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The Timing and Development of the Ouragos
#8
Thank you for these very insightful and helpful replies.

I am inclined to agree that the ouragoi existed for as long as the phalanx did.  It seems natural to place sturdy veterans at the rear to keep the less experienced in the middle of the phalanx in check.  Regardless of whether these veterans were officers or non-commissioned officers as we might think of them today, there were likely stalwart men of experience toward the rear to help keep the phalanx moving forward and deter a rout.

At the risk of venturing off-topic, I worry that we sometimes make too much of the apparently cultural resistance Greeks to having officers over them.  Debra Hamel has an excellent book on the subject of military authority at Athens including a lengthy description of examples of Athenian strategoi disciplining soldiers in the field.  See Hamel, Athenian Generals: Military Authority in the Classical Period pages 59-63.  Hamel even outlines the authority of the Strategos to exercise capital punishment for certain military offenses while on campaign – limited, of course, by the fact that any individual citizen could bring forth judicial proceedings against the Strategos when the expedition was over.  Hamel’s book is excellent, and I recommend it for anyone interested in the military institutions at Athens during the second half of the 5th century.

Thank you again for your thoughts on the ouragoi.
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RE: The Timing and Development of the Ouragos - by Akontist - 03-15-2019, 03:24 AM

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