Purchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
War in general and also the Macedonian warfare under Philip II and Alexander III is accompanied by multifaceted acts of violence against the soldiers and civilians as well as against land and cultural property of the defeated. Often, the Macedonian intruders, especially under Alexander, used acts of violence as a method of “shock and awe” in order to demoralize and intimidate the opponent, aiming at crushing their resistance also by means of psychological warfare. However, in the ancient sources, dependent on the perspective represented by the respective author, these acts of violence are often glossed over, not regarded as appalling, or treated as unjustified cruelties in particular when their own kin was affected. This chapter explores the phenomenon of violence against the opponents, assaults, slaughter, rape, robbery, and other physical violation. It also treats the damaging of opponent’s cultural property by soldiers. In addition, it explores the difference in the view of our sources, between the assaults against Greeks and Macedonians against non-Greek and non-Macedonian persons.
Ameling, W. (ed) (2022) Centre and Periphery: Working with the Inscriptions of Iudaea/Palaestina. Berlin.
Anson, E. M. (2008) “Philip II and the Transformation of Macedonia: A Reappraisal,” in Howe and Reames (2008) 17–30.
Anson, E. M. (2013) Alexander the Great. Themes and Issues. London.
Anson, E. M. (2015) “‘Shock and Awe’ à la Alexander the Great,” in Heckel et al. (2015) 213–32.
Anson, E. M. (2021) “Alexander the Great: A Life Lived as Legend,” in Walsh and Baynham (2021) 14–32.
Anson, E. M. (2022) “Philip and Alexander and the Nature of their Personal Kingship,” in Pownall, Asirvatham, and Müller (2022) 17–31.
D’Agostini, M., Anson, E. M., and Pownall, F. (eds) (2021) Affective Relations and Personal Bonds in Hellenistic Antiquity: Studies in Honor of Elizabeth D. Carney. London.
Asirvatham, S. R. (2010) “Perspectives on the Macedonians from Greece, Rome and Beyond,” in Roisman and Worthington (2010) 99–124.
Balcer, J. M. (1978) “Alexander’s Burning of Persepolis.” IA 13: 120–133.
Beek, A. L. (2021) “Mercenaries and Moral Concerns,” in Chlup and Whately (2021) 121–35.
Bosworth, A. B. (1988) Conquest and Empire: The Reign of Alexander the Great. Cambridge.
Bosworth, A. B. (1995) A Historical Commentary on Arrian’s History of Alexander, Vol. II. Oxford.
Bosworth, A. B. (1996) Alexander and the East: The Tragedy of Triumph. Oxford.
Bowden, H. (2014) Alexander the Great. A Very Short Introduction. Oxford.
Bowden, H. (2021) “The Man Who Would Be King: Alexander between Gaugamela and Persepolis,” in Walsh and Baynham (2021) 129–49.
Briant, P. (2010) Alexander the Great and his Empire. Princeton.
Bryant, M. (2015) A Word History of War Crimes: From Antiquity to the Present. London.
Buckler, J. (1989) Philip II and the Sacred War. Leiden.
Burliga, B. (2013) Arrian’s Anabasis. An Intellectual and Cultural Story. Gdánsk.
Cahill, N. (1985) “The Treasury at Persepolis: Gift-Giving at the City of the Persians.” AJA 89: 373–389.
Campbell, B. and Tritle, L. A. (eds) (2013) The Oxford Handbook of Warfare in the Classical World. Oxford.
Carlsen, J., Due, O., Due, B., and Poulsen, B. (eds) (1997) Alexander the Great: Reality and Myth, 2nd edn. Rome.
Carney, E. D. (2000) Women and Monarchy in Macedonia. Norman, OK.
Carney, E. D. (2003) “Women in Alexander’s Court,” in Roisman (2003) 227–52.
Carney, E. D. and Ogden, D. (eds) (2010) Philip II and Alexander the Great: Father and Son, Lives and Afterlives. Oxford.
Cawkwell, G. L. (1962) “The Defense of Olynthus.” CQ 12: 122–140.
Champion, M. and O’Sullivan, L. (2017a) “‘War Is the Father and King of All.’ Discussions, Experiences and Theories in Hellenistic Violence,” in Champion and O’Sullivan (2017b) 1–20.
Champion, M. and O’Sullivan, L. (eds) (2017b) Cultural Perceptions of Violence in the Hellenistic World. London. DOI: 10.4324/9781315208329
Chaniotis, A. (2005) War in the Hellenistic World: A Social and Cultural History. Oxford.
