NationStates Jolt Archive

I am an archaeology and ancient history student, whose dissertation proposal was due in two months ago. Argh.
I wanted to do 'The Influence of Eastern Troops and Techniques on Classical warfare', but apparently there aren't enough books.
If anyone has an idea that there are books on, I'd be most obliged, equally if they know of any books relavent to my first topic.
I'm interested in pretty much everything, but esp. Alexander the Great and military history in general.

heeeeeeeelp. x

How about you check out the division that occurred after the death of Alexander the Great and the separation of Alexander's empire into three parts...

What level are you at, educationally speaking? You're obviously not talking about a doctoral dissertation.

How about writing something on one of two of the most interesting and unusual classical states:

The Bactrian Greeks

or

The Bosporan Kingdom

I'm quite liking the Bactrian Greeks one. :D
It ties in with my ultimate life goal, which is to excavate Hellenistic cities in Afghanistan.
Also, d'you reckon I could cover Selucid contact with the Mauryan empire?

Write it about pie. Always a good topic.

I'm quite liking the Bactrian Greeks one. :D
It ties in with my ultimate life goal, which is to excavate Hellenistic cities in Afghanistan.
Also, d'you reckon I could cover Selucid contact with the Mauryan empire?

why not?

Eastern you say...

How about the obvious choice....

Sun Tzu's "The Art of War"

How about the spread of Wahabi sect? It seemed to have spread like wildfire.

I'm quite liking the Bactrian Greeks one. :D
It ties in with my ultimate life goal, which is to excavate Hellenistic cities in Afghanistan.
Also, d'you reckon I could cover Selucid contact with the Mauryan empire?
So this is what it looks like when you write down what Charlie Brown's teachers say.......(so lost.....)

Copy someone elses and get your government to use it as a reason to start a war.
Thats what Tony Blair would do.

Is this a doctoral dissertation? What is it?

What about something like "Babylon and it's legacy". There's plenty to write about like their influence on religion of the area (including Christianity and Judaism), our calendar, etc.

I've always thought it would be interesting to see what effect the Macedonians' geographies had on their strategies and policies. Did Alexander ever know just how much of the world remained outside his grasp? IIRC it was widely supposed that "Libya" (non-Egyptian Africa) was smaller than Europe, and that India represented the uttermost East. Alexander's ambitions, and their clash with the more mundane desires of his troops, caused the abortion of his Indian expedition. Did he suspect that there were still lands unconquered, countries where his name meant nothing? Is this perhaps why he fell into alcoholism, as the nagging doubt that he wasn't really divine grew inside him?

Mind you, psychology is ropey enough at the best of times; psychoanalysis of someone twenty-plus centuries dead is ropier still. But on the plus side, it's hard for anyone to prove you wrong. :wink:

It's an undergraduate dissertation. I tried to post that yesterday but my computer screwed up.

Has to be about 10,000 words.

Did Alexander ever know just how much of the world remained outside his grasp?... Did he suspect that there were still lands unconquered, countries where his name meant nothing? Is this perhaps why he fell into alcoholism, as the nagging doubt that he wasn't really divine grew inside him?

As I understand it, he was expecting to come across the edge of the world pretty much from the edge of the Persian Empire. I believe they initially believed the Persian Gulf to be part of that sea, since it's much less salty then the Med. But the Indians must have told him there was more land stretching East... Hmmm.

I also heard that the next step he was planning (from Babylon) was an expansion Westwards. It would have been interesting to see how that had turned out...

I mean to read Sun Tzu's Art of War over the holidays, but they really need to know before, and I should ideally have an archaeological element that I can use to compliment the text. I suppose I could look at its applications in various battles...

I am an archaeology and ancient history student, whose dissertation proposal was due in two months ago. Argh.
I wanted to do 'The Influence of Eastern Troops and Techniques on Classical warfare', but apparently there aren't enough books.
If anyone has an idea that there are books on, I'd be most obliged, equally if they know of any books relavent to my first topic.
I'm interested in pretty much everything, but esp. Alexander the Great and military history in general.

heeeeeeeelp. x

Maybe I am confused by exactly what you want, but I am surprised that you are having trouble finding books on Alexandrian warfare?

A quick Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/102-3358364-7380105) search comes up with some books that look right up your alley. Put in an inter-library-loan request if you have time, or just order the books if you can afford the price.

Some other resources off the top of my head:
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rrice/samh.html
http://julen.net/ancient/Institutions_and_Organizations/

Gosh, no, but it's such a large topic and I need first-hand evidence if I want a good mark, and all the first-hand sources on Alexander are fragmentary, which leaves archaeology, and the areas in which I am particularly interested in (i.e. Afghanistan) haven't been exactly well-excavated.

I wanted to do 'the influence of Eastern troops and techniques on classical warfare'. There aren't any books on that. :(

I wanted to do 'the influence of Eastern troops and techniques on classical warfare'. There aren't any books on that. :(

So what got you interested in that particular subject? Something must have started you thinking about it.

Are there books that refer to this topic? If so, the bibliographies may contain other books that refer to it, which will have their own bibliographies, etc. They may list some journal articles too, if there are other active researchers.