Winnipeg firefighters respond to fatal Nassau Street house fire
Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service responded to calls of a house fire just after 1 p.m. Tuesday afternoon in the 700 block of Nassau Street, in the city's Lord Roberts area.
#fire #response #Winnipeg #NassauStreet #LordRobertsarea #News
https://globalnews.ca/news/11594612/one-dead-nassau-fire-wfps/

Winnipeg firefighters respond to fatal Nassau Street house fire
Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service responded to calls of a house fire just after 1 p.m. Tuesday afternoon in the 700 block of Nassau Street, in the city's Lord Roberts area.
#fire #response #Winnipeg #NassauStreet #LordRobertsarea #News
https://globalnews.ca/news/11594612/one-dead-nassau-fire-wfps/

The first #Response is ready, providing basic information about public transport agencies. 🚌

I based the data on the #GTFS model, introducing changes to enable the creation of a flexible #SaaS environment. This gradually reveals the project's scope. 🔄

#DevDiary #BuildInPublic

Netanyahu warns of ‘very severe’ response if Iran attacks Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Monday of a “very severe response” should Iran take action against Israel, while emphasizing that the Jewish state is “not seeking confrontation.”​ Read More , #Netanyahu #warns #severe #response #Iran #attacks #Israel

https://sayopi.store/netanyahu-warns-of-very-severe-response-if-iran-attacks-israel/

Continuous Combat or Pulses and Lulls?

Over on his blog Bret Devereaux has followed up a chat in the comments with a post on the mechanics of Roman and Iberian combat. About ten years after historians of ancient Greece started to challenge the “rugby scrum” model, Roman Army Scholars started to think hard about what ancient writers said the Roman army and its Iberian opponents did in combat. These descriptions have significant differences from descriptions in earlier Greek writers like Tyrtaeus, Thucydides, and Xenophon (for example, Roman armies can be driven back hundreds of metres before turning the tide, whereas the first time Thucydides’ hoplites turn their backs (tropein) is so important that the other side erects a monument (trope) to it). The blog post is well worth reading. In lieu of a full response I have some comments below.

First, I don’t know anyone who denies that Republican Romans preferred to throw their javelins and charge with the sword. Writers such as Polybius, Livy, and Caesar describe this many times. The question for debate is whether if both sides stood firm, this would result in uninterrupted combat, or a few minutes of combat after which one or both sides back off to catch their breath, throw things, rethink their techniques, and build up courage to go in again. Its also up for debate how much the two lines would separate: just a few steps, or as far as they could throw a javelin? Devereaux calls these two possibilities micro-pulses and macro-pulses although of course there is no hard divide.

Second, between say 800 BCE and 200 CE, infantry with spears had one or two spears. I cannot recall a single painting or sculpture which shows more than two, and mass sacrifices of weapons at La Tène ‘Celtic’ sites or the Danish bog of Hjortspring usually contain one, two, or three spears per shield. The Christian Roman army festooned itself with spears and lead-weighted darts called plumbatae, but in earlier times the closest thing I know is Livy’s story that some Roman velites were trained to sit on the horse behind the rider and carry no less than seven short darts to hurl when they dismounted (Livy 26.4.4, cp. Polybius 6.22.4 where the darts are slightly smaller). Livy presents this as a special technique for a special situation, and troops on horses or chariots often carry more weapons than troops who have to walk on their own two feet.

Therefore, some infantry who ran around the combat zone ducking and leaping and throwing spears had just one or two spears each, and a Roman infantryman’s two pila is not a small load of missiles. One of the beautiful things about throwing spears is that you can pick up the other guy’s and throw them back, whereas a gunner who shoots all his ammunition is out of luck. Two spears is the same load as an Iberian caetratus, Germanic warrior, or Thracian peltast. If you are used to Romans and their customs, you might not realize just how unusual some of these customs are.

