet ring of the 1st century CE in the name of a king Theodamas, from the Bajaur area of Gandhara, in modern Pakistan constitutes the last known mention of an Indo-Greek ruler.

Buddhism flourished under the Indo-Greek kings, and their rule, especially that of Menander, has been remembered as benevolent.

The Greek expansion into Indian territory may have been intended to protect Greek populations in India, and to protect the Buddhist faith from the religious persecutions of the Sungas.

Most coins of the Greek kings in India in Greek on the front and in Pali on the back (in the Kharoshthi script), which indicate a tremendous concession to another culture never before made in the Hellenic world.

 Religion

In addition to the worship of the Hellenic Pantheon of the Greek Gods and Goddesses found on their coins (Zeus, Heracles, Athena, Apollo…), the Indo-Greeks involved with local faiths, particularly with Buddhism, but also with Hinduism and Zoroastrianism.

Histories describe Menander I, the “Saviour king,” seemingly a convert to Buddhism, as a great benefactor of the religion, on a par with Ashoka or the future Kushan emperor Kanishka

Art

Historians generally consider the coinage of the Indo-Greeks as some of the most artistically brilliant of Antiquity. The Gandhara Greek Art movement has given the first ever depictions of the Buddha in human form, with all the typical elements of Greek sculptural art.

Coins

The abundance of the coins indicates large mining operations, particularly in the mountainous area of the Hindu-Kush, and an important monetary economy.

The Indo-Greek did strike bilingual coins both in the Greek “round” standard and in the Indian “square” standard, suggesting that monetary circulation extended to all parts of society.

The adoption of Indo-Greek monetary conventions by neighbouring kingdoms, such as the Satavahanas, also suggest that Indo-Greek coins were used extensively for cross-border trade.

An indirect testimony by the Chinese explorer Zhang Qian, who visited Bactria around 128 BCE, suggests that intense trade with Southern China went through northern India.

Zhang Qian explains that he found Chinese products in the Bactrian markets, transiting through North-western India, which he incidentally describes as a civilization similar to that of Bactria

Maritime relations across the Indian Ocean started in the third century BCE, and further developed during the time of the Indo-Greeks together with their territorial expansion along the western coast of India, along the Indus delta and Kathiawar peninsula or Muziris.

 

Armed forces

The coins of the Indo-Greeks provide rich clues on their uniforms and weapons depicting typical Hellenistic uniforms, with helmets being either round in the Greco-Bactrian style, or the flat Kausia of the Macedonians.

The Milinda Panha, in the questions of Nagasena to king Menander, provides a rare glimpse of the military methods of the period.

Thus, presently 36 Indo-Greek kings are known. Several of them are also recorded in Western and Indian historical sources, but the majority are known through numismatic evidence only. The exact chronology and sequencing of their rule is still a matter of scholarly inquiry, with adjustments regular being made with new analysis and coin finds.

For more information about the Greek influence in India, see  HERE https://greekasia.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-hidden-greek-roots-of-indian.html

edited from   insightsonindia.com 

ANTIOCHUS IV EPIPHANES ~ THE KING WHO CAUSED THE MACCABEAN REVOLT

Antiochus IV Epiphanes, (Greek: “God Manifest”) also called Antiochus Epimanes (the Mad), (born c. 215 BCE—died 164 BCE ) was a Seleucid king of the Hellenistic Syrian Kingdom, who reigned from 175 to 164 BCE. As a ruler, he was best known for his support of Greek culture and institutions. His attempts to suppress Judaism brought on the Wars of the Maccabees.

Early career

Antiochus was the third son of Antiochus III the Great. After his father’s defeat by the Romans in 190–189 BCE, he served as hostage for his father in Rome from 189 to 175, where he learned to admire Roman institutions and policies. His brother, King Seleucus IV, exchanged him for Demetrius, the son of Seleucus; and after Seleucus was murdered by Heliodorus, a usurper, Antiochus in turn ousted him. During this period of uncertainty in Syria, the guardians of Ptolemy VI, the Egyptian ruler, laid claim to Coele Syria, Palestine, and Phoenicia, which Antiochus III had conquered. Both the Syrian and Egyptian parties appealed to Rome for help, but the Senate refused to take sides. In 173 BCE, Antiochus paid the remainder of the war indemnity that had been imposed by the Romans on Antiochus III at the Treaty of Apamea .

