Lars Andersen: a new level of archery

[Påsan]

Lack of documentation of PTSD doesn't necessarily mean it was absent, that it's mostly documented among soldiers from modern democracies merely indicates that modern democratic countries are far better at recognizing the signs than others. In any case, modern soldiers also have more stress to worry about than ancient ones, the nature of combat is very different but no less brutish. Apparently though Herodotus actually described a soldier who participated in the Battle of Marathon that seemed to suffer what might be symptoms of PTSD. It's a modern diagnosis, but as I said, the recent creation of the term does not mean it is a recent phenomenon. World War One veterans famously often suffered from it yet at the time there was even more of a stigma than there is now, and yet you'd be hard-pressed to describe WW1 soldiers as more cowardly or weaker than their ancient or modern counterparts.

Not really. US and British soldiers was apparantly more prone to 'shell shock' and 'battle fatigue' (PTSD) than their German and Japanese counterparts. This despite of the vast superiority of allied artillery and air-to-ground aviation.

Source:

Both British and American psychiatrists after the war concluded that the much lower rate of combat fatigue among German prisoners could only be explained by the militaristic nature of Nazi society which had prepared them better.

It is therefore reasonable to conclude that militaristic societies throughout history are less prone to PTSD. Especially religious conviction and fevour would probably be very effective counters.