Bøger af Andreas P Parpas

The book deals with the battle of Gaugamela that took place on 1st October 331 B.C. between Alexander's Macedonian army and the armies of the Persian Empire. The date of the battle is an important date since its result shaped world history. On that date the first ever civilization ( The Mesopotamian Civilization), which expressed itself in cuneiform writing, was overaken by a second one ( The Classical Greek Civilization) which expressed itself through alphabets. The result of the battle was to establish Hellenism in the East and bring together two unique and equally brilliant cultures and civilizations which managed to coexist and establish a truly meaningful and productive exhange of ideas from a much closer proximity. At Gaugamela Alexander won a decisive military battle but at Arbela, modern Erbil, he achieved and manifested a major political victory. At Arbela Alexander was proclaimed King of Asia, the Persian Empire was officially declared utterly disolved and he demonstrated to the Greeks the justification of his campaign by giving back to the Greek cities their freedom. During the official proclamations Alexander performed magnificent sacrifices to the Gods most probabaly at the acropolis of Arbela, at the mound where the Erbil ciatadel is situated today. Therefore the victory celebrations were performed at the majestic mound in the centre of Arbela where the local Goddess of war and victory, Ishtar of Arbela, had her temple. Alexander named the mound where Ishtar Arbela had her sanctuary " Nikatorion" meaning the hill of victory. The book gives a detailed account of the actual battle where the Macedonians defeated a numerically superior Persian army. The Macedonians depended on their unbeatable sarissa phalanx and the Royal Companions commanded by Alexander while the Persians relied on their cavallry. The brilliant tactics employed by Alexander and his ferocious counterattack right at the point where a gap was created in the Persian cavalry line gave the final victory to the Macedonians. Darius was also well prepared and he based his strategy on the mobility of his superior army. His encirclement tactics almost succeded. He was unlucky that he had to face Alexander, a genious strategist and one of the most brilliant generals in world military history. In the first chapters of the book, before the battle, there is a comprehensive descrition of the Persian Empire and their military strength as well as a corresponding one for the Macedonian kingdom. There is also a detailed analysis of the local environment and on the build up and approach of two armies towards Arbela and Gaugamela. Finally the last chapters, after the battle, deal with the Alexander's Kingship of Asia which was first proclaimed at Arbela, and how the ideology of Alexander's Kingship that was bestowed on him at Arbela had influenced his behaviour later on and how his successors used his kingship and ideology to advance their own kingship and regional claims and interests.

The book deals with the Hellenistic naval presence in the Persian Gulf. The Seleukids, who inherited a big part of Alexander's Empire, they built a Western Empire in the East that included the Persian Gulf. All the available evidence leads to believe that there was a continuous Hellenistic naval domination in the Persian Gulf that started with Alexander at the end of the fourth century B.C. and continued by the Seleukids and the Charakeneans until the end of the Hellenistic period. The Seleukids colonized the Gulf and South Mesopotamia with important settlements like at Alexandria on the Tigris-Antiochia-Charax Spasinou, Antiochia in Persis, Seleukeia on the Erythrean Sea and on the Hedyphon, Tylos and at the Strait of Hormuz. Their domination of the Gulf was achieved through the establishment of the Eparchy of the Erythrean Sea in South Mesopotamia and the maritime district Tylos and the islands with Bahrain as their naval Headquarter. We can therefore talk of the creation of a Hellenistic Gulf during the Hellenistic period. The book examines archaeological and epigraphic evidence as well as literal and numismatic evidence and its findings are supported by site visits and a close cooperation with scholars from the University of Kuwait, University of Basra and Bahrain History and Archaeological Society.

The Maritime Economy of Ancient Cyprus in Terms of the New Institutional Economics deals with the maritime economy of ancient Cyprus from 1450 BC to 295 BC, and comprises three parts which correspond to three distinct economic cycles: first economic cycle during the age of internationalism 1450-1200 BC second economic cycle during political volatility, economic growth and transformation 1200-525 BC third economic cycle in the Persian Empire until annexation into the Ptolemaic kingdom. The principles of New Institutional Economics are used to trace the island's institutions and their continuity and to reconstruct its maritime history. A unique feature is that for the first time a traditional descriptive and cultural approach is complemented by systematic and mathematical analysis and marketing documentation which results in meaningful examination of economic performance. This new approach highlights and explains the maritime economic activity of Ancient Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean in general. It brings together, for the first time, three distinct disciplines, that is History, Archaeology and Economic theory, in order to create a balanced explanation and reconstruction of the maritime economy of ancient Cyprus and of the challenges which confronted the ancient seafarers and traders of the Eastern Mediterranean. The approach and methodology is influenced by the author's engineering, business background and training.