‘I did not want war; the gods did!’ Ancient Near Eastern Justifications for War in the Late Bronze Age
War, Peace and Resilience in the Ancient World Narratives - Marinella Ceravolo
Sasha Alessandro Volpi
University of Bologna
Description
Late Bronze Age warfare was characterised by chariotry, which was the key factor to achieving victory. As Liverani (2011) notably argued, chariotry led the aristocracy to develop a sort of ‘chivalry code’. That code ritualised conflicts and implied justifications for waging war on another country. Religion was the key factor in legitimising a war, as it has been in all world history. The famous Tukulti−Ninurta Epic is a masterpiece of war justification written in the Assyrian court in the XIII century. The Babylonian court − often considered isolated from the Late Bronze Age cultural milieu − developed a similar literary taste for war justification poems. Therefore, this researcher will compare a complete composition, such as the Tukulti−Ninurta Epic, with Babylonian examples of historical epics. Nowadays, many of these examples allow us to credit Babylonians as part of the complex system of Late Bronze Age culture as well as Assyrians, Hittites and Egyptians.