In the 300 years between the conquest of Alexander the Great and the battle at Actium, continual warfare had a dramatic effect on Hellenistic society and culture. Exploiting the abundant primary sources available, this book examines the many different ways in which war shaped the Hellenistic world.

The volume shows how war was intimately connected with economic, social and political life, looking at the connections between war and religion, the ideology of Hellenistic monarchy, the rule of elites, and technological change. At the same time, the book continually draws attention to the experience of war, both from the battlefield perspective of professional soldiers, and from that of its victims - non-combatants, women and children.

Angelos Chaniotis is Professor of Ancient History at the University of Heidelberg. He is the author of Historie und Historiker in den griechischen Inschriften (1988), Die Verträge zwischen kretischen Städten in der hellenistischen Zeit (1996) as well as numerous articles on Hellenistic and Roman history and Greek epigraphy. Together with P. Ducrey he has edited Army and Power in the Ancient World (2002).