Chlup, J. and Whately, C. (eds) (2021) Greek and Roman Military Manuals Genre and History. London.
Clark, J. H. and Turner, B. (eds) (2017) Brill’s Companion to Military Defeat in Ancient Mediterranean Society. Warfare in the Ancient Mediterranean World 2. Leiden.
Darbandi, S. M. R. and Zournatzi, A. (eds) (2008) Ancient Greece and Ancient Iran. Cross-Cultural Encounters. Athens.
D’Huys, V. (1987) “How to Describe Violence in Historical Narrative: Reflections of the Ancient Greek Historians and their Ancient Critics.” AncSoc 18: 209–250.
Durvye, C. (2018) “The Role of the Gods in Diodoros’ Universal History,” in Hau et al. (2018) 347–64.
Engels, D. (1978) Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army. Berkeley.
Filonik, J., Griffith-Williams, B., and Kucharski, J. (eds) (2020) The Making of Identities in Athenian Oratory. London.
Gaca, K. L. (2010) “The Andrapodizing of War Captives in Greek Historical Memory.” TAPhA 140: 117–161.
Gaca, K. L. (2011) “Girls, Women, and the Significance of Sexual Violence in Ancient Warfare,” in Heineman (2011) 73–88.
Gaca, K. L. (2014) “Martial Rape, Pulsating Fear, and the Sexual Maltreatment of Girls (παῖδες), Virgins (παρθένοι) and Women (γυναῖκες) in Antiquity.” AJPh 135: 303–357.
Gaca, K. L. (2015) “Ancient Warfare and the Ravaging Martial Rape of Girls and Women,” in Masterson et al. (2015) 278–97.
Goldman, M. L. (2017) “Demosthenes, Chaeronea, and the Rhetoric of Defeat,” in Clark and Turner (2017) 123–43.
Gutzwiller, K. (ed) (2005) The New Posidippus: A Hellenistic Poetry Book. Oxford.
Haake, M. (2020) “Violence and Legitimation. The Social Logic of Alexander the Great’s Acts of Violence between the Danube and Indus. A Conceptual Outline and a Case Study,” in Trampedach and Meeus (2020) 77–95.
Hammond, N. G. L. (1998) “The Branchidae at Didyma and in Sogdiana.” CQ 48: 339–344.
Harris, E. M. (1995) Aischines and Athenian Politics. New York.
Harris, E. M. (2018) “The Stereotype of Tyranny and the Tyranny of Stereotypes: Demosthenes on Philip II of Macedon,” in Kalaitzi et al. (2018) 167–78.
Hau, L. I. (2016) Moral History from Herodotus to Diodorus Siculus. Edinburgh.
Hau, L. I., Meeus, A., and Sheridan, B. (eds) (2018) Diodoros of Sicily: Historiographical Theory and Practice in the Bibliotheke. Leuven.
Heckel, W. (2008) The Conquests of Alexander the Great. Oxford.
Heckel, W. (2016) Alexander’s Marshals: A Study of the Makedonian Aristocracy and the Politics of Military Leadership. London.
Heckel, W. (2020) In the Path of Conquest. Military and Political Resistance to Alexander the Great. Oxford.
Heckel, W. (2021) Who’s Who in the Age of Alexander: From Chaironeia to Ipsos (338–301 B.C.). Barnsley, UK.
Heckel, W. and McLeod, J. L. (2015) “Alexander the Great and the Fate of the Enemy: Quantifying, Qualifying, and Categorizing Atrocities,” in Heckel et al. (2015) 233–67.
Heckel, W., Müller, S., and Wrightson, G. (eds) (2015) The Many Faces of War in the Ancient World. Newcastle upon Tyne.
Heineman, E. (ed) (2011) Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones. Philadelphia.
Heinen, H. (ed) (2017) Handwörterbuch der antiken Sklaverei (HAS). Vol. 1. Stuttgart.
Heinrichs, J. (2001) “Sklaverei IV: Rom II.” DNP 11: 627–630.
Heinrichs, J. (2020a) “Achaimenids,” in LAM: 243–244.
Heinrichs, J. (2020b) “Granikos, Battle of,” in LAM: 247–249.
Heinrichs, J. (2020c) “Issos, Battle of,” in LAM: 539–540.
Heinrichs, J. (2022) “Erased Kings’ Names in Late Seleukid Inscriptions,” in Ameling (2022) 55–90.
Herrmann, J. (2020) “Seeing Others as Athenians in Demosthenes’ Third Philippic,” in Filonik, Griffith-Williams and Kucharski (2020) 137–45.
