The Transport of Sick and Wounded Soldiers in Classical Greece

The Cretan Slinger at War – A Weighty Exchange

“…In Sicily slingshot examples indicate tribe and phratria ( Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 38 [1988], 953) and Hanson argues, using epigraphic and literary evidence, that soldiers were organised according to tribal affiliation (1989, 121–5). Hall Sternberg highlights that in Thucydides' account, the wounded left on the battlefield at Syracuse beseeched their friends, relatives and tentmates for help (Hall Sternberg 1999, 198; Thucydides 7.75.2–5) – thereby evoking the social binds involved in rescuing a comrade or kinsman in battle (Plato, Alcibiades 115b). The collective evidence supports the argument that 5th century bc citizen armies were grouped by tribe, so that soldiers fought alongside men with whom they shared social occasions within their specific polis .…”

“…The collective evidence supports the argument that 5th century bc citizen armies were grouped by tribe, so that soldiers fought alongside men with whom they shared social occasions within their specific polis . While the Sicilian expedition of the late 5th century bc was led by a combined force from disparate city-states as well as Athens (Thucydides 6.25–6), Hall Sternberg contends that Thucydides presents a close-knit citizen army (Hall Sternberg 1999, 198).…”