Taming Ares: War, Interstate Law, and Humanitarian Discourse in Classical Greece

Emiliano Jerónimo Buis, PhD in Classics and Postdoctoral Degree in Law (Universidad de Buenos Aires) is Professor of International Law and Ancient Greek at that university and at UNICEN, as well as researcher at the CONICET in Argentina. He has widely published on the theory and history of international law, ancient Greek literature (especially drama) and Athenian law.

'Emiliano Buis’s book, Taming Ares: War, Interstate Law, and Humanitarian Discourse in Classical Greece, is one of the rare books to look at Classical Greece texts and norms from various religious, political, social, literary and artistic sources, through the prism of international humanitarian law (IHL), and offers a fascinating perspective on the historical roots of IHL.This book allows readers to get an in-depth view into how norms, interpolity relations and laws common to the classical Greeks were conceived during the Peloponnesian War period (431–404 BCE), and provides an enlightening analysis of some of the precursory roots of what we know today as ius ad bellum and ius in bello. Not only is the book based on meticulous research, but each of its sections is also supported by numerous examples and quotations of the original texts used as reference sources, with their English translation, allowing readers to fully appreciate how the norms and ideas preceding modern-day IHL were expressed.'Marie-Louise Tougas, in: International Review of the Red Cross, p. 1-7. Published online 18 July 2019. "The book’s greatest strength is Buis’ engagement both with the ancient evidence and with recent thinking in the field of International Law, a combination often allows for unexpected and stimulating insights. This monograph will be valuable both for students of international law seeking an introduction to Greek thinking and practices, and for classical Greek historians interested in the perspectives of the discipline of International Law". Peter Hunt, in H-Soz-Kult. Kommunikation und Fachinformation für die Geschichtswissenschaften (2019).

• ForewordRandall LesafferPreliminary ConsiderationsAcknowledgmentsList of Figures and MapsIntroduction1 Between Ares and Athena2 In-between Custom and Convenience: Analyzing the Restrictive Discourse of War3 Towards International Law in the Ancient World: Practices and Contexts4 Inhumane Acts, Human Words: Analyzing the Restrictive Discourse of WarPart 1: The Concepts1 Normativity, Hegemony, and Democratic Performance: The Case of Classical Athens1 International Normativity, Subordination, and Political Imposition in the Ancient World2 Justice, Law, Laws and Decrees: The Issue of Terminology3 Nomothesia: The Act of Legislating4 Dramatic Competitions and Athenian Festivals5 Justice as Spectacle in Athens: Judicial praxis6 The Assembly, the Theater, and the Courts: Performative Activities of DemocracySummation: Democracy as Performative Ritual2 Greek poleis and Their International Subjectivity1 Towards an Archaeology of the Subject: Did Legal Entities Have a Legal Personality in the Greek World?2 The Role of the polis in the Signing of Treaties during the Peloponnesian WarSummation: International Subjectivity in RuinsPart 2: The Rules3 Ius ad bellum and Its Limits on Inter-polis Law1 The Rhetoric of the Use of Armed Force in the Greek World2 The Vocabulary of the Grounds: The Spoken and the Unspoken in Thucydides3 Considerations on Guilt, Responsibility, Motivation and Encouraging: Helen’s Case4 Exoneration from the Attack: The Adversary’s Responsibility5 A ‘Legal’ Rhetoric of Self-Defense?Summation: Restraining the Use of Armed Force4 Ius in bello and Its Limits in Inter-polis Law1 Greek Warfare between Military Necessity and Limitation2 The Legal Matrix: The Foundations of “Common,” “Universal,” Inter-polis, and Intra-Hellenic Law3 Geneva in Greece: The nomos of the Greeks with Respect to the Protection of Victims and Practices in Wartime: Humanitarian Limits?4 The Hague in Greece: The nomos of the Greeks with Respect to the Restriction of Means and Methods of Warfare: Humanitarian Limits?5 Responding to Atrocity: Prosecution of War Crimes?Summation: Towards a Framework of RestraintConclusions: About Apples, Branches, and Humanitarian StrategiesAppendix A: Chart of Treaties Signed by Greek poleis during the Peloponnesian War (431–404)Appendix B: Digital Images of Treaties and DecreesBibliography1 Ancient Sources (Critical Apparatus of Greek Texts, Translations and Comments)2 Critical Bibliography3 Instrumenta studiorumIndex