Warfare in the ancient Near East to 1600 BC : holy warriors at the dawn of history / William J. Hamblin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hamblin, William James.

Series:

Warfare and history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Military art and science--Middle East--History.

Military art and science.

History, Military.

History.

Middle East--History, Military--To 1500.

Middle East.

Middle East Region.

Physical Description:

xxiv, 517 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Routledge, 2006.

Summary:

For many historians, military history began in Classical Greece. Chronologically, however, half of recorded military history occurred before the Greeks rose to military predominance. In this groundbreaking and fascinating study, William J. Hamblin synthesises current knowledge of early ancient Near Eastern military history in an accessible way, from the Neolitihic era until the Middle Bronze Age.

Drawing on an extensive range of textual, artistic, and archaeological data, Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC offers a detailed analysis of the military technology, ideology, and practices of Near Eastern warfare, focusing on key topics including: recruitment and training of the soldiers; the logistics and weaponry of warfare, with emphasis on the shift from stone to metal weapons; the role played by magic; narratives of combat and artistic representations of battle; the origins and development of the chariot as a mode of military transportation; fortifications and siegecraft; and developments in naval warfare. Hamblin pays particular attention to the earliest-known examples of holy war ideology in Mesopotamia and Egypt, and argues that this era laid the foundation for later Near Eastern concepts of holy war, and that such understandings remain of vital significance in the world today.

Contents:

1 The Neolithic Age and the origin of warfare {to c. 3000} 14

2 Early Dynastic Mesopotamia {3500-2334} 35

3 The Akkadian empire {2334-2190} 73

4 The Neo-Sumerian period {2190-2004} 102

5 War-carts and chariots 129

6 Middle Bronze Mesopotamia {c. 2000-1600} 154

7 Warfare in the age of Mari 185

8 Mesopotamian siegecraft 215

9 Syria and Lebanon 237

10 Canaan 269

11 Anatolia 285

12 Pre-Dynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt {3500-2687} 308

13 Old Kingdom Egypt {2687-2181} 328

14 Warfare during the Old Kingdom 353

15 First Intermediate Period Egypt {2190-2061} 368

16 Middle Kingdom Egypt {2061-1786} 382

17 The military system of the Middle Kingdom 412

18 Early Second Intermediate Period Egypt {1786-1667} 456.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 494-506) and index.

ISBN:

0415255880

0415255899

OCLC:

58468660

Publisher Number:

9780415255882

9780415255899