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Isotopic evidence for geographic heterogeneity in Ancient Greek military forces

Increased mobility and human interactions in the Mediterranean region during the eighth through fifth centuries BCE resulted in heterogeneous communities held together by political and cultural affiliations, periodically engaged in military conflict. Ancient historians write of alliances that aided...

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Autores principales: Reinberger, Katherine L., Reitsema, Laurie J., Kyle, Britney, Vassallo, Stefano, Kamenov, George, Krigbaum, John
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8115791/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33979334
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0248803
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author Reinberger, Katherine L.
Reitsema, Laurie J.
Kyle, Britney
Vassallo, Stefano
Kamenov, George
Krigbaum, John
author_facet Reinberger, Katherine L.
Reitsema, Laurie J.
Kyle, Britney
Vassallo, Stefano
Kamenov, George
Krigbaum, John
author_sort Reinberger, Katherine L.
collection PubMed
description Increased mobility and human interactions in the Mediterranean region during the eighth through fifth centuries BCE resulted in heterogeneous communities held together by political and cultural affiliations, periodically engaged in military conflict. Ancient historians write of alliances that aided the Greek Sicilian colony Himera in victory against a Carthaginian army of hired foreign mercenaries in 480 BCE, and the demise of Himera when it fought Carthage again in 409 BCE, this time unaided. Archaeological human remains from the Battles of Himera provide unique opportunities to test early written history by geochemically assessing the geographic origins of ancient Greek fighting forces. We report strontium and oxygen isotope ratios of tooth enamel from 62 Greek soldiers to evaluate the historically-based hypothesis that a coalition of Greek allies saved Himera in 480 BCE, but not in 409 BCE. Among the burials of 480 BCE, approximately two-thirds of the individuals are non-local, whereas among the burials of 409 BCE, only one-quarter are non-local, in support of historical accounts. Although historical accounts specifically mention Sicilian Greek allies aiding Himera, isotopic values of many of the 480 BCE non-locals are consistent with geographic regions beyond Sicily, suggesting Greek tyrants hired foreign mercenaries from more distant places. We describe how the presence of mercenary soldiers confronts prevailing interpretations of traditional Greek values and society. Greek fighting forces reflect the interconnectedness and heterogeneity of communities of the time, rather than culturally similar groups of neighbors fighting for a common cause, unified by “Greekness,” as promoted in ancient texts.
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spelling pubmed-81157912021-05-24 Isotopic evidence for geographic heterogeneity in Ancient Greek military forces Reinberger, Katherine L. Reitsema, Laurie J. Kyle, Britney Vassallo, Stefano Kamenov, George Krigbaum, John PLoS One Research Article Increased mobility and human interactions in the Mediterranean region during the eighth through fifth centuries BCE resulted in heterogeneous communities held together by political and cultural affiliations, periodically engaged in military conflict. Ancient historians write of alliances that aided the Greek Sicilian colony Himera in victory against a Carthaginian army of hired foreign mercenaries in 480 BCE, and the demise of Himera when it fought Carthage again in 409 BCE, this time unaided. Archaeological human remains from the Battles of Himera provide unique opportunities to test early written history by geochemically assessing the geographic origins of ancient Greek fighting forces. We report strontium and oxygen isotope ratios of tooth enamel from 62 Greek soldiers to evaluate the historically-based hypothesis that a coalition of Greek allies saved Himera in 480 BCE, but not in 409 BCE. Among the burials of 480 BCE, approximately two-thirds of the individuals are non-local, whereas among the burials of 409 BCE, only one-quarter are non-local, in support of historical accounts. Although historical accounts specifically mention Sicilian Greek allies aiding Himera, isotopic values of many of the 480 BCE non-locals are consistent with geographic regions beyond Sicily, suggesting Greek tyrants hired foreign mercenaries from more distant places. We describe how the presence of mercenary soldiers confronts prevailing interpretations of traditional Greek values and society. Greek fighting forces reflect the interconnectedness and heterogeneity of communities of the time, rather than culturally similar groups of neighbors fighting for a common cause, unified by “Greekness,” as promoted in ancient texts. Public Library of Science 2021-05-12 /pmc/articles/PMC8115791/ /pubmed/33979334 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0248803 Text en © 2021 Reinberger et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Reinberger, Katherine L.
Reitsema, Laurie J.
Kyle, Britney
Vassallo, Stefano
Kamenov, George
Krigbaum, John
Isotopic evidence for geographic heterogeneity in Ancient Greek military forces
title Isotopic evidence for geographic heterogeneity in Ancient Greek military forces
title_full Isotopic evidence for geographic heterogeneity in Ancient Greek military forces
title_fullStr Isotopic evidence for geographic heterogeneity in Ancient Greek military forces
title_full_unstemmed Isotopic evidence for geographic heterogeneity in Ancient Greek military forces
title_short Isotopic evidence for geographic heterogeneity in Ancient Greek military forces
title_sort isotopic evidence for geographic heterogeneity in ancient greek military forces
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8115791/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33979334
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0248803
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