Soldiers with two spears, a shield, a sword, and a helmet could fight many different ways. In tenth-century England they could form a shield wall (OE bordweall) and hurl spears before they closed to trade cuts and thrusts above each other’s shields. In ancient Thrace they could form a loose cloud, run close ducking incoming missiles or beating them aside with their shields, and toss their own spears then decide whether the enemy was weak enough to close in with. Romans seem to have used both approaches some of the time, as when Roman armies in Spain adopted Iberian tactics or Arrian suggested that Romans should form a wall of shields backed by archers against Alan cavalry. There are many open questions among scholars such as whether the round flat shield adopted by the Romans in the third century was better suited for loose formations or a dense shield wall. Some people used to believe that Imperial Roman auxilliaries fought in a looser formation than the legionaries but the evidence for that seems very weak other than that they had slightly smaller and flatter shields. Gear can tell us some things, but there was a great deal of room for two groups of warriors to chose different ways of fighting with very similar equipment. There is lots more to discuss in the original blog post over on ACOUP.

Don’t let me get run down! If you can, please support this site by sharing it, donating, or talking about it over the holidays!

Further Reading

• John Lendon, Soldiers and Ghosts (Yale University Pres, 2006)
• Quesada Sanz, Fernando (2006) “Not so different: individual fighting techniques and small unit tactics of Roman and Iberian armies.” In P. François, P. Moret, S. Péré-Noguès (eds.) L’Hellénisation en Méditerranée Occidentale au temps des guerres puniques. Actes du Colloque International de Toulouse, 31 mars-2 avril 2005. Pallas 70 (Presses universitaires du Mirail: Toulouse) pp. 245–263
• Bartosz Kontny, “The war as seen by an archaeologist. Reconstruction of barbarian weapons and fighting techniques in the Roman Period based on the analysis of graves containing weapons. The case of the Przeworsk Culture.” Journal of Roman Military Equipment Studies 16 (2008) pp. 107-146

(scheduled 20 December 2025)

No AI* Here – A Response to Mozilla's Next Chapter

https://www.waterfox.com/blog/no-ai-here-response-to-mozilla/

#HackerNews #NoAI #Here #Mozilla #Response #Waterfox #TechNews

A lack of response is, in an of itself, a response.

#response #email

The hope is that no one listens

#silent #response

“How you respond to the enemy of your soul determines whether his plan for your life or God's plan for your life is realized.”
― Stormie Omartian

#Bot #Quote #Christianity #God #Response #Satan

À priori knowledge – real or not? I share my answer in the first of a series of video clips.
https://philosophics.blog/2025/12/12/philpapers-survey-a-priori-knowledge/?utm_source=masto&utm_medium=social
#philosophy #knowledge #kant #survey #response #video #podcast #blog

A quotation from Christopher Bidmead

THE DOCTOR: Oh, marvelous. You’re going to kill me. What a finely-tuned response to the situation.

Christopher H. Bidmead (1941-2025) English screenwriter, script editor, journalist
Doctor Who (1963), 21×03 “Frontios,” Part 2 (1984-01-27)

More about this quote: wist.info/bidmead-christopher/…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #fifthdoctor #christopherbidmead #doctorwho #folly #inappropriateness #reaction #response #violence

Homeowners get perfect revenge on the HOA that used a 1989 rule to fine them $25,000

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.upworthy.com/homeowners-get-perfect-revenge-on-hoa

Vladimir Putin ignited a fresh wave of geopolitical anxiety on Tuesday, suggesting in a televised interview that Russia is prepared for a potential military con... https://news.osna.fm/?p=25718 | #news #europe #potential #putin #response

Media Insider: ‘Appalling’, ‘insensitive’: Sky TV’s bizarre response following longtime customer’s death

John Clelland with his sister Helen. Photo / supplied John duly sent an email to Sky, attaching Helen’s…
#NewsBeep #News #Headlines #apologised #appalling #bizarre #brother #customers #Death #describes #disgusting #following #himself #initial #insensitive #insider #longtime #Media #NewZealand #NZ #response #sky #TVs #very #wake #Weird
https://www.newsbeep.com/283541/

Response to Ruby Is Not a Serious Programming Language

https://robbyonrails.com/articles/2025/12/01/why-so-serious/

#HackerNews #Response #to #Ruby #Is #Not #a #Serious #Programming #Language #Ruby #Programming #Language #Hacker #News #Tech #Debate #Software #Development

