UK Researchers Have Found Signs of PTSD 3,000 Years Ago

Aside from the fact all the signs of what war does are in the Bible, especially in the Psalms of David, this shows PTSD is not new. It just has a newer name.

Did ancient warriors suffer PTSD too?
Texts reveal that battles 3,000 years ago left soldiers traumatised by what they saw
UK researchers have found signs of PTSD up to 3,000 years ago
They say soldiers experiencing horrors of the battlefield is not just a phenomenon of modern warfare
The earliest reference had been from the Battle of Marathon in 490BC
But scientists traced mention of 'shell shock' back to 1,300 BC
Daily Mail UK
By JONATHAN O'CALLAGHAN FOR MAILONLINE
23 January 2015

UK researchers have found signs of PTSD up to 3,000 years ago. They say soldiers experiencing horrors of the battlefield (stock image shown) is not just a phenomenon of modern warfare. The earliest reference had been from the Battle of Marathon, 490BC. Pictured is a Mycenaean Vase decorated with Bronze Age warriors

Ancient warriors armed with swords and spears from 3,000 years ago suffered from shell shock just like modern soldiers, according to a study.

Soldiers who experienced the horrors of the battlefield and were left with post traumatic stress disorder is not a phenomenon of modern warfare, say the researchers. An analysis of ancient texts shows PTSD became common considerably earlier than previously believed, although the symptoms were explained away as 'the spirits of those enemies whom the patient had killed.'

The earliest reference had been from the Battle of Marathon 490BC but scientists traced mention of 'shell shock' back to 1,300 BC in ancient Mesopotamia.

The study, published in Early Science and Medicine, said that while modern technology has increased the effectiveness and types of weaponry, 'ancient soldiers facing the risk of injury and death must have been just as terrified of hardened and sharpened swords, showers of sling-stones or iron-hardened tips of arrows and fire arrows.'
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