Examines the impact of war on Greek society from Homeric times to the age of Alexander and his successors. Discusses the causes and profits of war, links between war, piracy, slavery and trade and the ideology of warfare in literature and art.

List of illustrations -- Notes on contributors -- Preface -- List of abbreviations -- 1. Introduction: The limits of war /GRAHAM SHIPLEY -- 2. War in the Hebrew Bible /ROBERT CARROLL -- 3. Hoplites and Homer: Warfare, hero cult, and the ideology of the polis /HUGH BOWDEN -- 4. War and raids for booty in the world of Odysseus /ALAST AR JACKSON -- 5. War, slavery, and settlement in early Greece /TRACEY RIHLL -- 6. Asia unmanned: Images of victory in classical Athens /EDITH HALL -- 7. Farming and fighting in ancient Greece /LIN FOXHALL -- 8. Warfare, wealth, and the crisis of Spartiate society /STEPHEN HODKINSON -- 9. Warfare, economy, and democracy in classical Athens /PAUL MILLETT -- 10. Alexander and the Macedonian invasion of Asia: Aspects of the historiography of war and empire in antiquity /MICHEL AUSTIN -- 11. The glorious dead: Commemoration of the fallen and portrayal of victory in the late classical and hellenistic world /ELLEN RICE -- Index.