The Key Question in the Fall of the Roman Empire

A conversation with Nathan Ross inspired me to track down two essays by Steve Muhlberger on what I think is the key issue in the fall of the western Roman empire. (The debate “were foreign invasions or civil wars more destructive?” is a bit of a semantic issue, since soldiers tried to be as Germanic as possible and wealthy Germans in the Imperium tried to become as Roman as possible: its never going to be easy to define figures like Stilicho as either Roman or barbarian). It has long been obvious that the fifth century saw light beautiful pottery, stone houses, roofs with leak-proof terracotta tiles, and philosophers who could do original work vanish from Europe north of the Alps, but recently archaeologists have noticed that people buried in Post-Roman Europe seem to be living longer and eating better than their ancestors who bore the Roman yoke.

My second reflection is on the current debate about the fall of the Roman Empire (the fifth-century fall) between people who equate it with “the End of Civilization” (Bryan Ward-Perkins) and people who don’t think it was an ending of unprecedented significance (say, Peter Brown and Walter Goffart). I really think that the unresolved and maybe unresolvable debate is about what civilization is. Is it a situation where a leisured minority sit around in the palace library, enjoying bread made from Egyptian wheat and dipping it in Syrian olive oil or Spanish fish sauce, and debating the great ideas of the ages, while other people dig minerals from the earth in dirty, dangerous mines, or harvest cotton in the hot sun, and die young? If that’s it, then there was probably a lot less “civilization” in large parts of the formerly Roman world after AD 400 than there had been for some centuries, in that it was far more difficult to assemble a large variety of enviable luxuries in one spot through the routine operations of centralized imperial power. And there is more civilization now, because here I sit, not even close to being rich by Canadian standards, but able to read, think and then speak to a privileged minority around the world while hundreds of millions sweat profusely (and all too often, die young).

But it might be worth considering whether the height of luxury — whatever luxury you prefer — is the only measure of civilization.

I say, bring on those resilient decentralized networks and extend them as far as we can. The only alternative is slavery for somebody.

Steve Muhlberger, “Brave New War, The Upside of Down, and the fall of the Roman Empire,” 22 April 2007 https://smuhlberger.blogspot.com/2007/04/brave-new-war-upside-of-down-and-fall.htm

One of the strengths of the Late Republic and early Roman empire was civil engineering projects: roads, aqueducts, baths. Muhlberger has personal experience of how important those are.

For years now I have been taking part in a large medieval re-creation event in August. The event itself features mock medieval combat, archery, singing, dancing and partying, some of it not particularly medieval in inspiration. Most people who take part camp for a week or two at the site, and I have often found that situation inspires interesting thoughts. Living essentially outdoors for two weeks, with little communication with the outside world (though it is available if you need or like) is a fascinating and perspective-restoring exercise. Me, I’m basically illiterate for the whole period.

Since I and my friends camp together every year, we’ve acquired portable versions of what we consider necessities: a back-up water filter, a hot water heater scavenged from an old RV, a camp shower, and a kitchen sink with hot and cold taps. These are set up and taken down every summer.

Note that my necessities all come down to safe, easily available water? The year we got the shower setup my campmates were delirious with joy. I sure appreciated it, too, but the kitchen sink and taps meant more to me. The first time I turned on a kitchen tap and got good water I knew, instantly, that this was the difference between barbarism and civilization. Nice to have a shower. Far more important to be able to clean one’s hands any time, and to be sure that kitchen utensils and dishes were always clean.

That moment of insight was a decade or so ago, and its rightness has become clearer to me as time has passed. Clean water available to everyone in a community is civilization; it means the community has certain technical capabilities, and is devoting its resources to the common good in a basic way. Furthermore, the predators and parasites who in so many places and times have prevented that allocation of resources are not in control.

We human beings of planet Earth have the capability to be civilized now. There can be no doubt that we are smart enough and rich enough. But we have yet to attain civilization.