Hewitt, K. (1983) “Place Annihilation: Area Bombing and the Fate of Urban Places.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 73: 257–284.
Hölscher, T. (2003) “Images of War in Greece and Rome. Between Military Practice, Public Memory, and Cultural Symbolism.” JRS 93: 1–17.
Holt, F. L. (1988) Alexander the Great and Bactria. Leiden.
Hornblower, S. (1983) “Alexander and τύχη. A Note on Diodorus.” LCM 8: 43.
Hornblower, S. (1991) A Commentary on Thucydides, Vol. 1. Oxford.
Howe, T. and Reames, J. (eds) (2008) Macedonian Legacies. Claremont, CA.
Jacobs, B. (1992) “Der Tod des Bessos.” Acta Praehistorica et Archaeologica 24: 177–186.
Jacobs, B. and Rollinger R. (eds) (2010) Der achaimenidische Hof. The Achaemenid Court. Wiesbaden.
Jacobs, B. and Rollinger R. (eds) (2021) A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Oxford.
Jamzadeh, P. (2012) Alexander Histories and Iranian Reflections. Boston.
Johncock, M. and Sanders, E. (eds) (2016) Emotion and Persuasion in Classical Antiquity. Stuttgart.
Kalaitzi, M., Paschalis, P., Antonetti, C., and Guimier-Sorbets, A.-M. (eds) (2018) Βορεισελλαδικά: Tales from the Land of the ethne, Athens.
Kapellos, A. (ed) (2019) Xenophon on Violence. Berlin.
Keogh, T. (2020a) “Introduction,” in Keogh (2020b) 1–16.
Keogh, T. (ed) (2020b) War and the City: The Urban Context of Conflict and Mass Destruction. Paderborn.
Keppler, A. (1997) “Über einige Formen der medialen Wahrnehmung von Gewalt,” in Trotha (1997) 380–400.
Kousser, R. (2009) “Destruction and Memory on the Athenian Acropolis.” ArtBull 91: 263–282.
Kuttner, A. (2005) “Cabinet Fit for a Queen: The Lithika as Posidippus’ Gem Museum,” in Gutzwiller (2005) 141–63.
Lerner, G. (1986) The Creation of Patriarchy. Oxford.
Londey, P. (1994) “Philip II and the Delphic Amphictyony.” MedArch 7: 25–34.
Madreiter, I. (2012) Stereotypisierung—Idealisierung—Indifferenz. Formen der Auseinandersetzung mit dem Achaimeniden-Reich in der griechischen Persika-Literatur. Wiesbaden.
Masterson, M., Rabinowitz, N. S., and Robson, J. (eds) (2015) Sex in Antiquity. London.
Miles, M. M. (2008) Art as Plunder: The Ancient Origins of Debate about Cultural Property. Cambridge.
Miles, M. M. (2014) “Burnt Temples in the Landscape of the Past,” in Pieper and Ker (2014) 111–45.
Moore, K. R. (ed) (2018) Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Alexander the Great. Leiden.
Mossman, J. M. (1988) “Tragedy and Epic in Plutarch’s Alexander.” JHS 108: 83–93.
Müller, S. (2015) “Poseidippos of Pella and the Memory of Alexander’s Campaigns at the Ptolemaic Court,” in Heckel, Müller, and Wrightson (2015) 135–65.
Müller, S. (2016) “Arrian, the Second Sophistic, Xerxes, and the Statues of Harmodios and Aristogeiton,” in Rollinger and Svärd (2016) 173–202.
Müller, S. (2018) “Alexander and Macedonian Relations with Thebes—A Reassessment.” Anabasis 9: 21–39.
Müller S. (2019) Alexander der Große. Politik—Eroberungen—Rezeption. Stuttgart.
Müller, S. (2020a) “Bessos (Artaxerxes V),” in LAM: 141–144.
Müller, S. (2020b) “Branchidai,” in LAM: 149–150.
Müller, S. (2020c) “War Atrocities,” in LAM: 518–520.
Müller, S. (2020d) “The Winner Takes It All? Persian Booty and Persian Cultural Property in Wartimes,” in Ruffing et al. (2020) 517–44.
Müller, S. (2021e) “Barsine, Antigone and the Macedonian War,” in D’Agostini et al. (2021) 81–96.
Muth, S. (2008) Gewalt im Bild: Das Phänomen der medialen Gewalt im Athen des 6. und 5. Jahrhunderts v. Chr. Berlin.
Nabel, J. (2018) “Alexander between Rome and Persia: Politics, Ideology, and History,” in Moore (2018) 197–232.
