Foreword Margaret Alexiou; 1. Introduction Ann Suter; 2. The city lament genre in the Ancient Near East John Jacobs; 3. The destroyed city in ancient 'world history': from Agade to Troy Mary R. Bachvarova; 4. Mourning a city 'empty of men': stereotypes of Anatolian communal lament in Aeschylus' Persians Mary R. Bachvarova and Dorota Dutsch; 5. Seven Against Thebes, city laments, and Athenian history Geoffrey Bakewell; 6. Lament for fallen cities in Early Roman drama: Naevius, Ennius, and Plautus Seth A. Jeppesen; 7. City lament in Augustan epic: antitypes of Rome from Troy to Alba Longa Alison Keith; 8. The fall of Troy in Seneca's Troades Jo-Ann Shelton; 9. How to lament an eternal city: the ambiguous fall of Rome Catherine Conybeare; 10. Messengers, angels, and laments for the fall of Constantinople Andromache Karanika; 11. 'A sudden longing': remembering the lost city of Smyrna Gail Holst-Warhaft.