Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Agback" data-source="post: 261318" data-attributes="member: 5328">Older men up to the age of sixty were drafted as needed. In fact, it was the older men who were sent whenever an expeditionary force was needed. The ephebes (18-20 year-old conscripts) did garrison duty in Attica, and were retained for border protection when the army proper (consisting of adult soldiers) was sent on foreign duty.For your concrete example, consider the force that was send under Alkibiades to conquer Sicily. It consisted entirely of older men.Sparta's main rivals in the southern Pelopennese were Argos and Messenia, while in Arcadia their main foe (or rather, the main foe of their ally Tegea) was Mantineia.Yes, leather was used, and so was thickly-woven blanket-like material. Consider for example the aegis (a leather cloak/shield protecting the left arm and shoulder), and the perizoma (a sort of kilt/apron protecting the lower abdomen and thighs. These were usually of leather or heavy cloth.Some had servants to carry their armour, but most wore it on the march.As a reference on Greek military organisation and equipment, let me recommend "The Ancient Greeks" by N.V. Sekunda (illustrated by Angus McBride). It is published by Osprey Publishing, and has ISBN 0-85045-686-X.Also, let me recommend "The Last of the Wine" by Mary Renault. This is a well-researched and superbly-written novel about an Athenian boy of good family growing to manhood during the Pelopennesian War (431-404 BC) and its immediate aftermath. You might also find "Soldier of the Mist" and its sequel "Soldier of Arete", by Gene Wolfe to be good value (they are set in 479-478 BC, in the aftermath of the Second Persian War)."How the Greeks Built Cities" by R.E. Wycherly is very much worth reading for any GM who is going to set adventures in Greece of any sort of pseudo-Greece, but you might find it difficult to get.And of course Herodotos' "Histories" are a great read and full of fantasy material.Regards,Agback</blockquote>

Verification