Princeton University Press
Origins of the Just War
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About this book
A groundbreaking history of the ethics of war in the ancient Near East
Origins of the Just War reveals the incredible richness and complexity of ethical thought about war in the three millennia preceding the Greco-Roman period, establishing the extent to which ancient just war thought prefigured much of what we now consider to be the building blocks of the Western just war tradition.
In this incisive and elegantly written book, Rory Cox traces the earliest ideas concerning the complex relationship between war, ethics and justice. Excavating the ethical thought of three ancient Near Eastern cultures—Egyptian, Hittite and Israelite—he demonstrates that the history of the just war is considerably more ancient and geographically diffuse than previously assumed. Cox shows how the emergence of just war thought was grounded in a desire to rationalise, sacralise and ultimately to legitimise the violence of war. Rather than restraining or condemning warfare, the earliest ethical thought about war reflected an urge to justify state violence. Cox terms this presumption in favour of war ius pro bello—the “right for war”—characterizing it as a meeting point of both abstract and pragmatic concerns.
Drawing on a diverse range of ancient sources, Origins of the Just War argues that the same imperative still underlies many of the assumptions of contemporary just war thought and highlights the risks of applying moral absolutism to the fraught ethical arena of war.
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Frontmatter
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Contents
vii -
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List of Illustrations
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Acknowledgements
xiii -
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List of Abbreviations
xvii -
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A Note on Names and Places
xix -
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Maps
xxi -
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Introduction
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Chapter 1 The Art of War in the Ancient Near East
32 - PART I EGYPT, C. 3150–C. 1069 BCE
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Chapter 2 Egypt: Historical Introduction
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Chapter 3 Egypt: Ius ad bellum; Conceptualising Justice and War
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Chapter 4 Egypt: Ius in bello; Concepts and Practices
118 - PART II HATTI, C. 1650–C. 1200 BCE
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Chapter 5 The Hittites: Historical Introduction
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Chapter 6 Hatti: Ius ad bellum; Conceptualising Justice and War
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Chapter 7 Hatti: Ius in bello; Concepts and Practices
234 - PART III THE ISRAELITES, C. 1000–C. 450 BCE
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Chapter 8 The Israelites: Historical Introduction
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Chapter 9 The Israelites: Ius ad bellum; Conceptualising Justice and War
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Chapter 10 The Israelites: Ius in bello; Concepts and Practices
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Conclusion: The Characteristics of Ancient Just War Thought
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Appendix 1: Periodic Chronology of Ancient Egypt with Primary Centres of Power
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Appendix 2: Internal Narrative Chronology of the Tanakh
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Reference Bibliography
461 -
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Index
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A Note On the Type
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