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dc.contributor.authorAnderson, Ralph Thomas
dc.contributor.editorAddey, Crystal
dc.date.accessioned2023-01-16T00:32:18Z
dc.date.available2023-01-16T00:32:18Z
dc.date.issued2021-07-16
dc.identifier.citationAnderson , R T 2021 , "Work with the god" : military divination and rational battle-planning in Xenophon . in C Addey (ed.) , Divination and knowledge in Greco-Roman antiquity . Routledge monographs in classical studies , Routledge Taylor & Francis Group , Abingdon, Oxon , pp. 84-108 , Colloquium: Ritual Dynamics in Late Antiquity , 3/06/15 . https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315449487-3-4en
dc.identifier.citationotheren
dc.identifier.isbn9781138212992
dc.identifier.isbn9781032041728
dc.identifier.isbn9781315449487
dc.identifier.otherPURE: 250078465
dc.identifier.otherPURE UUID: 4bd21e0d-d7d3-4fbe-9ae4-89b1fb1b4716
dc.identifier.otherORCID: /0000-0002-4974-8576/work/98196427
dc.identifier.otherWOS: 000806686400004
dc.identifier.otherScopus: 85115928676
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10023/26756
dc.description.abstractXenophon opens his 'Cavalry Commander' with an injunction to the prospective commander first to seek the help of the gods (before he even procures, let alone trains, either horses or men) and closes it with an explanation of why he has laced his deeply practical advice with exhortations to "work with the god." Modern interpreters have stumbled over this blending of piety and practicality. Some, like Delbrück and, more recently, J. K. Anderson, have seen the blend as impossible, and decided that the rational strategos must have been skilled in circumventing the superstitious impediments placed in his path by irrational soothsayers. Omens, according to them, might be useful in bolstering the morale of the uneducated and superstitious rank and file, but could play no part in serious military planning. Scholarship over the last 40 years or so has been more sympathetic to military divination, and has granted it a significant role in Greek military planning. However, emphasis is often placed on the conflict between the demands of the tactical situation and the dictates of religion. This tendency manifests itself in the form of remarks upon the piety of the Greeks in withdrawing from apparently successful advances simply because of unfavourable omens. This paper offers readings of selected passages in Xenophon that suggest that, on the contrary, divination did not stand in opposition to rational battle-planning, but in fact facilitated it by providing a means of synthesising features of the tactical setting, including not only known elements but also those merely suspected or feared.
dc.format.extent25
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherRoutledge Taylor & Francis Group
dc.relation.ispartofDivination and knowledge in Greco-Roman antiquityen
dc.relation.ispartofseriesRoutledge monographs in classical studiesen
dc.rightsCopyright © 2021 Publisher / the Author. This work has been made available online in accordance with publisher policies or with permission. Permission for further reuse of this content should be sought from the publisher or the rights holder. This is the author created accepted manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/97813154494873-4/en
dc.subjectDivinationen
dc.subjectGreek warfareen
dc.subjectGreek religionen
dc.subjectXenophonen
dc.subjectHerodotusen
dc.subjectSocratesen
dc.subjectRelational reasoningen
dc.subjectDavid Zeitlynen
dc.subjectMartin Holbraaden
dc.subjectRosalind Shawen
dc.subjectDE The Mediterranean Region. The Greco-Roman Worlden
dc.subjectBL Religionen
dc.subjectReligious studiesen
dc.subjectHistoryen
dc.subjectT-NDASen
dc.subjectNISen
dc.subjectMCCen
dc.subject.lccDEen
dc.subject.lccBLen
dc.title"Work with the god" : military divination and rational battle-planning in Xenophonen
dc.typeConference itemen
dc.description.versionPostprinten
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. School of Classicsen
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. Centre for Ancient Environmental Studiesen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.4324/9781315449487-3-4
dc.date.embargoedUntil2023-01-16
dc.identifier.urlhttps://doi.org/10.4324/9781315449487en
dc.identifier.urlhttps://discover.libraryhub.jisc.ac.uk/search?isn=9781138212992&rn=1en
dc.identifier.urlhttps://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315449487-3-4/en


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