Did Ancient Soldiers Get PTSD
Summary
This episode explores whether ancient soldiers suffered from PTSD, examining primary sources from Mesopotamia, the Bible, Greece, and Rome. It analyzes Assyrian tablets describing ghostly hauntings, biblical laws on purification, and Greek myths like Achilles and Ajax to illustrate moral injury and combat shock. The discussion also covers historical accounts, such as Herodotus’s record of a soldier’s psychogenic blindness and Plutarch’s description of General Marius’s nightmares and despair. Ultimately, the video argues that while ancient cultures interpreted these symptoms through spiritua…
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