Antiochus forestalled an Egyptian expedition to Palestine by invading Egypt. He defeated the Egyptians between Pelusium and Mount Kasion, conquered Pelusium, and in 169 occupied Egypt with the exception of Alexandria, the capital. Ptolemy VI was Antiochus’ nephew—Antiochus’ sister, Cleopatra I, had married Ptolemy V—and Antiochus contented himself with ruling Egypt as Ptolemy’s guardian, giving Rome no excuse for intervention. The citizens of Alexandria, however, appealed to Ptolemy VIII, the brother of Ptolemy VI, and to his sister Cleopatra II to form a rival government. Disturbances in Palestine forced Antiochus to return to Syria, but he safeguarded his access to Egypt with a strong garrison in Pelusium.

In the winter of 169/168 BCE, Perseus of Macedonia begged Antiochus to join forces with him against the danger that Rome presented to all of the Hellenistic monarchs. However, his pleas were in vain. In Egypt, Ptolemy VI,along with his brother and sister, sent a renewed request to Rome for aid, and Antiochus prepared for battle. The fleet of Antiochus won a victory at Cyprus, whose governor surrendered the island to him. Antiochus invaded Egypt again in 168 BCE, and demanded that Cyprus and Pelusium be ceded to him. He occupied Lower Egypt, and camped outside Alexandria. The cause of the Ptolemaeans seemed lost. But on June 22, 168 BCE, the Romans defeated Perseus and his Macedonians at Pydna, and Antiochus lost the benefits of his victory. In Eleusis, a suburb of Alexandria, the Roman ambassador, Gaius Popillius Laenas, presented Antiochus with the ultimatum that he evacuate Egypt and Cyprus immediately. Antiochus, taken by surprise, asked for time to consider this ultimatum. Popillius, however, drew a circle in the earth around the king with his walking stick and demanded an unequivocal answer before Antiochus left the circle. Dismayed by this public humiliation, the king quickly agreed to comply. Roman intervention had reestablished the status quo. By being allowed to retain southern Syria, to which Egypt had laid claim, Antiochus was able to preserve the territorial integrity of his realm.

Efforts to hellenize the kingdom

Both economically and socially Antiochus made efforts to strengthen his kingdom— mostly inhabited by non-Greeks—by founding and fostering Greek cities. Even before the beginning of his reign he had contributed to the building of the temple of Zeus in Athens and to the adornment of the theatre. He enlarged Antioch on the Orontes by adding a section to the city , named Epiphania after him. There he built an aqueduct, a council hall, a marketplace, and a temple to Zeus Capitolinus. Babylon, which revered him as Soter (Liberator, or Saviour) of Asia, was given a Greek colony that was granted freedom of the city. Another Epiphania was founded in Armenia. Ecbatana (in Persia) was also named Epiphania and became a Greek city. Many of these cities were granted the right to coin their own municipal currency. The mint of Antioch on the Persian Gulf served the trade along the sea route between India and the district at the mouth of the great Mesopotamian rivers.

Antiochus’s hellenizing policies brought him into conflict with the prosperous non-Greek temple organizations, and particularly with the Jews. Since Antiochus III’s reign the Jews had enjoyed extensive autonomy under their high priest. They were divided into two parties, the orthodox Hasideans (Pious Ones) and a reform party that favoured Hellenism. For financial reasons Antiochus supported the reform party and, in return for a considerable sum, permitted the high priest, Jason, to build a gymnasium in Jerusalem and to introduce the Greek mode of educating young people. In 172 BCE, for an even bigger tribute, he appointed Menelaus in place of Jason. In 169, however, while Antiochus was campaigning in Egypt, Jason conquered Jerusalem—with the exception of the citadel—and murdered many adherents of his rival Menelaus. When Antiochus returned from Egypt in 167 he took Jerusalem by storm and enforced its Hellenization. The city forfeited its privileges and was permanently garrisoned by Syrian soldiers.

