Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC.

• Author: Wernick, Nicholas
• Position: Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC: Holy Warriors at the Dawn of History - Book review

Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC: Holy Warriors at the Dawn of History. By WILLIAM J. HAMBLIN. LONDON: ROUTLEDGE, 2006. Pp. 544. illus. $39.95 (paper).

The present volume represents an attempt of cross-disciplinary research into the warfare of the ancient Near East. In order to contain the volume of the material, the date of 1600 B.C.E., which represents a threshold in more complex relationships in terms of geopolitical trans actions and technology transfer, is the cut-off for the discussion. Hamblin treats his sources very critically in deed and with insight without making too many assumptions, and the volume is an excellent introduction to the topic of warfare in early human history. But any re searcher hoping to find new items of interest will be sadly disappointed, since it only revises well-known examples of weaponry and textual information.

The volume starts off with an introduction to the referencing method that Hamblin has applied. I cart only assume that he has devised this method himself since it does not conform to any style I have seen previously. Note in particular that he has opted to abhreviate every source he cites and this forces the reader to jump constantly to the abbreviations page. Footnotes would have been preferable. That aside, Hamblin shows himself a learned historian in his introduction where he notes what the material can illustrate and the pitfalls of assuming too much. (After all, a common failing in many volumes on ancient warfare is to assume too much.) Throughout the volume, Hamblin specifically states when he is making an assumption, a practice of great benefit to the reader, for one can then choose whether or not to agree with the author.

The first section of the book (chapters one to six) addresses the material from Mesopotamia. Hamblin does a fine job in combining a large amount of material into a coherent whole. In order to do this, he has to retell the current view of the history of Mesopotamia and how warfare factors into it. Although this is very advantageous for someone completely new to the subject, it be comes tiresome to an experienced researcher. Hamblin occasionally interrupts his narrative to discuss weaponry, e.g., the development of the sickle-sword. The addition of "side-bars" discussing specific topics would have been far more informative, since he could have focused on this material without interrupting the narrative.

Furthermore, the discussion of war-carts and chariots...