Narain, K. (1965) “Alexander and India.” G&R 12: 155–165.
Nauroy, G. (ed) (2004) L’écriture du massacre en littérature entre histoire et mythe. Des mondes antiques à l’aube du XXIe siècle. Bern.
Nawotka, K. (2010) Alexander the Great. Newcastle upon Tyne.
Nawotka, K. (2021) “The Conquest by Alexander,” in Jacobs and Rollinger (2021) 473–82.
Olbrycht, M. J. (2007) “Alexander the Great versus the Iranians.” Folia Orientalia 42/43: 159–172.
Olbrycht, M. J. (2020) “Baktrian-Sogdian Revolt,” in LAM: 131–134.
O’Sullivan, L. (2017) “Kings and Gods: Divine Narratives in Hellenistic Violence,” in Champion and O’Sullivan (2017b) 78–99.
Palagia, O. (2008) “The Marble of the Penelope from Persepolis and its Historical Implications,” in Darbandi and Zournatzi (2008) 223–37.
Parke, H. W. (1985) “The Massacre of the Branchidae.” JHS 105: 51–68.
Pieper, C. and Ker, J. (eds) (2014) Valuing the Past in the Greco-Roman World. Leiden.
Pownall, F. (2020a) “Alexander Historiographers,” in LAM: 50–55.
Pownall, F. (2020b) “Barbaroi,” in LAM: 134–135.
Pownall, F. (2020c) “Crocus Field, Battle of,” in LAM: 188–189.
Pownall, F. (2020d) “Delphic Amphiktyony,” in LAM: 192–195.
Pownall, F. (2020e) “Third Sacred War,” in LAM: 495–498.
Pownall, F. (2020f) “Theopompos of Chios,” in LAM: 487–488.
Pownall, F., Asirvatham, S., and Müller, S. (eds) (2022) The Courts of Philip II and Alexander the Great. Berlin.
Psoma, S. (2020) “Olynthos,” in LAM: 361–363.
Prandi, L. (2013) Diodoro Siculo. Biblioteca Storica Libro XVII. Commento Storico. Milan.
Prioux, É. (2010) “Visite au cabinet des gemmes: images et idéologie lagides dans un cycle d’épigrammes hellénistiques,” in: Prioux and Rouveret (2010) 29–68.
Prioux, É. and Rouveret, A. (eds) (2010) Métamorphoses du regard ancient. Paris.
Rathmann, M. (ed) (2009) Studien zur antiken Geschichtsschreibung. Bonn.
Razmjou, S. (2002) “Assessing the Damage: Notes on the Life and Demise of the Statue of Darius from Susa.” Ars Orientalis 32: 81–104.
Roisman, J. (ed) (2003) Brill’s Companion to Alexander the Great. Leiden.
Roisman, J. (2018) “Fate and Valor in three Battle Descriptions of Diodoros,” in Hau, Meeus, and Sheridan (2018) 507–18.
Roisman, J. (2012) “Royal Power, Law, and Justice in Ancient Macedonia.” AHB 26: 131–148.
Roisman, J. and Worthington, I. (eds) (2010) A Companion to Ancient Macedonia. Malden, MA.
Rollinger, C. (2018) “Vae victae. Die Frau als Beute in der antiken (römischen) Kriegsführung,” in Walde and Wöhrle (2018) 91–126.
Rollinger, R. (2010) “Extreme Gewalt und Strafgericht: Ktesias und Herodot als Zeugnisse für den Achaimenidenhof,” in Jacobs and Rollinger (2010) 559–666.
Rollinger, R. and Svärd, S. (eds) (2016) Intellectual Heritage of the Ancient Near East. Vol. 2. Münster.
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (1998) Article 8, “War Crimes.”
Rop, J. (2019) Greek Military Service in the Ancient Near East, 401–330 BCE. Cambridge.
Rosivach, V. J. (1999) “Enslaving barbaroi and the Athenian Ideology of Slavery.” Historia 48: 129–157.
Ruffing, K. (2017) “Andrapodismos,” in Heinen (2017) 109–10.
Ruffing, K., Droß-Krüpe, K., Fink, S., and Rollinger, R. (eds) (2020) Societies at War. Münster.
Sancisi-Weerdenburg, H. (1997) “Alexander and Persepolis,” in Carlsen et al. (1997) 177–87.
Sanders, E. (2016) “Persuasion through Emotions in Athenian Deliberative Oratory: Introduction,” in Johncock and Sanders (2016) 57–73.
Scarry, E. (1985) The Body in Pain. Oxford.
