War and Society in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds: Asia, The Mediterranean, Europe, and Mesoamerica (Center for Hellenic Studies Colloquia) [Paperback]

Kurt A. Raaflaub (Editor), Nathan Rosenstein (Editor), Bernard S. Bachrach (Contributor), Pierre Briant (Contributor), Brian Campbell (Contributor), Patricia Crone (Contributor), William Wayne Farris (Contributor), R. Brian Ferguson (Contributor), Andrea M. Gnirs (Contributor), John Haldon (Contributor), Charles D. Hamilton (Contributor), Victor Davis Hanson (Contributor), Ross Hassig (Contributor), Barry S. Strauss (Contributor), David Webster (Contributor), Robin D. S. Yates (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 30, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0674006593 | ISBN-13: 978-0674006591

This social history of war from the third millennium BCE to the 10th-century CE in the Mediterranean, the Near East and Europe (Egypt, Achamenid Persia, Greece, the Hellenistic World, the Roman Republic and Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the early Islamic World and early Medieval Europe) with parallel studies of Mesoamerica (the Maya and Aztecs) and East Asia (ancient China, medieval Japan). The volume offers a broadly based, comparative examination of war and military organization in their complex interactions with social, economic and political structures, as well as cultural practices.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Thucydides and his contemporaries knew war from bitter experience. Peace to them was an illusion, war the true constant...War and Society in the Ancient and Medieval World shows how and why Thucydides's vision prevailed throughout pre-industrial times in the Mediterranean and elsewhere. Because of the omnipresence of war or its specter within ancient Greek--and Roman--culture, editors Kurt Raaflaub and Nathan Rosenstein recognize the real need to explore in theoretical terms how war (including military technology and organization) affected ancient society (including economic and political systems) and vice versa.
--Thomas Palaima (Times Higher Education Supplement 20030101)

The editors have sought to produce a book about the social history of war in the pre-industrial age. They have encouraged their contributors to write not about army organization, battles, tactics, and so on, but about the social and political context of war, and about the interrelationship between war and the institutional structures of the various states which are surveyed. The result...is a volume of broad scope with much potential for comparison and cross-fertilization. It certainly comes across as a work of solid scholarship and interesting insights which should appeal to a wide audience.
--Tom Stevenson (Scholia Reviews )

About the Author

Kurt A. Raaflaub is Professor of Classics and History at Brown University, and Joint Director of the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, D.C..

Nathan Rosenstein is Associate Professor of History at Ohio State University.

William Wayne Farris is Professor of History, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

John Haldon is Professor of Byzantine History and Hellenic Studies at Princeton University.

Robin D. S. Yates is Assistant Professor of Chinese History, Harvard University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Center for Hellenic Studies (October 30, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674006593
• ISBN-13: 978-0674006591
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #664,766 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)