Wandering Greeks (2014)
“Vulnerable to the enemy, they are also a distraction since they are liable to prevent the military from pursuing a coherent plan of action. They must be protected, but how? Two options are available: either they can be conveyed to a friendly community nearby or brought inside the walls, although the latter course is feasible only if there is enough space to accommodate them. Whichever option is adopted, the logistics of evacuating thousands of people in the lead-up to the outbreak of hostilitie...s was one of the most challenging exercises a polis could undertake. Very often the decision would have been taken only in the teeth of great resistance by the inhabitants, many of whom, like Aeneas’s father Anchises, would have found it impossible, at least initially, to conceive of a life elsewhere. “You who still have your youthful vigor and strength, take flight,” he advises. “If the heavenly powers had wanted to prolong my life they would have preserved my home” (Verg. Aen. 2.638–42).MoreLess
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