One of the most popular areas of ancient history is war in the Greek world. The number of books, articles, web pages and blogs on every conceivable aspect of war in ancient Greece is endless, and continues to grow. So why add to the pile? Wars & Battles of Ancient Greece is not just another arid account of wars and battles, with endless, often exaggerated, casualty figures and repetitive tactics. It is different from most other books in the field because it has context as its focus: each of the battles covered is, where sources permit, placed in its historical, political and social context: why was the battle fought, how was it fought, what was the outcome, and what happened next ? No war or battle has ever been fought in isolation – there is always a prelude, a casus belli and a series of consequences. These are revealed wherever possible for each of the wars and battles in this book.In order to reinforce our focus on context the book includes chapters covering warfare in civilizations and cultures before Greece ; the Greek war machine; and Greek women and conflict.