In his latest work, “The Harvest of War: Marathon, Thermopylae, and Salamis: The Epic Battles That Saved Democracy,” ancient Greek historian Stephen P. Kershaw has produced a thorough study of the famous fifth century B.C. battles between the city-states (“poleis”) of ancient Greece (or Hellas) and the Persian Empire: the ground battles of Marathon, Thermopylae, and Plataea, and the sea battles of Salamis and Artemisium. He follows this with their individual significance in the Greeks’ defense of their democratic freedom.
Before the Battles
Kershaw introduces the reader to the world of the ancient Persians and the ancient Greeks. He provides insight into the background of Persia, along with its kings, immense wealth, and massive reach. Kershaw shows that this reach went too far and proved too costly when it tried to expand across the Aegean Sea. We are introduced to the reigns of Cambyses, Darius, and eventually Xerxes. However, contrary to our modern views, these kings, Darius specifically, have an appeal to them.Kershaw details how different the city-states in Hellas were from each other. The author discusses the Spartans and how they ran their polis: their democratic voting method of who could shout the loudest, how their political representation worked, the establishment of their secret police (the “Krypteia”), and how their young boys were educated to produce courageous and obedient soldiers.
The reader also learns how the soldiers fought, what they used in combat, and how rife the ranks were with potential traitors. It merely proves that little has changed over the millennia when it comes to the power of bribery. From early on in his book, Kershaw also makes it rather clear that propaganda does abound among the ancient works—another modern similarity.
Kershaw spends a substantial amount of time on the Persians. The reason for their invasion of Hellas is made quite clear. Atossa, the queen and wife of Darius, tells him that she wants him to invade Greece so she can have Greek slave girls.
For some of the Greek city-states, the tribute of “earth and water” to the Persians was preferable over war and possible annihilation. As for those who succumbed to Darius’s (and later Xerxes’s) demands, they were rewarded. Whether from an ancient or a modern perspective, there are worse things than being rewarded for subjugation. Athens provided tribute for a short time until it did an about-face. Sparta never bowed to the Persian power.
Preserving Democracy
To illustrate how protective the Greeks were of their political freedom, the author uses the story of the Athenian Miltiades. Mitaides was once a king, but became a hero of the Battle of Marathon, which secured Greek freedom from the Persians. The following year, Miltiades requested ships and soldiers to storm a city, another Greek city-state, Paros, for its gold. However, he failed. His failure to take the city was not why he was put on trial by the Athenians. Rather, “their worry, as they looked at their precious and thriving democracy, was that he might still choose to make himself a tyrant, and ultimately that fear, and inter-factional politics, outweighed any gratitude for spectacularly saving the democracy that they now guarded so jealously.”Miltiades narrowly missed the death penalty but was fined a massive sum. His physical injury from the siege of Paros, however, turned into gangrene and killed him before he paid the fine. Miltiades’s death is one of many in the book. Kershaw exposes the reader to the battles, the deaths, the betrayals, and the ultimate triumph of the Greeks over the Persians.
As aforementioned, though, there is the issue of propaganda with these stories. But Kershaw utilizes ancient works—such as those of Herodotus, Thucydides, Plato, the Cyrus Cylinder, and Plutarch—along with modern archaeological discoveries to offset this.
With both approaches, he provides clarification for the readers as to what is true, what is provable, and what is left to the reader to decide. Kershaw references the many ancient texts through quotes and paraphrases. He respects his audience enough to allow readers to surmise what is nonsensical, fantastical, and plausible.
Beauty Lost in Translation
When translating the ancient texts from the likes of Herodotus or Plato, there has always been the usage of poetic, or at least beautiful, prose. Through the modern translations that Kershaw uses, we lose much of that.Translators often attempt to make ancient texts so modern that they veer from the objective of accessibility, and incidentally engage in a mode of self-importance. Kershaw’s use of hypermodern terms (and terms that likely won’t last), like “fake news,” doesn’t fit with the context or flow of the book; but these are more my preferences than complaints.
There is some new and interesting information that Kershaw provides in his book, but “The Harvest of War” tends to be in line with his “A Brief History of the Roman Empire” and “A Brief Guide to Classical Civilization.” For readers who desire an introduction to the Hellas–Persia struggle, this is an ideal book. “The Harvest of War” gives brief but substantial introductions to the many battles, historical figures, and ancient writers and historians.
All in all, “The Harvest of War” provides enough to give the reader the whole story of how the Greeks fought for their democratic way of life, and how their sacrifices reverberate today as the author fittingly discusses in the final chapter.
