Combat Trauma and the Ancient Greeks

Jason Crowley, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK Juan Sebastian De Vivo, New York University, USA Sharon L. James, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA S. Sara Monoson, Northwestern University, USA Corinne Pache, Trinity University, USA Thomas G. Palaima, University of Texas at Austin, USA Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz, Hamilton College, USA William H. Race, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA Kurt A. Raaflaub, Brown University, USA Nancy Sherman, Georgetown University, USA Alan H. Sommerstein, University of Nottingham, UK Lawrence Tritle, Loyola Marymount University, USA Paul Woodruff, University of Texas at Austin, USA.

• Introduction: Combat Trauma: The Missing Diagnosis in Ancient Greece?; David Konstan 1. War and the City: The Brutality of War and Its Impact on the Community; Kurt A. Raaflaub 2. Phaeacian Therapy in Homer's Odyssey; William H. Race 3. Women After War: Weaving Nostos in Homeric Epic and in the Twenty-First Century; Corinne Pache 4. "Ravished Minds" in the Ancient World; Lawrence A. Tritle 5. Beyond the Universal Soldier: Combat Trauma in Classical Antiquity; Jason Crowley 6. Socrates in Combat: Trauma and Resilience in Plato's Political Theory; S. Sara Monoson 7. The Memory of Greek Battle: Material Culture as Narratives of Combat; Juan Sebastian De Vivo 8. Women and War in Tragedy; Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz 9. "He gave me his hand but took my bow": Trust and Trustworthiness in the Philoctetes and Our Wars; Nancy Sherman 10. Combat Trauma in Athenian Comedy: The Dog That Didn't Bark; Alan H. Sommerstein 11. The Battered Shield: Survivor Guilt and Family Trauma in Menander's Aspis; Sharon L. James 12. When War Is Performed, What Do Soldiers and Veterans Want to Hear and See and Why?; Thomas G. Palaima 13. Performing Memory: In the Mind and on the Public Stage; Paul Woodruff

"[These essays] shed considerable light on the suffering of individuals in ancient Greek societies at war. Someone genuinely interested in the effects of America's recent military engagements in Southwest Asia on individual soldiers and their families will find that this book offers a unique perspective which may lead to a more compassionate understanding of those effects." - Eternal Soldier "BRAVI TUTTI to this all-star cast and to the editors, Meineck and Konstan! This is a feast of wonderfully written, energetic, and varied pieces addressing the impact of constant wars on mind, society, and spirit in ancient Greece, as voiced in its written and material culture. I foresee interdisciplinary courses being built around this collection with enthusiasm from all the disciplines in play. The authors are suitably cautious in their use of modern mental health concepts in this distant context, without losing the relevance of what is universally human, when hammered by war." - Jonathan Shay, MD, PhD, 2009 General Omar N. Bradley Chair of Strategic Leadership, US Army War College and author of Achilles in Vietnam and Odysseus in America "This rich collection of informed, probing essays revises, extends, and greatly deepens our understanding of combat trauma both in the classical world and in our own." - Stanley Lombardo, Professor Emeritus of Classics, University of Kansas, USA "War is the context in which Greek authors composed their works and their audiences received them. To assess the impact of continuous and extremely violent warfare on the minds and souls of the Greeks may be more difficult than to estimate the extent of material destructions. But no study of Greek texts and images can be complete, if it ignores the impact of war trauma. The studies collected in this volume break new ground by addressing selected aspects of this subject, thus contributing not only to a better understanding of Greek literature but also to the history of emotions and the cultural history of ancient warfare." - Angelos Chaniotis, Professor of Ancient History and Classics, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University, USA "The use of ancient Greek poetry and drama as therapy for modern sufferers of combat trauma is one of the most unexpected and moving chapters in the history of the classical tradition. The essays in this insightful, thought-provoking collection return to antiquity to uncover the varied ways in which the psychological damage of combat was represented, addressed, and sometimes avoided in a society that knew war as an all-encompassing and inescapable fact of life." - Sheila Murnaghan, Allen Memorial Professor of Greek, University of Pennsylvania, USA "The greatest strength of this engaging book is that it does not simply transfer the modern concept of combat trauma wholesale to the ancient world, but truly grapples with the question of whether such a transfer is indeed justified...For scholars and students of Classics, this book provides first-rate snapshots of the current state of ancient Greek trauma studies and shows the way for further research in this exciting new field." - Bryn Mawr Classical Review