Roel Konijnendijk

Roel Konijnendijk
NationalityDutch
Academic background
EducationBA and MPhil, Leiden University
PhD, University College London
ThesisIdeals and Pragmatism in Greek Military Thought, 490-338 BC (2015)
Academic work
DisciplineClassics, Ancient History
Notable worksClassical Greek Tactics

Roel Konijnendijk is a Dutch historian working in the United Kingdom. He is known for his research on Classical Greek warfare and military thought, and has authored the book Classical Greek Tactics.

Early life and education

Konijnendijk enrolled at Leiden University in 2004 where he received a BA and MPhil in history. He has also studied in Taiwan and worked at the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities. In 2015 he graduated from University College London with a PhD, where he was supervised by Professor Hans van Wees.[1][2][3]

Career

Academic history

Konijnendijk was a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Historical Research and Leiden. He has taught Greek History at Birkbeck, University of Warwick, University of Edinburgh, New College, Oxford, and Lincoln College, Oxford.[4][5][6] He has contributed to a number of books on the topics of Classical Greek warfare,[7] the military reforms of Iphicrates,[8] Athenian democracy, and the military history of Sparta.[9] He is also cited as an expert on the training and organization of Classical Greek and Persian armies.[10]

He is a proponent of the theory that Greek warfare was both more brutal than some modern scholars have described, and that it was driven by practicality rather than ritual.[11][12][13] His research challenges the so-called "California School" of Greek military scholarship, arguing that its theories were largely based on outdated 19th-century models.[14][15]

In 2017, Konijnendijk published Classical Greek Tactics: A Cultural History.[16] The book was well received, with praise for Konijnendijk's re-assessment of Greek tactics.[17][18][19] With Cezary Kucewicz and Matthew Lloyd he edited Companion to Greek Land Warfare Beyond the Phalanx (2021), and also wrote three chapters of it.[20]

He published his second monograph, Between Miltiades and Moltke: Early German Studies in Greek Military History, in 2022.[21]

In September 2022, Konijnendijk was appointed Darby Fellow and Tutor in Ancient History at Lincoln College, Oxford.[22]

Konijnendijk is a moderator and panelist for AskHistorians, an online history platform.[23][24] He has also written for a number of popular history magazines, including Ancient Warfare, Ancient History Magazine, Ancient World Magazine, BadAncient, and Desperta Ferro.[1]

In 2021 and 2022, he appeared in a series of videos for Insider, where he discussed the historical accuracy of well-known fantasy and historical drama films such as 300 and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.[25][26][27] It was in these appearances he gained Internet notoriety, receiving the moniker 'ditch guy'.

Selected bibliography

  • Between Miltiades and Moltke: Early German Studies in Greek Military History. Brill Publishers. 2022.
  • "The Face of Battle at Plataiai", in The Battle of Plataia 479 BC. Phoibos. 2022.
  • "The eager amateur: unit cohesion and the Athenian hoplite phalanx", in Unit Cohesion in the Ancient World. Routledge. 2022.
  • (ed. and contributor with C. Kucewicz and M. Lloyd). A Companion to Greek Land Warfare Beyond the Phalanx. Brill Publishers. 2021.
  • "Legitimization of war" in A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Wiley-Blackwell. 2021.
  • "Democracy as protection against intra-communal violence in Classical Greece", in Violence and Democracy. British Academy, 2019.
  • "Commemoration through fear: the Spartan reputation as a weapon of war", in Commemorating War and War Dead: Ancient and Modern. Steiner Verlag, 2019.
  • Classical Greek Tactics: A Cultural History. Brill Publishers. 2018.
  • "Iphikrates the innovator and the historiography of Lechaion", in Iphicrates, Peltasts and Lechaeum. Akanthina, 2014.

