\'Ancestral Custom: War dead in ancient Greece\'

In the aftermath of battle, those who survived were left to contemplate an eerie spectacle. What confronted them was a scene of distorted humanity: a field of broken bodies, abandoned weapons and the mournful cries of the wounded and dying. Birds circled expectantly overhead, whilst dogs scavenged eagerly on the periphery. The field itself was littered with the dead of both sides, now indistinguishable in their shared and final fate. Indeed, the ancient Greeks offer us a complex picture of the glories and triumphs of war, but few scenes strike the modern reader as strongly as the pathos of the aftermath of battle.