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49 teosta 496 jäsentä 10 arvostelua

Tietoja tekijästä

John D Grainger is a former teacher and historian with a particular interest in Classical and Hellenistic Greek history. His many previous works include the following for Pen Sword: The Wars of the Maccabees (2012); Roman Conquests: Egypt and Judaea (2013); a three-part history of the Seleukid näytä lisää Empire (2014-16), Kings and Kingship in the Hellenistic World 350-30 BC (2017), Antipater's Dynasty (2018), Ancient Dynasties (2019), The Roman Imperial Succession (2020) and The Galatians (2020). näytä vähemmän
Image credit: John D. Grainger

Sarjat

Tekijän teokset

Alexander the Great Failure (2008) 39 kappaletta
Roman Conquests: Egypt and Judaea (2013) 24 kappaletta
The Battle for Palestine 1917 (2006) 16 kappaletta
The Roman Imperial Succession (2020) 11 kappaletta
Seleukos Nikator (1990) 10 kappaletta
The Battle for Syria, 1918-1920 (2013) 10 kappaletta
The Syrian Wars (2010) 7 kappaletta
The Cities of Pamphylia (2009) 6 kappaletta
The Cities of Seleukid Syria (1990) 5 kappaletta
Syria: An Outline History (2016) 4 kappaletta
The British Navy in the Baltic (2014) 3 kappaletta
Hellenistic Phoenicia (1991) 3 kappaletta

Merkitty avainsanalla

Yleistieto

Virallinen nimi
Grainger, John Downie
Syntymäaika
1939-06-17
Sukupuoli
male
Kansalaisuus
UK
Asuinpaikat
Worcestershire, England, UK
Koulutus
University of Birmingham
Ammatit
historian
teacher

Jäseniä

Kirja-arvosteluja

This is one of the books that took me a long time to finish :) just kidding :) I packed it up last year when I was going on a trip and in the meantime was so immersed into other activities that I completely forgot about it.
Until two days ago that is. After finding it again (truly felt like reacquainting with the old friend) it took me less than a day to finish it.

This is an exquisite book about 10 year period in which (more by chance than by planning) Rome finally emerged as a fully imperial country together with its nemesis-to-be Parthia while old world-powers crumbled down into the history (Seleukids, Greek states (in Europe and Asia), and Ptolemies).

It is very interesting that basic statesmanship and super-power behavior did not change today when compared to those time in the past. Behavior, attitudes.... all is very much like today.

Also interesting is the view of the area of Iran, Afghanistan all the way to India - even then these were so far off places that nobody is able to provide the overview of the events there and what states there were like. Truly far off mysterious places.

The only downside is that at times the sheer number of [very similar] names makes you feel like you are reading phone book of the era - this can truly be tiresome at times.

All in all, a great book showing how local events had more than a tremendous international effect.

Highly recommended.
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Zare | Jan 23, 2024 |
Oh for the time to reach such a volume! The papers and correspondence of admirals, of course, give a flavour of the life, troubles, travails, successes and operations of the Royal Navy of the time and even a browse through this volume ignites an interest in the exciting times of Admiral Duckworth and his colleagues.

Indexing such a volume is hard work and the index also appears on the page for this book on the Navy Records Society website. However, there are plenty of mistakes, not least occasioned by the different spellings of names and places in use at the time; words appear in the index that are just not on the page indicated (e.g. Nony - page 31 - does not exist) and little attempt has been made to correct, with footnotes, incorrect spellings or mis-spellings (e.g. Admiral Gumbis - page 16 - I cannot identify at all but Admiral Serces - page 16 - is surely Admiral Pierre-César-Charles-Guillaume de Sercey). It can't have been straightforward for admirals at war to know the name of their opponents unless their names were well-known or, indeed, the individuals were captured, and so on. I do wish for more information using footnotes, e;g. "Mortimer, Captain of Transport" is the index entry and, on page 457, is indeed mentioned "Captain Mortimer of His Majesty's transport Coromandel" - a footnote to advise he was "Captain John Mortimer", with yet more information about him, would have been helpful. Likewise, a footnote to tell the reader more about "Brigadier General Oakes" (page 257) would have been good. There are plenty of other names where the reader would have benefited from more information in a footnote.

Nevertheless, this is another pretty good volume from the NRS - do consider joining the Navy Records Society!
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lestermay | Jan 10, 2023 |
Any history that tells a story spanning 300 years faces serious challenges for both author and reader. Compounding the challenge for the author is the distance in time from the events described, the difficulties in translating ancient Greek and Latin source material, the scourge of missing sources, and the lack of context for days long past. Author John Grainger accepted these challenges to put together this very readable account of the golden age of galley warfare.

A 2011 release from Pen and Sword in Great Britain, "Hellenistic and Roman Naval Warfare 336 BC - 31 BC" takes the story of naval combat in the Mediterranean Sea from the time of Alexander the Great to the onset of Octavian Caesar's Roman Empire. At 394 pages in my Kindle edition, the book contains 16 chapters arranged chronologically. There is a section of maps, most handy given the number of places named in the text, as well as a small selection of images. The author includes endnotes and a bibliography.

The book's theme, neatly summarized in a small conclusion section, speaks to how different ancient regimes, states, and cities viewed sea power. Major entities--Alexander's Macedonians, the Romans, and, to a lesser extent the Carthaginians, saw sea power as transitory--investing only in ships, personnel, and infrastructure on when absolutely necessary. The opposing school of thought, that professional navies were permanent necessities of state, was accepted by relatively few powers--most notabl the Ptolemy dynasty of Egypt (and then only for a century) and the island state of Rhodes. Even then Grainger relates how Rhodes was really the only true practitioner of sea power throughout the period defined by this book.

The history as portrayed in "Hellenistic and Roman Naval Warfare 336 BC - 31 BC" is one that probably turns off most potential students of ancient history. Warfare between states and regimes are seemingly constant over the 300-year span--it is very difficult to differentiate among the various wars and battles. Armies and navies disappear without a trace, only to reappear in another conflict 5 or 10 years later. The Romans, in fact, seem to deliberately court naval disaster in failing to maintain a permanent navy. In the course of the three Punic Wars with Carthage, the Romans lost hundreds of galleys and tens of thousands of men to bad weather, operational losses imposed b the inexperience of the personnel and their commanders in newly raised naval squadrons. Keeping track of who was fighting whom is particularly difficult in the later Hellenistic and late Roman Republic eras.

I again applaud historians who are willing to work with the few sources available for this ancient topic. This challenge is particularly difficult when so much remains unknown--how these galley navies fought is still up for debate, and the details of the craft that constituted the navies are sketchy at best. Grainger's account is very readable despite the repetitious nature of the subject. The reader need only be patient to reach the author's aim in writing this book.
… (lisätietoja)
 
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Adakian | 1 muu arvostelu | May 17, 2022 |
An excellent narrative history of a subject that gets far less attention than it deserves.
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
AndreasJ | Nov 24, 2021 |

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Associated Authors

Peter Noble Narrator

Tilastot

Teokset
49
Jäseniä
496
Suosituimmuussija
#49,831
Arvio (tähdet)
½ 3.6
Kirja-arvosteluja
10
ISBN:t
144
Kielet
3

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