References

  1. ^ a b "About our staff". 26 January 2024. Archived from the original on 1 December 2021.
  2. ^ "Professor Hans Van Wees". UCL | University College London. 2 July 2018. Archived from the original on 28 March 2023. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  3. ^ "Dr Roel Konijnendijk | Lincoln College Oxford". lincoln.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-06-16.
  4. ^ "Dr Roel Konijnendijk". www.classics.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
  5. ^ "Roel Konijnendijk | New College". www.new.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
  6. ^ "Lincoln College: Dr Roel Konijnendijk".
  7. ^ Meadows, David (2021-11-10). "#Thelxinoe ~ Classics News for November 10, 2021". rogueclassicism. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  8. ^ "Bryn Mawr Classical Review: 2017.02.18". www.bmcreview.org. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  9. ^ Whately, Conor (August 8, 2020). "Commemorating War and War Dead: Ancient and Modern" (PDF). The Classical Journal.
  10. ^ Taylor, Richard (2022-01-31). The Greek Hoplite Phalanx: The Iconic Heavy Infantry of the Classical Greek World. Pen and Sword Military. pp. 500–524. ISBN 978-1-5267-8859-7.
  11. ^ Dowdall, Alex; Horne, John (2017-12-12). Civilians Under Siege from Sarajevo to Troy. Springer. p. 200. ISBN 978-1-137-58532-5.
  12. ^ Różycki, Łukasz (2021-06-22). Battlefield Emotions in Late Antiquity: A Study of Fear and Motivation in Roman Military Treatises. BRILL. p. 78. ISBN 978-90-04-46255-7.
  13. ^ "Visualising 'Western War'?". University of St Andrews.
  14. ^ Taylor, Richard (2022-01-31). The Greek Hoplite Phalanx: The Iconic Heavy Infantry of the Classical Greek World. Pen and Sword Military. pp. 490–494. ISBN 978-1-5267-8859-7.
  15. ^ Rop, Jeffrey (2019-06-20). Greek Military Service in the Ancient Near East, 401–330 BCE. Cambridge University Press. pp. 2, 18, 59, 60, 105, 246. ISBN 978-1-108-49950-7.
  16. ^ "Review of: Classical Greek Tactics: A Cultural History. Mnemosyne, supplements, 409". Bryn Mawr Classical Review. ISSN 1055-7660.
  17. ^ Vlassopoulos, Kostas (October 2018). "Greek History". Greece & Rome. 65 (2): 253–259. doi:10.1017/S0017383518000190. ISSN 0017-3835. S2CID 232179261.
  18. ^ Foster, Edith (December 2, 2018). "BOOK REVIEW: Classical Greek Tactics: A Cultural History. By ROEL KONIJNENDIJK" (PDF). The Classical Journal.
  19. ^ Nývlt, Pavel (2020-01-01). "(review) R. Konijnendijk: Classical Greek Tactics". Eirene: Studia Graeca et Latina.
  20. ^ Brill's Companion to Greek Land Warfare Beyond the Phalanx. Brill. 2021-11-29. ISBN 978-90-04-50175-1.
  21. ^ "New Academic Publications on Greek and Roman Warfare". Book and Sword. Retrieved 2023-02-28.
  22. ^ "Lincoln College Record 2023" (PDF). Lincoln College Oxford. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  23. ^ Devereaux, Bret (2021-01-15). "Miscellanea: Insurrections, Ancient and Modern (And Also Meet the Academicats)". A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  24. ^ "The Spartans at war - Myth vs reality". Ancient World Magazine. 20 March 2019. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  25. ^ Thallon, Carter; Gandhi, Siddharth. "Ancient warfare expert rates 10 battle tactics in movies and TV shows". Insider. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  26. ^ Thallon, Carter; Medroumi, Sarah. "Ancient-warfare expert rates 10 more battle tactics in movies and tv". Insider. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  27. ^ Thallon, Carter; Shardlow, Ju; Ibekwe, David. "Ancient-warfare historian rates 10 more battle scenes in movies and television". Insider. Retrieved 2022-12-28.