War and Violence in Ancient Greece (Paperback)

Warfare was only one form of the violence that had a profound impact on Archaic and Classical Greek society, literature and government. This important series of thirteen papers, from a seminar held in London in 1998, places private and public conflict within its wider context. The papers are divided into five sections: causes of war, forms of violence within the polis, beyond the classical phalanx, war and rebellion, and continuities in Hellenistic warfare. Chapters describe social violence, as in Sparta, full-scale warfare on land and at sea, the representation of warfare in Greek epic and Hellenistic military leadership. Papers also examine the practicalities of Greek warfare, such as the use of deception as a tactic, and the significant influence of religion in warfare, including sacrifices before a battle and the role of Athena, who symbolised everything that the Greeks thought good about war. Contributors: J E Lendon, Jonathan Shay, Simon Hornblower, Nick Fisher, Hans van Wees, Peter Krentz, Victor Davis Hanson, Louis Rawlings, Barry S Strauss, Susan Deacy, Robert Parker, Paul Beston and John Ma.