William J. Hamblin - Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC: Holy Warriors at the Dawn of History

Hamblin's book is a goldmine of information both textual and archaeological on ancient Near Eastern warfare before the Late Bronze Age.

Professor Robert Drews, Vanderbilt University

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.

Illustrated throughout, including maps of the region, this book is essential for experts and non-specialists alike.

William J. Hamblin is Associate Professor of History at Brigham Young University, specializing in Near Eastern and military history. He is co-author of World History to 1648 (1993).

General Editor

Jeremy Black

Professor of History, University of Exeter

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First published 2006

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge

605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2006 William J. Hamblin

Typeset in Bembo by Taylor & Francis Books

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Warfare in the ancient Near East to c. 1600 BC / [edited by] William J. Hamblin.

p. cm. (Warfare and history)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Military art and scienceMiddle EastHistory. 2. Middle EastHistory,

MilitaryTo 1500. I. Hamblin, William James. II. Series.

U31.W37 2005

355.00939409013dc22

2005006029

ISBN10: 0415-255899 (pbk)

ISBN10: 0415-255880 (hbk)

ISBN13: 9780-41525589-9 (pbk)

ISBN13: 9780-41525588-2 (hbk)

DOI: 10.4324/9780203965566

For Loree, Ken, Karen and Alex

of course

For Scott Nelson: the Better Man

And for Blake Donnek,

who dared to dream of a world without war

Mightiest of the mighty, hero in battle, let me sing his song!Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven, Sumer, c. 2000 BCE (EOG 169)

• Maps
• Tables

While working on this book over the past few years, my motto, along with Shakespeare's Prospero, has necessarily been: Me, poor man, my library was dukedom large enough