Scodel, R. (1998) “The Captive’s Dilemma: Sexual Acquiescence in Euripides Hecuba and Troades.” CPh 98: 137–154.
Schmidt, E. F. (1939) The Treasury of Persepolis and Other Discoveries in the Homeland of the Achaemenians. Chicago.
Schmitz, W. (2009) “Die Opfer des Krieges: Xenophon und die Wahrnehmung des Krieges in der griechischen Historiographie,” in Rathmann (2009) 55–89.
Shrimpton, G. S. (1977) “Theopompus’ Treatment of Philip in the Philippica.” Phoenix 31: 123–144.
Shrimpton, G. S. (1991) Theopompus the Historian. Montréal.
Squillace, G. (2010) “Consensus Strategies under Philip and Alexander: The Revenge Theme,” in Carney and Ogden (2010) 69–80.
Stoneman, R. (2008) Alexander the Great: A Life in Legend. London.
Stoneman, R. (2019) The Greek Experience of India. London.
Stoneman, R. (2020) “India,” in LAM: 275–280.
Tabārā, R. (2014) “Sancţionarea crimelor de rāzboi în antichitate şi evul mediu” Studia Securitatis 2: 200–210.
Trampedach, K. and Meeus, A. (eds) (2020) The Legitimation of Conquest: Monarchical Representation and the Art of Government in the Empire of Alexander the Great. Stuttgart.
Tritle, L. A. (1997) “Mutilation of the Dead in Ancient Greece and Vietnam.” AHB 11: 123–136.
Tritle, L. A. (2000) From Melos to My Lai. War and Survival. London.
Tritle, L. A. (2013) “Men at War,” in Campbell and Tritle (2013) 281–93.
Tritle, L. A. (2015) “Laughter in Battle,” in Heckel et al. (2015) 117–34.
Tritle, L. A. (2020) “War Traumata,” in LAM: 521–522.
Trotha, T. von (ed) (1997) Soziologie der Gewalt. Opladenroth.
Vacante, S. (2012) “Alexander the Great and the ‘Defeat’ of the Sogdianian Revolt.” AHB 26: 87–130.
Volkmann, H. (1961) Die Massenversklavungen der Einwohner eroberter Städte in der hellenistisch-römischen Zeit. Wiesbaden.
Walde, C. and Wöhrle, G. (eds) (2018) Gender und Krieg. Trier.
Walsh, J. and Baynham, E. (eds) (2021) Alexander the Great and Propaganda. London.
Watson, C. (2016) “‘A Pestilent Knave from Macedonia.’ Narratives of Culture and Ethnicity in Demosthenes’ Third Philippic.” Pseudo-Dionysius 18: 59–66.
Wiesehöfer, J. (1993) Das antike Persien von 550 v. Chr. bis 650 n. Chr. Zürich.
Wiesehöfer, J. (2011) “The ‘Accursed’ and the ‘Adventurer’. Alexander the Great in Iranian Tradition,” in Zuwiyya (2011) 111–32.
Williams, N. (2018) “The Moral Dimension of Military History in Diodoros of Sicily,” in Hau, Meeus, and Sheridan (2018) 519–39.
Wirth, G. (1985) Philipp II. Geschichte Makedoniens 1. Stuttgart.
Wirth, G. (1989) Der Kampfverband des Proteas: Spekulationen zu den Begleitumständen der Laufbahn Alexanders. Amsterdam.
Wirth, G. (1993) Der Brand von Persepolis: Folgerungen zur Geschichte Alexanders des Großen. Amsterdam.
Wirth, G. (1999) Hypereides, Lykurg und die αὐτονομία der Athener: Ein Versuch zum Verständnis einiger Reden der Alexanderzeit. Vienna.
Wirth, G. (2020) “Philip II,” in LAM: 415–420.
Worthington, I. (2008) Philip II of Macedon. Oxford.
Worthington, I. (2012) Demosthenes of Athens and the Fall of Classical Greece. Oxford.
Zimmermann, M. (ed) (2009) Extreme Formen von Gewalt in Bild und Text des Altertums. Munich.
Zimmermann, M. (2013) Gewalt: Die dunkle Seite der Antike. Munich.
Zuwiyya, Z. D. (ed) (2011) A Companion to Alexander Literature in the Middle Ages. Leiden.
All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 222 | 222 | 19 |
Full Text Views | 1 | 1 | 1 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 9 | 9 | 2 |
Terms and Conditions | Privacy Statement | Cookie Settings | Accessibility | Legal Notice | Sitemap | Copyright © 2016-2025