ABSTRACT
Ancient warfare as aggravated sexual assault en masse against captive women and girls was a complex set of aggressive practices, just like its first-phase counterpart of men killing men in armed conflict. The ulterior motives and degrees of cruelty varied depending on whether the warfare was predatory, expansionist, or retaliatory across and within ethnic lines and regions, including civil strife. This chapter provides a systematic examination of sexual violence in ancient warfare, arguing that the rape and capture of women was far from incidental to ancient warfare, but rather served as one of its central aims; making a case for sexual violence as integral to the origins of Western warfare. The chapter also takes up the issue of nomenclature, interrogating what it means that those not in armies were defined by the negative of their status and labeled “non-warring” as opposed to the more active, positive definition inherent in the modern conception of civilian. It argues that non-warring people were the antithesis of soldiers; thus they were an “other,” who could be disposed of and treated as wished.
