Contents:
List of figures and plates. Preface and Acknowledgements. Date-List. Abbreviations. Notes on Contributors. 1. Introduction Lawrence A Tritle 2. Athens Cynthia Schwenk 3. Sparta Charles D Hamilton 4. Thebes and Central Greece Mark H Munn 5. The Eastern Greek World Stephen Ruzicka 6. The Greeks in Sicily and South Italy Richard J. A. Talbert 7.Macdonia and the North, 400-336 Julia Heskel 8. Resistance to Alexander the Great Waldemar Heckel 9. The Successors of Alexander W. Lindsay Adams 10. Art and Architecture Steven Lattimore Select critical bibliography. Index

From Melos to My Lai presents an erudite, provocative and moving analysis of the accounts of violence in the literature and history of ancient Greece and in the film literature and veterans' accounts of the Vietnam War. This comparative investigation examines the nature of violence, its impact on society and culture, especially as reflected from the perspective of the survivors. The survivors include not only actual combatants, but those with whom they interact: their comrades, their wives and children, families and society as a whole.
From Melos to My Lai provides a unique contribution to the study of the impact of violence on its participants and its audience which combines an examination of the artistic representations of violence and the real-life accounts of those involved in it.

Did Ajax and Achilles ever suffer from Post-traumatic stress syndrome?

In this absorbing account, Vietnam veteran and classics scholar Lawrence A Tritle offers an incisive analysis of war and its impact upon the soldier and civilian from the classical age to the present day.
Tritle discusses the links between battlefield experiences that affect the participants and victims of war in every age, drawing examples from sources as diverse as the Iliad, Michael Herr's Dispatches, Thucydides' account of the Pelopenesian Wars, and the Oliver Stone film Platoon. Each instance sheds light on some of the most puzzling phemonena of war and shows how the heroes of epic responded to battle with their own forms of "shellshock," battle-madness and bonding. Tritle examines such issues as:

How can ordinarily decent men can commit acts of extraordinary savagery?

Attitudes toward the "enemy"

The impact of war on waiting wives, lovers and civilian bystanders

Remembering the fallen soldier: from the classic Athenian funeral speech to the Vietnam Wall

How veterans live with physical and psychological injury

This memorable book is for readers who wonder about the meaning and experience of battle, about the impact of war and violence on our culture, and for anyone interested in the culture of ancient Greece.

Contents:
List of figures and plates. Preface and Acknowledgements. Date-List. Abbreviations. Notes on Contributors. 1. Introduction Lawrence A. Tritle 2. Athens Cynthia Schwenk 3. Sparta Charles D. Hamilton 4. Thebes and Central Greece Mark H. Munn 5. The Eastern Greek World Stephen Ruzicka 6. The Greeks in Sicily and South Italy Richard J. A. Talbert 7. Macedonia and the North, 400-336 Julia Heskel 8. Resistance to Alexander the Great Waldemar Heckel 9. The Successors of Alexander W. Lindsay Adams 10. Art and Architecture Steven Lattimore Select critical bibliography. Index

War lay at the heart of life in the classical world, from conflicts between tribes or states to internal or civil wars. Battles were resolved by violent face-to-face encounters: war was a very personal experience. At the same time, warfare and its conduct often had significant and wide-reaching economic, social, or political consequences. The Oxford Handbook of Warfare in the Classical World offers a critical examination of war and organized violence. The volume's introduction begins with the ancient sources for the writing of war, preceded by broad surveys of warfare in ancient Greece and Rome. Also included herein are chapters analyzing new finds in battlefield archaeology and how the environment affected the ancient practice of war. A second section is comprised of broad narratives of classical societies at war, covering the expanse from classical Greece through to the later Roman Empire. Part III contains thematic discussions that examine closely the nature of battle: what soldiers experienced as they fought; the challenges of conducting war at sea; how the wounded were treated. A final section offers six exemplary case studies, including analyses of the Peloponnesian War, the Second Punic War, and Rome's war with Sasanid Persia. The handbook closes with an epilogue that explores the legacy of classical warfare. Authored by experts in classics, ancient history, and archaeology, this handbook presents a vibrant map of the field of classical warfare studies.