Steve Muhlberger, “The difference between barbarism and civilization,” 16 August 2007 https://smuhlberger.blogspot.com/2007/08/difference-between-barbarism-and.htm

About ten years after he wrote that, the Canadian federal government chose to spend about as much money as it would cost to deliver clean water to every First Nations community buying rights to build an oil pipeline just before its price collapsed.

Further Reading:

• Benjamin Isaacs, The Limits of Empire: The Roman Army in the East
• James C. Scott, The Art of Not Being Governed
• Rob Wiseman, Benjamin Neil, and Francesca Mazzilli “Extreme Justice: Decapitations and Prone Burials in Three Late Roman Cemeteries at Knobb’s Farm, Cambridgeshire.” Britannia, Volume 52 (November 2021) pp. 119-173 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X21000064 “To flesh out these national figures, we compiled a database of excavated Roman era burials in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, identifying 891 burials from 49 Roman era cemeteries … Approximately 5 per cent of local burials (five of 105 assessable skeletons) dating to the first and second centuries a.d. had been decapitated. This rose to nearly 10 per cent (!) (27 of 288) in cemeteries dating between the third and fifth centuries.“

On the evidence from human bones and teeth, compare papers by Geoffrey Kron and papers by Walter Scheidel such as:

• Geoffrey Kron, “Anthropometry, Physical Anthropology, and the Reconstruction of Ancient Health, Nutrition, and Living Standards,” Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte, Bd. 54, H. 1 (2005), pp. 68-83 {he thinks that small farms and classical civilization could deliver the good life as long as kings and aristocrats didn’t steal too much of it}
• Walter Scheidel, “Physical wellbeing in the Roman world,” Version 2.0 September 2010. Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics https://www.princeton.edu/~pswpc/pdfs/scheidel/091001.pdf “A recent study of 1,021 skeletons from seventy-four sites in central Italy reveals that mean stature in the Roman period was lower than both before (during the Iron Age) and after (in the Middle Ages). In the same vein, an alternative survey of 2,609 skeletons from twenty-six Italian sites ranging from the Roman period to the late Middle Ages shows a strong increase in body height in the late Roman and early medieval periods. An unpublished survey of 1,867 skeletons from sixty-one sites in Britain likewise documents an increase in body height after the end of Roman rule.”
• Nicholas Koepke and Joerg Baten, “The biological standard of living in Europe during the last two millennia,” European Review of Economic History 9 (2005) pp. 61-95 “We find that heights stagnated in Central, Western and Southern Europe during the Roman imperial period, while astonishingly increasing in the fifth and sixth centuries. Noteworthy also is the similarity of height development in the three large regions of Europe.”

Edit 2019-07-06: Tip of the Scythian cap to Brad Delong: Willem Jongman, Jan Jacobs, and Geertje Goldewijk, “Health and wealth in the Roman Empire,” Economics and Human Biology (2019), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2019.01.005 “Almost all other indicators of standard of living that we have for the Roman world show the opposite pattern from the two health indicators of biological standard of living and life expectancy. … We conclude that Romans paid a health price for their material wealth.” In other words, as the amount and quality of durable goods which the average family had increased, stature and life expectancy decreased, and then as the complex economy which produced and distributed those goods collapsed, stature and health were increasing.

Edit 2020-01-23: And thanks to Alexiares for the response in Supposed Civilization (2019-12-02)

Edit 2022-02-12: fixed formatting broken when WordPress introduced the block editor

Edit 2022-02-13: added the chart from Jongman et al. after reading a blog post by Dr. Bret Devereaux who has a very different understanding of health in late antiquity than the scholars I have talked to. I am an Achaemenid historian not Kristina Killgrove so my authorities could be wrong or I could misunderstand them! Dug around in my folder of articles and found and added article by Koepke and Baten and article by Wiseman et al.

