The first in a four-volume set, The Cambridge World History of Violence, Volume 1 provides a comprehensive examination of violence in prehistory and the ancient world. Covering the Palaeolithic through to the end of classical antiquity, the chapters take a global perspective spanning sub-Saharan Africa, the Near East, Europe, India, China, Japan and Central America. Unlike many previous works, this book does not focus only on warfare but examines violence as a broader phenomenon. The historical approach complements, and in some cases critiques, previous research on the anthropology and psychology of violence in the human story. Written by a team of contributors who are experts in each of their respective fields, Volume 1 will be of particular interest to anyone fascinated by archaeology and the ancient world.

Examines how location confers cultural meaning on acts of violence, and renders them socially acceptable--or not

At the heart of this study is the violent crime committed in ancient Greek society against women and by women. These themes, intensely debated and increasingly the focus of current research, have grown in importance within the wider study of gender and sexuality in the ancient world. The author examines the portrayal of violence across a range of sources to develop a picture of gender and crime in ancient Greek law, literature, myth and society. The volume breaks new ground because it adopts an evolutionary biological approach to the subject, in particular by examining the research of psychologists Margo Wilson and Martin Daly, who in their studies of contemporary sexual crime mooted that sexual jealousy is at the root of the majority of violent acts including murder. McHardy explores how this modern study can be brought to bear on Classical scholarship around the same themes in antiquity. She also provides a methodological approach that combines 'grand' theory with an exploration of cultural contexts and historical development, considering the critiques from recent decades of the universalist premises that grew out of second wave feminism. Exploring such theoretical issues in the first two chapters, each subsequent, thematic, chapter will examine evidence from a range of sources and conclude with a case study.

The study of Greek warfare should involve much more than reconstructing the experience of combat or revisiting the great wars of the classical period. Here, a distinguished cast of international scholars explores beyond the usual thematic and chronological boundaries. Ranging from the heroes of Homer to the kings and cities of the hellenistic age, the contributors set war in the context of other forms of Greek violence, private and public. At every turn they challenge received ideas about the causes and conduct of war, its development and its place in Greek society and culture.

How did the Greeks and Roman perceive rape? How seriously was it taken, and who were seen as its main victims? The studies in this volume look at the social and legal realities of rape in the ancient world, and also at the numerous myths of rape which themselves may reflect real behaviour and attitudes. Modern readers, used to a discourse which focuses on the question of a woman's (or man's) consent to sexual activity and treats an unwilling partner as a victim worthy of sympathy, may find in ancient attitudes much that is disturbing.

An updated edition of the Sunday Times Bestseller Britain's best-known classicist Mary Beard, is also a committed and vocal feminist. With wry wit, she revisits the gender agenda and shows how history has treated powerful women. Her examples range from the classical world to the modern day, from Medusa and Athena to Theresa May and Hillary Clinton. Beard explores the cultural underpinnings of misogyny, considering the public voice of women, our cultural assumptions about women's relationship with power, and how powerful women resist being packaged into a male template. A year on since the advent of #metoo, Beard looks at how the discussions have moved on during this time, and how that intersects with issues of rape and consent, and the stories men tell themselves to support their actions. In trademark Beardian style, using examples ancient and modern, Beard argues, 'it's time for change - and now!' From the author of international bestseller SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome.

The ancient period of Greek history, to which this volume is devoted, began in late Bronze Age in the second millennium and lasted almost to the end of the first century BCE, when the last remnant of the Hellenistic empire created by Alexander the Great was conquered by the Romans. Extant texts of law of actual laws are few and often found embedded in other sources, such as the works of orators and historians. Greek literature, from the epics of Homer to the classical dramas, provides a valuable source of information. However, since literary sources are fictional portrayals and often reflect the times and biases of the authors, other more concrete evidence from archaeology has been used throughout the volume to confirm and contextualize the literary evidence about women, crime, and punishment in ancient Greece. The volume is divided into three parts: (I) Mykenean and Archaic Greece, (II) Classical Greece, and (III the Hellenistic Period. The book includes illustrations, maps, lists of Hellenistic dynasties, and Indices of Persons, Place and Subjects. Crime and punishment, criminal law and its administration, are areas of ancient history that have been explored less than many other aspects of ancient civilizations. Throughout history women have been affected by crime both as victims and as offenders. In the ancient world, customary laws were created by men, formal laws were written by men, and both were interpreted and enforced by men. This two-volume work explores the role of gender in the formation and administration of ancient law and examines the many gender categories and relationships established in ancient law, including legal personhood, access to courts, citizenship, political office, religious office, professions, marriage, inheritance, and property ownership. Thus it focuses on women and crime within the context of women in the society.