Welcome!

View of the Black Sea, from close to where the Ten Thousand would have emerged.

Dear Reader,

Welcome to Thalatta!Thalatta! This blog is dedicated to sharing and spreading knowledge about warfare in the Hellenic and Hellenistic worlds, or more succinctly, about warfare in the Mediterranean basin from 600 B.C.E. to 0. C.E. Historians often discuss the rise and fall of the Roman World, but rarely discuss the same, in terms of the civilizations which preceded the Romans- the Greek world. In fact, two Greek civilizations rose and fell in the six hundred years covered by this blog. The first, the Hellenic world, is known to some in the west today, and popular images and important facets of this world remain: the Greek Poleis, the Agora, Democracy, Philosophy, Athens and Sparta, Leonidas and his Hoplites, Socrates and his students.

The second world, the Hellenistic world, is less well known to moderns. Many recognize Alexander "the Great" of Macedon, who created the world, but fewer would recognize entities such as the Seleucid Empire, events such as the Maccabean Revolt or the Syrian Wars, or even figures like Phillip V of Macedon, Scipio Africanus, or Hannibal Barca. While many have heard of figures such as Julius Caesar, knowledge of this period of history is often viewed as an almost exclusively Roman story.

So what do I hope to accomplish in this blog, and what does the strange title mean? In the year 401, around 13,000 Greek mercenaries (often referred to by contemporaries and historians as The Ten Thousand) had won a battle, but lost a war. In trying to back the younger brother of Persian great king, Cyrus,  in a bid for the throne, the Ten Thousand had won the Battle of Cunaxa, near Baghdad. However, in the same battle, their paymaster Cyrus had been killed, and their bid to overthrow the Persian state failed. Undaunted by being over 1200 miles from home in the midst of an enemy country, these mercenary Greeks marched home, harried by Persian light armed troops. After a grueling march, they reached the Black Sea.  Upon gaining sight of the sea, the Greek army took heart, and began to shout, "Thalatta! Thalatta! ("the Sea! the Sea!).  although the Spartans and Ionian Greeks were probably shouting, "Thalassa! Thalassa!", as Greeks spoke in different dialects.  For these Greeks, reaching the sea meant that they would be saved, as they could easily contract ships to take them home, and make contact with Greek colonies along the Black Sea in modern Turkey. Their view of the sea gave them hope.

In a sense, I aim to do something similar with this blog. Reading this blog will not make you an expert on ancient warfare, but it may inspire a love of the classical past, a past which is still relevant to us today. By giving you a glimpse of ancient warfare, much as the Ten Thousand glimpsed the sea, I hope to be a gateway to another country: the past. Armed with the knowledge which I will provide you in this blog, I hope to connect you to a part of the human past. As humanity pushes further into the twenty-first century, the lessons of the classical past are just as pressing today as they have always been.

So, finally, who am I? Though I am not a specialist in the Ancient world, I am a trained historian, a historian of the eighteenth century, and  I am currently preparing for the second year of my doctoral work. Though my main field of research is quite far from the classical world, I have long been interested in the military history of the classical world, and I read some of the required languages for classical study.

I invite you to join me in the examination of the military systems of these Greek worlds!

Thanks for reading,


Alex Burns