ADCOCK : The Greek and Macedonian art of war (előszó)
IN THESE lectures which I have been privileged to give on the Sather Foundation of the University of California an attempt is made to describe the art of war as practised by the Greeks and Macedonians. The details of military equipment and of the topographical setting and incidents of particular battles, which have been fruitfully studied by eminent scholars, are here described only in so far as is necessary to explain the factors with which the art of war operated or to illustrate its operation. In dealing with the evidence I have sought to extract what appeared to be most significant for my theme.
Any student of these matters will realize the debt he must owe to the pioneer systematic work of H. Droysen and A. Bauer, as also to the writings of J. Kromayer and G. Veith together with their collaborators in Antike Schlachtfelder and in Heerwesen und Kriegführung der Griechen und Römer, and, in particular for Alexander and the Hellenistic Age, to the writings of Sir William Tarn. A general acknowledgment is also due to the forceful doctrine of H. Delbrück in his Geschichte der Kriegskunst which most nearly approaches the theme of these lectures. Though I have not been able at all points to accept his conclusions, I have profited greatly from his originality and his realistic grasp of the whole art of war.
In the writing of these lectures I have profited from discussions with my friend Mr. G. T. Griffith, who has also been kind enough to read a proof of the book, to its great advantage. For such errors of fact or doctrine as may remain in these pages, I must accept full responsibility. The footnotes are chiefly intended to indicate the ancient evidence, but I have sought to make due acknowledgement to the ideas and conclusions which I owe to modern scholars.
In a more general sense I have been greatly helped by the friendly encouragement of the members of the Department of Classics at Berkeley and especially of its Acting Chairman, Professor Fontenrose. Dr. W. H. Alexander and Mr. H. A. Small, of the University Press, together with the Special Committee for the Sather Lectures, have been most sympathetic and wise counsellors in all matters concerned with the publication of these lectures, and my very best thanks are also due for the care and skill of the staff of the Press.
Finally, I would be very glad to think that the happiness I enjoyed during my stay in this hospitable University has been, in a measure, repaid by whatever value within its chosen field these Sather Lectures may seem to possess.
F. E. A.
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| KATALÓGUS | TARTALOM |