Edit 2022-03-29: See also Josho Brouwers, “Confronting ‘Collapse’: An Anarchist Perspective on the end of the Bronze Age,” Ancient World Magazine, 18 February 2021 https://www.ancientworldmagazine.com/articles/confronting-collapse/ (archived on archive.org/)

Edit 2023-07-12: see also Liana Brent’s review of Alexander Smith, Martyn Allen, Tom Brindle, Michael Fulford, Lisa Lodwick, New Visions of the Countryside of Roman Britain, Volume 3: Life and Death in the Countryside of Roman Britain. Britannia monography series, 31. London: Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, 2018

Overall, the elevated frequency and variety of pathological lesions suggest that, compared to Iron Age populations, health declined in the countryside of Roman Britain. More surprisingly, Rohnbogner found that populations in the three study regions had higher rates of infections, metabolic disease, and joint degeneration than contemporary urban populations at Lankhills and Winchester.

https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2019/2019.08.43/

NB. that the reviewer expects to see health decline during the period of Roman rule in Britain because studies of bones, teeth, and feces show that again and again across the temperate European parts of the Roman empire.

#ancient #economicHistory #LateAntique #response #Roman #slavery #SteveMuhlberger

... General strike which is going to take place on 28-29 November 2025 under the slogan: “Say NO to the Meloni government's budget law – stand with ...

WFTU Solidarity Statement with the Strike in Italy 25 Nov 2025by central wftu The World Federation of Trade Unions, the militant voice of more that 105 million workers who live, work and struggle in 134 countries of the 5 continents, expresses its u…#wftu #solidarity #statement #strike #italy #nov #central #world #federation #trade #unions #militant #voice #million #workers #live #work #struggle #countries #continents #expresses #undivided #working #class #general #going #take #place #- #november #slogan #say #meloni #government #s #budget #law #stand #palestinian #people #stop #genocide #conscious #dignified #reaction #popular #strata #war #economy #preparations #reduce #resources #health #education #services #increase #precariousness #undermining #interests #pensioners #students #unemployed #international #class-oriented #union #movement #struggles #peace #immediate #end #wars #imperialist #intervention #affiliates #globe #fight #society #wealth #producers #will #allocated #produce #labor #toil #join #worker #just #demands #wage #permanent #stable #living #conditions #--- #dear #comrades #unione #sindacale #base #usb #salute #including #palestine #call #national #also #deeply #appreciate #long-lasting #unwavering #facing #resisting #israel #ongoing #years #settler-colonialism #apartheid #strikes #shed #bright #light #shameful #complicity #italian #corporations #enabling #illegal #occupation #palestinians #shown #power #inspired #many #across #dockworkers #called #september #october #recent #announced #well #disruptive #actions #preventing #stopping #military #cargo #ports #directed #genocidal #can #play #key #role #escalating #peacefully #disrupting #crimes #civil #large #response #meaningful #global #weekend #action #bds #welcomed #news #ceasefire #agreement #reached #however #continues #killing #starving #maiming #albeit #different #form #even #real #important #first #step #livestreamed #illegally #occupied #besieged #gaza #strip #without #massive #pressure #combined #trump-netanyahu #plan #constitutes #continuation #less #visible #us #hope #provoke #regional #outrage #boycotts #sanctions #repercussions #planned #annihilation #denial #refugees #rights #yet #won #needed #ever #begins #ending #serious #accountability #moral #legal #obligations #see #know #tide #turned #must #back #precisely #brought #wave #targeted #spain #t #rkyie #malaysia #colombia #slovenia #antigua #barbuda #governments #globally #isolated #internationally-wanted #prime #minister #recently #admitted #understood #desperate #attempt #relieve #isolation #save #-year-old #regime #settler-colonial #oppression #reasons #professional #urgently #renew #around #escalate #effort #colonial #calls #movements #put #center #adopt #highest #priority #mobilisations #express #liberation #self-determination #return #reparations #uphold #following #icj #rulings #starting #imposing #comprehensive #embargo #halting #sale #purchase #transfer #transit #parts #dual-use #items #ensuring #user #compliance #eni #halt #oil #petrol #launch #broad #intersectional #campaigns #compel #institutions #city #councils #universities #hospitals #etc #ethical #procurement #investment #policies #applicable #exclude #companies #knowingly #persistently #involved #grave #human #violations #particularly #humanity #forces #broader #economic #academic #cultural #sports #mahmoud #nawajaa #coordinator #committee #bnc #tras #el #anuncio #sindicato #syndicale #de #convocatoria #huelga #horas #para #pr #ximo #d #noviembre #frente #sindical #obrero #canarias #saluda #clase #obrera #italiana #sus #organizaciones #y #especialmente #organizaci #n #hermana #camaradas #fieles #nuestros #principios #manifestamos #todo #nuestro #apoyo #lucha #anticapitalista #apoyamos #esta #las #movilizaciones #que #dar #lugar #abrazo #fraternal #los #piquetes #autentica #vanguardia #saludo #asambleas #comit #muy #especial #juventud #trabajadora #convocada #abre #camino #toda #en #contra #presupuestos #guerra #militarizaci #econom #diferentes #pa #ses #sin #reservas #reivindicaci #inmediata #ruptura #concreci #palestina #libre #desde #rio #hasta #mar #les #deseamos #todas #suertes #fuerzas #todos #xitos #alguna #forma #sentimos #tambi #nuestra #viva #secretario #pol #tico #daniel #casal
Messaggi di solidarietà internazionale ad USB per lo sciopero generale del 28 novembre