The revolt of Judas Maccabeus

The Greeks and those friendly toward them were united into the community of Antiochians; the worship of Yahweh and all of the Jewish rites were forbidden by punishment of death. In the Temple an altar to Zeus Olympios was erected, and sacrifices were to be made at the feet of an statue in the image of the King. Against that action, Judas Maccabeus, leader of the anti-Greek Jews, led the Hasideans in a guerrilla war and managed to defeat repeatedly the generals Antiochus had commissioned to deal with the uprising. Judas refused a partial amnesty, conquered Judaea with the exception of the Acra in Jerusalem, and in December 164 was able to tear down the altar of Zeus and return the temple to the Jewish religion. 

Antiochus then mounted a campaign against the Parthians who were threatening the empire in the east, recovered the income from that area, forced Artaxias of Armenia—who had defected—to recognize his authority, founded the city of Antioch on the Persian Gulf, set out on an expedition to the Arabian coast, and, at the end of 164 BCE, died of an illness at Tabae (or Gabae, probably present Isfahan) in Persis.

Edited from: https://www.britannica.com

WHEN INDOGREEKS INVADED INDIA

 The Indo-Greek invasion which happened after the fall of the Mauryan Empire was an important event in Indian history. In this video, we talk about the first phase of the Indo-Greeks invasion. In this phase, the territory up to Eastern Punjab was conquered by the Indo-Greeks.

Source  YouTube Channel Jay Vardhan Singh

MILETUS ~ ANCIENT GREEK CITY IN ASIA MINOR

 Miletus, Byzantine Palation, Turkish Balat, ancient Greek city of western Anatolia, some 20 miles (30 km) south of the present city of Söke, Turkey. It lies near the mouth of the Büyükmenderes (Menderes) River.

Before 500 BCE, Miletus was the greatest Greek city in the east. It was the natural outlet for products from the interior of Anatolia and had a considerable wool trade with Sybaris, in southern Italy. Miletus was important in the founding of the Greek colony of Naukratis in Egypt and founded more than 60 colonies on the shores of the Black Sea, including Abydos, Cyzicus, Sinope (now Sinop), Olbia, and Panticapaeum. In addition to its commerce and colonization, the city was distinguished for its literary and scientific-philosophical figures, among them Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, and Hecataeus. Together with the people of the other two Ionian cities of Caria, Myus and Priene, the Milesians spoke a distinctive Ionian dialect. Little is known about Milesian government before 500 BCE. At the beginning and end of the 6th century BCE, however, the city was ruled by the tyrants Thrasybulus and Histiaeus, respectively.

In the 7th century BC Miletus came into conflict with the neighbouring state of Lydia, and it probably acknowledged Lydian overlordship in the mid-6th century. In the latter part of the 6th century, it came under Persian rule, along with the other Greek cities of Anatolia. About 499 BCE the Milesians led the Ionian revolt that marked the beginning of the Greco-Persian Wars (q.v.). The city was stormed and sacked by the Persians in 494. After the Persian defeat by the Greeks (479), Miletus joined the Athenian-dominated Delian League. By the mid-5th century the city had been weakened and impoverished by internal divisions, and in 442 it was defeated in war by neighbouring Samos.

Its fortunes soon revived, however, and the Milesians set about rebuilding their city on a new grid plan of the type invented in this period by Hippodamus of Miletus. In 412 the city sided with Sparta against Athens; before 350 Mausolus of Caria ruled it, and it fell to Alexander in 334 after a siege. Hellenistic rulers who competed for influence at Miletus included the Seleucid Antiochus IV Epiphanes and Eumenes II of Pergamum, both about 170 BC. Miletus retained its commercial importance and received special attention from the Roman emperors Augustus and Trajan. By the 6th century CE, however, its two harbours had silted up, and it was eventually abandoned.

The ruins occupy the former peninsula crowned by the hill of Kalabak Tepe. The total area of the archaic city is unknown, but Hellenistic town walls and foundations have been uncovered. There also are extensive remains of the classical city from the 5th century BCE to Roman imperial times. The Greco-Roman theatre and its adjoining Byzantine castle are the most visible of the site’s ruins.

Edited  from https://www.britannica.com/