Garrett G. Fagan was Professor of Ancient History at the Pennsylvania State University. His main research interests lay in the field of Roman history and archaeology, on which he published three monographs, including The Lure of the Arena: Social Psychology and the Crowd at the Roman Games (Cambridge, 2011). He edited or co-authored three other books, including New Perspectives on Ancient Warfare (with Matthew Trundle, 2010). Linda Fibiger is Senior Lecturer in Human Osteology in the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh. She is editor (with Nicholas Marquez-Grant) of The Routledge Handbook of Archaeological Human Remains and Legislation (2011), and of Sticks, Stones, and Broken Bones: Neolithic Violence in a European Perspective (with R. Schulting, 2012). Mark Hudson is a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Germany. He is also a Research Associate of the Institut d'Asie Orientale, ENS de Lyon. His previous books include Ruins of Identity: Ethnogenesis in the Japanese Islands (2000), which won the John Whitney Hall Prize of the Association of Asian Studies. He has also co-edited Multicultural Japan: Palaeolithic to Postmodern (Cambridge, 1996) and Beyond Ainu Studies: Changing Academic and Public Perspectives (2013). Matthew Trundle is Chair and Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Auckland. He is the author of Greek Mercenaries: From the Late Archaic Period to Alexander (2004), and has edited volumes entitled New Perspectives on Ancient Warfare (with Garrett Fagan, 2010) and Beyond the Gates of Fire: New Perspectives on the Battle of Thermopylae (with Christopher Matthew, 2013).

'The scope and depth of coverage are extraordinary. Never before has so much material on this vital topic been assembled by a single collaborative project. … this collection is a signal achievement.' Walter Scheidel, H-Net Reviews

• Introduction. The nature of violence in the prehistoric and ancient worlds Linda Fibiger, Garrett G. Fagan and Mark Hudson; Part I. The Origins of Conflict and the Emergence of Warfare: Introduction; 1. Why we fight: the origins of violence Steven LeBlanc; 2. Violence in Archaic and early modern humans: Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Europe and beyond Jörg Orschiedt; 3. Settled lives, unsettled times – Neolithic violence Rick Schulting, Martin Smith and Linda Fibiger; 4. Violence during the later Stone Age of Sub-Saharan Africa Alan G. Morris; 5. Weapons, warriors, and warfare in Bronze Age Europe Barry Molloy; 6. Weapons, ritual, and warfare: violence in Iron Age Europe Peter Wells; 7. The origins of violence and warfare in the Japanese islands Mark Hudson, Rick Schulting and Linda Gilaizeau; Part II. Pre-Historic and Ancient Warfare: Introduction; 8. Hunting and warfare: ritualization of violence in Ancient Egypt John Darnell; 9. Warfare, militarism, and political dynamics in the precolumbian Maya lowlands Stanley Serafin; 10. Violence and warfare in the Ancient Near East Steven Garfinkle; 11. Violence and the Roman way of warfare Jonathan P. Roth; 12. Roman warfare in late antiquity Doug Lee; 13. Violence and warfare in early Imperial China Wicky Tse; Part III. Intimate and Collective Violence in the Pre-Historic and Ancient Worlds: Introduction; 14. Early massacres: mass violence in Neolithic Europe Christian Meyer; 15. A gendered analysis of violence from the Iron Age to the end of the Romano- British period Rebecca Redfern; 16. Violence in ancient Egyptian society Donald Redford; 17. Violence and the mutilated body in Achaemenid Iran Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones; 18. 'Knocking her teeth out with a stone': violence against women in Ancient Greece Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones; 19. Gang violence in the late Roman Republic Jeffrey Tatum; 20. Violence in early Imperial China Charles Sanft; Part IV. Religion, Ritual and Violence in the Pre-Historic and Ancient Worlds: Introduction; 21. Ritual violence and headhunting in Iron Age Europe Ian Armit; 22. Ritual killing and sacrifice in the Ancient Near East Luis Siddall; 23. Animal sacrifice in the ancient Greek and Roman worlds Fred S. Naiden; 24. Combat sports in the ancient world Michael J. Carter; 25. Religious violence in late antiquity Peter Van Nuffelen; Part V. Violence, Crime and the State in the Ancient World: Introduction; 26. Violence, law, and community in classical Athens Matthew Trundle; 27. Roman violence: state and community Garrett G. Fagan; 28. Suicide and martyrdom among Christians and Jews Candida R. Moss; Part VI. Representations and Constructions of Violence in the Ancient World: Introduction; 29. Kingship and violence in classical India, c. 500 BCE to 500 CE Upinder Singh; 30. Violence and the Bible Debra Scoggins Ballentine; 31. Representations of violence in ancient Mesopotamia and Syria Davide Nadali; 32. Representations of war and violence in Ancient Rome Susann Lusnia; 33. Military violence in vedic and epic India Jarrod Whitaker.