Released #dftk version 0.7.19: https://dftk.org/releases with support for #hubbard corrections (#DFT+U) and various #gpu-related #performance improvements.

#densityfunctionaltheory #condensedmatter #dfpt #response #physics #simulation #planewave

Four Theses on the Hoplite Wars

Over on his website historian Bret Devereaux has started a series on debates about early Greek warfare. The first post in that series is well worth reading. It puts me in a dilemma because I see some things differently than he does, but I can’t spare the time for such a lengthy and carefully footnoted essay. So I will respond with four theses about those academic controversies, using vivid bloggy writing and linking to my earlier posts and academic publications. I will follow his lead by avoiding discussion of Victor Davis Hanson’s political project although I had to address it in my review of The Other Greeks. Hanson’s ideas about early Greek warfare were not original in 1989. His great achievement was expressing them in clear and contemporary language which spread outside the lecture hall and the seminar room.

First, I agree with Devereaux that there were two debates: one about what happened on ancient Greek battlefields, and the other whether Greek warfare was basically the same everywhere from 750 to 432 BCE, or varied across time and space. These two debates are not inherently connected and many people have put forward theories about combat mechanics without claiming that these theories have some profound implications for ancient cultures. Roel Konijnendijk ignored the debate about massed shoves or metaphorical pushes in his monograph on early Greek warfare without that affecting his argument. Many scholars argued against a massed push by whole lines of hoplites without arguing that Greek warfare varied from place to place and time to time.

Second, I think that the debate about hoplite battles is undecided, while the debate about revolution or gradual change ended in a decisive victory by the Krentz-van Wees school (the former heretics). Neither the California School (Victor Davis Hanson and sympathizers) with their ideas about rugby scrums, nor the Krentz-van Wees school with their ideas about loose crowds of soldiers, had ideas about how battles worked which convince most thoughtful observers. This is understandable since none of them had much experience in combat sports and none sought out people with that experience before forming their basic views.

Third, in many ways, the intense scholarly debate about combat mechanics, and emotional language like “orthodoxy” and “heretics,” disguised how much the parties agreed about. The debate about ancient Greek warfare from 1989 to 2013 was a classical philologist’s game (and incidentally an American and British man’s game). Victor Davis Hanson made an argument based on texts describing southern mainland Greece, supplemented with a casual use of archaeology and art from the wider Greek world, and critics responded with more rigorous arguments about the same type of evidence. They didn’t have to learn about Egyptian paintings or the Stele of the Vultures or weapons in Italian tombs. Even an adventurous scholar like Hans van Wees leaned heavily on a single comparison (with war in Highland New Guinea before the gun) and that was one of the most controversial aspects of his theories. The two sides were in agreement about how to fight, like Georgian duelists counting out their paces in some foggy field.

