The Commemoration of War and the Fallen in Classical Athens and Beyond: An Example of Mutual Enrichment between Memory Studies and Ancient History

Abstract

This article addresses the topic of the commemoration of war and the fallen in war in the ancient Greek world, within the framework of mutual enrichment between war studies and memory studies, which have increasingly developed in historical research and the humanities in general since the 1970s. After providing an overview of the relevant academic landscape concerning the war-memory binomial, and giving special attention to the development of memory studies as an academic discipline, the article examines the commemoration of war and the fallen from a comparative perspective between Antiquity and the Modern Age, with particular attention to the issue of trauma. Finally, it carefully analyzes the modes, forms, and meanings of the commemoration of the fallen in war in classical Athens and other parts of ancient Greece.