Roel Konijnendijk studied Ancient History at Leiden University before moving to University College London to complete his PhD (2015). His work focuses on Classical Greek military thought and practice, the military encounter between the Greek and Persian military systems, and the historiography of Greek warfare. His PhD research on Greek approaches to battle was published as Classical Greek Tactics: A Cultural History (Leiden: Brill, 2018). He is currently a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow, studying the earliest academic scholars in the field of Greek military history. In his spare time, he is a moderator of AskHistorians, one of the largest public history platforms on the internet.
Why abandon the phalanx?
Problems from Rome
Did the hilly terrain of Italy force the Romans to abandon the hoplite phalanx? Did they even use the phalanx to begin with? In this article, we suggest “no” to both of those questions.
The Chigi Vase
Ceci n’est pas une phalange
A jug made in Corinth but unearthed in an Etruscan tomb features an image that has been widely interpreted as representing hoplites fighting in phalanx formation. But a closer examination of this artefact casts serious doubts on this view.
Herodotus and the Question Why
A book by Christopher Pelling
Christopher Pelling shares the fruits of a lifetime of research on the Father of History. His epic tome asks many questions but offers no simple answers.
Understanding Greek Warfare
A new book by Matthew A. Sears
It is not easy to summarise Greek warfare in a single work. Matthew Sears’ Understanding Greek Warfare pulls it off by not rattling any cages.
The Spartans at war
Myth vs reality
Were the Spartans really so great in war? What are the roots of their image as invincible super-soldiers? A deep dive into their history and institutions shows that there is some truth, but also a great deal of distortion.
Greeks fighting dirty
Warfare in Classical Greece
Our idea of the Greek way of war is changing. My book sets out a new interpretation of the iconic hoplite’s battle tactics.