Fourth, the debate drastically shifted in 2013. On one hand, van Wees’ former student Josho Brouwers published a book on early Greek warfare which centered archaeology and put Greece in its broader cultural context. Archaic Greece was not much like Pericles’ Athens, proud of its separation from and superiority to barbarians, and more like the Norse world of the Viking Age, eagerly learning from, mixing with, and robbing Slavs, Persians, Romans, Franks, and Irish. Many cultures in the eastern Mediterranean had lines of spearmen with bronze helmets and large shields, and the ancients said that many nations had hoplites or men “armed like Greeks.”1 Trying to decide whether the hoplites on the Amathus bowl are Greeks, Carians, or Phoenicians is fruitless.

On the other hand, hoplite reenactment began to grow more organized and scientific, and the spread of high-speed Internet made it easier to share videos. Since about 2013, it has become more common to try out theories about moving troops, pushing with shields, or fighting in lines. These trials cannot replace traditional scholarship: nobody dies in them and they are not always carried out or written up with academic strictness. However, we can now say that it is indeed possible for whole lines of men with shields to push on each other without suffocating because we tried it; just like we can refute the myth of the heavily burdened hoplite because we looked at ancient artifacts and they were small and light. Its easier to agree on the weight of a helmet than on how to interpret the Iliad. Since about 2013, new empirical evidence has started to flow into debates about early Greek warfare, and archaeologists and specialists in Italy or Anatolia have published lively work which goes farther than Krentz or van Wees dared to. The debate since 2013 has not been stalled just because a few people still hold to the old California School or because nobody can agree about just what happened when two lines of spearmen came together.

Some of these theses might be controversial, especially the fourth. Its unfortunate that nobody in Josho Browers’ circle ended up in a stable research job, but not surprising at a time when institutions that study the ancient world are being demolished. While I am not shy about criticizing approaches to the ancient world which I disagree with, we all have a common interest in keeping people teaching and studying antiquity. While it can feel tedious to keep writing about Greek hoplites, its also exciting that people without academic training are interested in what we have to say.

Good scholarship takes time! Help keep me blogging at least once a month by supporting this site.

Further Reading

Sean Manning, “War and Soldiers in the Achaemenid Empire: Some Historiographical and Methodological Considerations.” In Kai Ruffing, Kerstin Droß-Krüpe, Sebastian Fink, and Robert Rollinger (eds.), Societies at War: Proceedings of the 10th Symposium of the Melammu Project held in Kassel September 26-28 2016 and Proceedings of the 8th Symposium of the Melammu Project held in Kiel November 11-15 2014 (Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften: Vienna, 2020) pp. 495-515 (PDF copy here)

Cross-Post: Ways Forward in the Study of Early Greek Warfare (Josho Brouwers’ take after reading the 2013 conference proceedings Men of Bronze)

Edit 2025-11-16: added image, linked review of Bardunias’ book, added one sentence about how doubting massed pushing does not imply doubting other aspects of the California school/English orthodoxy

(scheduled 15 November 2025)

1. Examples include many nations in Hdt. 7.61–99, the ὁπλῖται Αἰγύπτιοι “Egyptian hoplites” of Xen. An. 1.8.9 and ὁπλῖται Ἀσσύριοι “Assyrian hoplites” of Xen. An. 7.8.15, the apparent use of characters armed like Egyptians or “like the Persians in pictures” (but not called hoplites) to teach lessons about combat between Greek hoplites in Xen. Cyr., the Persian kardakes at Issos who Arrian calls ὁπλῖται (Arr., Anab. 2.8.6), and the πολιτικόι στρατιωτόι “citizen soldiers” of Sidon at Diodorus 16.42.2 (this list is taken from note 38 of the article in the conference proceedings above) ↩︎

#ancient #bonusPost #earlyGreekWarfare #methodology #response

Windows PowerShell Incident Response
BCWHSendpointIR1.3: 13 powerful commands to check for incidents on your Windows devices to help stay protected.

https://blackcatwhitehatsecurity.com/endpoint.cfm#psIR

#BCWH #Windows #PowerShell #Incident #Response #Programming