Do you ever study or teach ancient conflict? If so, read on…
The study of ancient history, archaeology, literature and art involves regular encounters with armed conflict. At present, the teaching of ancient war and peace tends to be dominated by high-level politics and an emphasis on weapons, equipment, tactics and strategy, centring around (usually male) soldiers and their (usually male) leaders. Too little attention is paid to the second-order impacts of conflict (famine, disease, sexual violence, displacement, etc), to the diversity of people impacted by it, and to the everyday experiences of ordinary individuals. Compounding this, there is even less coverage of ancient concepts of peace, ancient approaches to conflict prevention, and ancient experiences of peacebuilding and post-conflict recovery.
The need for fresh approaches to teaching ancient war and peace reaches goes well beyond the classroom. Research into the militarization of childhood underlines the role that education can play in socializing young people into visualizing armed violence as normal, natural, impressive, even desirable. Arguably, the teaching of ancient warfare has been particularly prone to this tendency – compounded, of course, by representations of ancient warfare in many popular media. On the other hand, enhanced peace literacy can significantly improve inner peace and wellbeing, interpersonal relations, and conflict resolution in different spheres of life, empowering young people to take ownership of peacebuilding in their own lives. For both reasons, it is high time that we invested more research and resources in young people’s explorations of ancient peace and peacebuilding, alongside the study of military history.
A further pressing issue is an increase in the numbers of trauma-experienced young people within our education systems, some of whom have direct experience of armed conflict. This requires more trauma-informed practice than is currently in place. Ancient warfare has long been perceived as so distant in time that contemporary traumas are often overlooked in its teaching, while the historic but profound impacts on real people’s past lives have frequently been airbrushed. When approached sensitively, however, the study of both historical episodes and creative representations of ancient war and peace offers valuable opportunities for young people to develop critical awareness of war’s impacts and of the legacy of entrenched habits of war- and peace-storytelling, which continue to inform the ways in which we approach conflict today.
An enhanced approach to teaching ancient war and peace is thus desirable for many reasons, not only to equip students of Classics to visualize ancient warfare and peacebuilding in more holistic ways but also to contribute to wider war and peace literacy, with real-world benefits. That is what our new project – Teaching Ancient War and Peace aims to do. If you ever touch on war or peace in your ancient-world learning or teaching, please consider joining our network. You can get in touch by emailing us at [email protected].