The Body of the Combatant in the Ancient Mediterranean - by Hannah-Marie Chidwick (Hardcover)

About the Book

"This volume explores a broad range of perceptions, receptions and constructions of the soldierly body in the ancient world, putting the notion of embodiment at the forefront of its engagement with ancient warfare. Individual chapters draw on detailed case studies to examine the sensory and bodily experience of combat across wide-ranging time periods and geographies, from classical Greece and Rome to Roman Britain and Iran. Together they illustrate how the body in war is a vital universal element that unites these vastly different contexts"--

Book Synopsis

This volume explores a broad range of perceptions, receptions and constructions of the soldierly body in the ancient world, putting the notion of embodiment at the forefront of its engagement with ancient warfare. The 10 chapters presented here respond directly to the question of how war was embodied in antiquity by drawing on detailed case studies to examine the sensory and bodily experience of combat across wide-ranging time periods and geographies, from classical Greece and Rome to Roman Britain and Persia. Together they illustrate how the body in war is a vital universal element that unites these vastly different contexts.

Although the centrality of the human body in war-making was recognized in antiquity, a body-centric approach to combat has yet to be widely adopted in modern Classical Studies. This collection brings together new research in ancient history, classical literature, material culture, bioarchaeology and art history within a theoretical framework drawn from recent developments in War Studies that places the body front and centre. The new perspectives it offers on brutality in battle, the physical expression of warrior identity, and post-combat remembrance and recovery challenge readers to re-assess and expand their existing ideas as part of a broader ongoing 'call to arms' to revolutionize the study of ancient warfare in the 21st century.

Review Quotes

"This book takes a new and necessary angle in providing multiple approaches to considering the nature of ancient combat and its aftermath, for soldiers, officers and societies. A different way to see the actual face of battle." --Lee L. Brice, Distinguished University Professor of Ancient History, Western Illinois University, USA

"The volume provides an important foray into the task of showcasing the role of the body in ancient warfare and shining new, embodied light onto old conflicts." --Ancient Military Historians

About the Author

Hannah-Marie Chidwick is Lecturer in Classics and Ancient History at the University of Bristol, UK.