Mercenaries and professional soldiers in the Greek world

Up to now, soldiers and professional soldiers have been dealt with almost exclusively from a military-historical perspective and from the perspective of the Greek polis. In contrast, the contributions collected here are based on a comparative, legal, social and cultural historical approach with a broad source base. The soldiers themselves come into view as persons and actors in their respective political and social environments. In recent years, a number of new inscriptions and papyri have been published, which can now be used as a corrective counterweight to the literary tradition in order to question the stereotypes still prevalent today. The authors develop new perspectives on the basis of three major thematic complexes that address the question of the dichotomy between citizen-soldier and citizen, as well as various aspects that affect citizens in their capacity as residents and fellow citizens, and as social individuals and communities.