Trickery, treachery, and deceit in ancient conflict

The 16 essays of this volume tackle questions of what was and was not considered acceptable conduct in ancient warfare.

Few would assume that ideas of legitimate and illegitimate conduct in warfare remained static for centuries, yet little work has treated this as a standalone topic of concern.

The contributions in this volume show that acceptable conduct in warfare was a dynamic concept and like many other customs, changed over time.

While Greek stories show marked respect for clever tricks from the Trojan Horse onwards, Roman tradition presents the Romans as avoiding sneaky tricks and disdaining treachery, and occasionally reveals Roman discomfort with their own history.

Key topics covered in this volume include tactical matters such as ambushes and battlefield misdirection; examinations of ethnic stereotypes of deceitful peoples like Cretans, Carthaginians, and Syrians; deception aimed at one’s own forces; the mythological tricks of heroes and gods; and the condemnation of bad behavior in public opinion or legal trials.

This volume provides an important starting point for scholars studying whether a given tactic was considered legitimate.