Historical Overview: Psychological Consequences of Battle Stress the Classical World

The important conclusion to be drawn from the classical world regarding combat events is that they (i.e., killing and wounding) are not the only events with the power to create profound alteration of behavior. Their weight and power is embedded in the cultural ascriptions that provide them with value, as are related noncombat events that may contribute to the undoing of the soldier. In this context, in classical Greece, murder was considered to be ritually polluting, defiling both the hands and the mind, and required religious rites of purification, but slaying enemies and even accidentally killing friends in battle brought no such onus with it (Vernant, 1990).