Rulers of the Sea - Maritime Strategy and Sea Power in Ancient Greece 550-321 BC

Abstract

The ancient Greeks have always been credited with having a strong maritime and naval heritage, yet little scholarship is devoted to exploring ancient Greek sea power. Works that do exist either focus on naval and technical matters or are focused solely on Athenian sea power. Often sea power is ignored or denigrated in the works of modern scholars. Yet sea power theory has a long and rich history, and the Greeks themselves thought deeply on maritime matters. Using sea power theory as a conceptual framework and examining the actual operations of the ancient Greeks, it can be seen that sea power was of great importance during the period examined.

This thesis examines sea power during the period 550-321 BC. The first half sets the practical parameters by which maritime forces could operate, followed by an exploration of the 'maritime consciousness' of the Greeks. The second part of the thesis examines maritime operations during peace and war. Influenced by contemporary thinking on sea power and strategy, the thesis broadly categorizes these operations into military, diplomatic and constabulary operations and examines how sea power influenced and even decided events ashore and had a strong impact on the course of fifth and fourth century Greek history. Show more