War as Spectacle

The book's greatest strength, apart from the fascinating breadth of topics under discussion, comes from its editorial organisation, which brings a logical structure with which to explore the notion of war as spectacle ... [It] offer[s] fascinating insights into Greek and Roman notions of the spectacle of war, and bring[s] into question our own fascination with warfare as a form of entertainment. * Classics For All Reviews *
The reader ... walks away from this impressive volume with heightened awareness of the ramifications of spectacle when approaching both the ancient and modern. * Thersites *
A spectacular performance on every front. Ambitiously conceptualized, prefaced by a brilliant introduction that contextualizes and theorizes its eighteen essays, this volume represents interdisciplinary scholarship in classics and classical reception at its very best. -- Judith P. Hallett, Professor of Classics and Distinguished Scholar-Teacher, University of Maryland, USA
War as Spectacle offers a unique cross-cultural insight into a dramatic human experience that has shaped individual and collective identities and shaken consciences since the dawn of time. The idea of performance and of the multi-sensorial that impregnates the volume succeeds in banding together a set of original contributions that range from ancient literature and its post-Classical reception to modern commemorative art, cinema, stage and 21st century visual media. War as Spectacle provides a refreshing and stimulating view of Antiquity and its long shadow over current debates about modern war-conflicts and their impact in the age of internet and globalisation. -- Marta Garcia Morcillo, Senior Lecturer in Ancient History, University of Roehampton, UK
This book is a 400-plus-page wake-up call to classicists, warfare scholars and anyone interested in the value of the classical world as a cultural vantage point. Ancient warfare has long come into debates concerning the nature and ethics of warfare; this book shows how over-simple many of the terms of this debate have been. The editor writes: ‘War as Spectacle is not your typical book on the subject of ancient warfare.’ Where this book differs from other work to date is in its focus on warfare as a performance, as a multi-sensory experience, and as entertainment. The contributors consider the implications of a performative approach for reassessing how the ancients thought about war, and about the ethics of classical reception. The authors keep coming back to the issue of the distance between antiquity and the modern world. Conversely, the whole book is an exercise in reception: for instance in how commemorative monuments receive ancient battles, and in how archaic and classics authors were already reworking and rejecting a Homeric aesthetics of warfare. -- Susan Deacy, Principal Lecturer, University of Roehampton, UK