Roel Konijnendijk
@roelkonijn.bsky.social
Ancient historian (Greece, Persia, war, history-writing). Darby Fellow in Ancient History at Lincoln College, Oxford. Moderator at r/AskHistorians. Ditch guy on YouTube.
Recent and accessible: Lane Fox, "Homer and his Iliad" (2023). On warfare, I'm aware of some articles but nothing very compelling and you're fine with HvW, but many useful chapters in the Cambridge Guide to Homer (2020); also ch.1 of Kucewicz, "Treatment of the War Dead in Archaic Athens" (2021)
December 1, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Recent and accessible: Lane Fox, "Homer and his Iliad" (2023). On warfare, I'm aware of some articles but nothing very compelling and you're fine with HvW, but many useful chapters in the Cambridge Guide to Homer (2020); also ch.1 of Kucewicz, "Treatment of the War Dead in Archaic Athens" (2021)
Meanwhile, Past Roel and Past Owen are presumably sitting somewhere laughing at us
December 1, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Meanwhile, Past Roel and Past Owen are presumably sitting somewhere laughing at us
I don't think an argument based on optimisation can bear much weight; but anyway, since blows do not politely come from directly ahead only, I don't see why a shield wider than a person is indeed a trade-off. Also possible that the panoply was initially meant for a battlefield thick w/ missiles.
November 30, 2025 at 11:04 PM
I don't think an argument based on optimisation can bear much weight; but anyway, since blows do not politely come from directly ahead only, I don't see why a shield wider than a person is indeed a trade-off. Also possible that the panoply was initially meant for a battlefield thick w/ missiles.
People need to take a step back and remember that when HvW came up with this in the late 1990s it was because the only other model was VDH's baseless front-on stance. By contrast, HvW's sideways-on is rooted in clear iconographic evidence. Correcting this to 3/4 stance is just tweaking the details.
November 30, 2025 at 10:57 PM
People need to take a step back and remember that when HvW came up with this in the late 1990s it was because the only other model was VDH's baseless front-on stance. By contrast, HvW's sideways-on is rooted in clear iconographic evidence. Correcting this to 3/4 stance is just tweaking the details.
Christopher Matthew, not Matthew Christopher. But also this kind of minor adjustment is trivial and people who think this is some kind of major gotcha against HvW are blowing smoke up their own ass. The point is that the shield works fine to protect a man as long as he *stands behind it.*
November 30, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Christopher Matthew, not Matthew Christopher. But also this kind of minor adjustment is trivial and people who think this is some kind of major gotcha against HvW are blowing smoke up their own ass. The point is that the shield works fine to protect a man as long as he *stands behind it.*
Fake news. He made it up. (In the sense that he came up with the idea of seeing this period of various intermittent conflicts as a single war.)
November 27, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Fake news. He made it up. (In the sense that he came up with the idea of seeing this period of various intermittent conflicts as a single war.)
...and the full podcast episode on the Peloponnesian War (which isn't real)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj_Y...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj_Y...
Sparta vs Athens - The Peloponnesian War in Assassin's Creed Odyssey EXPLAINED w. Roel Konijnendijk
YouTube video by Assassin’s Creed – Echoes of History
www.youtube.com
November 27, 2025 at 8:44 PM
...and the full podcast episode on the Peloponnesian War (which isn't real)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj_Y...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj_Y...
I prepared for this
November 19, 2025 at 4:25 PM
I prepared for this
I've ruined all your movies so now I'm coming for your video games
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOhR...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOhR...
ANCIENT WARFARE Historian Breaks Down SPARTA vs ATHENS in ASSASSIN'S CREED ODYSSEY
YouTube video by Assassin’s Creed – Echoes of History
www.youtube.com
November 19, 2025 at 1:36 PM
I've ruined all your movies so now I'm coming for your video games
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOhR...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOhR...
Bloody Stupid Johnson would have put the bricks across the ditch to make neat little walkways
November 3, 2025 at 10:08 AM
Bloody Stupid Johnson would have put the bricks across the ditch to make neat little walkways
True... I meant to add that it's usually a feature of landscape gardens rather than fortified positions. I shouldn't post on my phone
November 2, 2025 at 9:18 PM
True... I meant to add that it's usually a feature of landscape gardens rather than fortified positions. I shouldn't post on my phone
@schmidtv.bsky.social is there a web page or plain text version of the announcement?
October 26, 2025 at 2:49 PM
@schmidtv.bsky.social is there a web page or plain text version of the announcement?
The seeming paradox of AI experts advocating against AI highlights the need to distinguish clearly and consistently between actual artificial intelligence/machine learning and "generative AI" (garbage engines). The tech may overlap but one is a real research field and the other is a hype bubble.
October 25, 2025 at 11:00 AM
The seeming paradox of AI experts advocating against AI highlights the need to distinguish clearly and consistently between actual artificial intelligence/machine learning and "generative AI" (garbage engines). The tech may overlap but one is a real research field and the other is a hype bubble.
Yep! There is a critical flight from the centre in this thing: nothing on battle, march, siege, mercenaries or naval warfare. Many of the chapters are valuable but it is passing strange to have an entire volume on Greek warfare that never once discusses, say, agonal warfare or othismos
October 15, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Yep! There is a critical flight from the centre in this thing: nothing on battle, march, siege, mercenaries or naval warfare. Many of the chapters are valuable but it is passing strange to have an entire volume on Greek warfare that never once discusses, say, agonal warfare or othismos
*Classical Greek World
October 15, 2025 at 8:33 AM
*Classical Greek World
Many of us use this series in our teaching. I have contributed to the one on Achaemenid Persia and the one on Cities in the Greco-Roman World. I also heavily use Hellenistic World (ed. Erskine), Classical World (ed. Kinzl), Sparta (ed. Powell), Macedonia (eds. Roisman & Worthington)...
October 15, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Many of us use this series in our teaching. I have contributed to the one on Achaemenid Persia and the one on Cities in the Greco-Roman World. I also heavily use Hellenistic World (ed. Erskine), Classical World (ed. Kinzl), Sparta (ed. Powell), Macedonia (eds. Roisman & Worthington)...
This one is the exception. It was put together by an editorial team that doesn't work on Archaic or Classical Greek warfare at all, and it shows. The Companion to Archaic Greece, on the other hand, is excellent - one of the outstanding examples of why these volumes are worth having.
October 15, 2025 at 8:29 AM
This one is the exception. It was put together by an editorial team that doesn't work on Archaic or Classical Greek warfare at all, and it shows. The Companion to Archaic Greece, on the other hand, is excellent - one of the outstanding examples of why these volumes are worth having.
It's been great to see some of Rémi Saou's work. It seems like he is (persuasively!) pushing a lot of revisionist ideas even further, like mine on the skittishness of hoplites. "Our" side definitely does not want for fresh insights.
October 15, 2025 at 8:22 AM
It's been great to see some of Rémi Saou's work. It seems like he is (persuasively!) pushing a lot of revisionist ideas even further, like mine on the skittishness of hoplites. "Our" side definitely does not want for fresh insights.