Description
Book SynopsisThis book reveals how violent pasts were constructed by ancient Mediterranean societies, the ideologies they served, and the socio-political processes and institutions they facilitated. Combining case studies from Anatolia, Egypt, Greece, Israel/Judah, and Rome, it moves beyond essentialist dichotomies such as “victors” and “vanquished” to offer a new paradigm for studying representations of past violence across diverse media, from funerary texts to literary works, chronicles, monumental reliefs, and other material artefacts such as ruins. It thus paves the way for a new comparative approach to the study of collective violence in the ancient world.
Table of ContentsPreface List of Figures Abbreviations Notes on Contributors 1 Introduction Sonja Ammann 2 The Ruins of Jericho (Joshua 6) and the Memorialization of Violence Angelika Berlejung 3 Memorializing Saul’s Wars in Samuel and Chronicles Stephen Germany 4 Fighting Annihilation: The Justification of Collective Violence in the Book of Esther and Beyond Helge Bezold 5 Hellenizing Hanukkah: Reframing War Commemoration in 1 and 2 Maccabees Julia Rhyder 6 Memories of Violence in the Material Imagery of Karkamiš and Samʾal: The Motifs of Severed Heads and the Enemy Under Chariot Horses Izak Cornelius 7 Israel’s Violence in Egypt’s Cultural Memory Antonio Loprieno 8 Real Fights and Burlesque Parody: The Depiction of Violence in the Inaros Cycle Damien Agut-Labordère 9 Material Responses to Collective Violence in Classical Athens Nathan T. Arrington 10 Remembering and Forgetting the Sack of Athens David C. Yates 11 The Darkest Hour (?): Military Defeats during the Second Punic War in Roman Memory Culture Simon Lentzsch 12 Rebellious Narratives, Repeat Engagements, and Roman Historiography Jessica Clark Index
