For millennia catastrophes, whether those caused by nature, or by human violence, have impacted on historical societies. In the Graeco-Roman world, as nowadays, the immediate consequences of such disasters only anticipated subsequent measures applied by the public authorities, or whoever was in charge thereafter. This volume originated in a workshop funded by a Spanish research grant.

Two theoretical chapters deal with the actual meaning of catastrophes for the ancients, as well as how distorted our view of the remote past may be when applying modern terminology such as 'humanitarian crises' to events in the ancient world. The following chapters seek to explore such topics as collateral damage in war, earthquake recovery, breakdown of interstate relations, deportation, and postwar policies implemented on defeated societies.