An eclectic Marxist approach reveals the centrality of conflict and ideological struggle in the socio-political and cultural changes in Archaic Greece.

This authoritative volume traces the evolution of the art of warfare in the Greek and Roman worlds between 1600BC and AD 800, from the rise of Mycenaean civilisation to the fall of Ravenna and the eventual decline of the Roman Empire. The book is also, of course, about the great military commanders, such as Alexander and Julius Caesar - men whose feats of generalship still provide material for discussion and admiration in the world's military academies.

This volume seeks to reassess ancient Greek and Roman society and its economy in examining skilled labour and professionalism.