This volume deals with the perception and conception of crises in ancient societies from an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural perspective, with contributions on Greece, Rome, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, India and China.

The focus is on the extent to which the modern concept of crisis had equivalents in the respective societies and how these crises were conceptually grasped and terminologically described. To achieve this, specialists from various fields have examined written and, in some cases, archaeological sources from the respective societies from the point of view of which developments or events were regarded as crises, how they were dealt with, and with which terms these situations were described.

In this way, the similarities and differences in the conception of crises in ancient societies are illustrated, making the volume an important reference for studies on crises in pre-modern societies.