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.'

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

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.'

'The risk of death and the witnessing of the death of fellow soldiers appears to have been a major source of psychological trauma,' the researchers from Queen Mary University of London and Anglia Ruskin University wrote.

'Moreover, the chance of death from injuries, which can nowadays be surgically treated, must have been much greater in those days.

'All these factors contributed to post traumatic or other psychiatric stress disorders resulting from the experience on the ancient battlefield.'

Previously, the first documented instance of PTSD was Greek historian Herodotus' account of an Athenian spearman called Epizelus who lost his sight against the Persians in 49O BC at the Battle of Marathon and whose 'psychogenic mutism' followed.

But it now appears much earlier traumas were suffered in Mesopotamia, now Iraq, during the Assyrian Dynasty between 1300 and 609 BC.

WHAT IS POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER? Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety caused by very stressful or frightening events. They may include military combat, terrorist attacks, assault, natural disasters, road accidents or witnessing violent deaths. PTSD can develop immediately after a disturbing event, or can emerge months or years later. It's thought that one in three people who have a traumatic experience are affected by PTSD, NHS Choices say. Sufferers often relive the event through nightmares or flashbacks and can feel isolated, frightened or guilty. Symptoms, including difficulty sleeping, can be persistent and severe enough to impact on a person's day-to-day life. PTSD is currently treated with cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) or eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) as well as antidepressant medication. Advertisement

The study 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.' Shown is a stock image of a US servicemen returning home from Iraq in 2006

Writings uncovered from the time mention the King of Elam's 'mind changed', meaning he became disturbed. The researchers argue he may have been suffering from PTSD.

Trauma was also suffered by soldiers, with the male population of Assyria called upon to fight in battles in every third year during their military service, also possibly the cause of post traumatic stress disorders.

But the researchers said people would have found it difficult to diagnose these traumas and to treat sufferers accordingly due to a lack of understanding.

Clinical psychologist Professor Jamie Hacker Hughes, of Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, said: 'For many years it has often been stated the first documented evidence of post traumatic symptoms dates back to the Battle of Marathon, as chronicled by the historian Herodotus.

'This paper, and the research on which it is based, demonstrates post traumatic psychological symptoms of battle were evident in ancient Mesopotamia..

'Well before the Greek and Roman eras, before the time of Abraham and the biblical kings, David and Solomon, and contemporarily with the time of the Pharaohs. There really is nothing new under the sun.