The Assyrian Army by Tamás Dezső Book Set - 3 Volumes / Vol I. The Structure of the Neo-Assyrian Army - I/1. Infantry, I/2. Cavalry and Chariotry / Vol. II Recruitment and Logistics / Eötvös University Press / For Assyriologists & Archaeologists

HARDCOVER 2016 - 3 Volumes

ISBN-10: 9633120756 (Vol. I/1)
ISBN-13: 978-9633120750 / 9789633120750
ISBN-10: 9633120764 (Vol. I/2)
ISBN-13: 978-9633120767 / 9789633120767
ISBN-10: 9632847466 (Vol. II/2)
ISBN: 9789632847467 / 978-9632847467

PAGES: 336 + 272 + 335

PUBLISHER: Eötvös University Press

LANGAUGE: English / Angol

Author: Dezső Tamás

Monographs of the Institute of Ancient Studies, Faculty of Humanities, Eötvös Lóránd University, Budapest

English Summary:

The Structure of the Neo-Assyrian Army as reconstructed from Assyrian Palace Reliefs and Cuneiform Sources

1. Infantry

Assyriologists and archaeologists have long been interested in the study of the history of the Assyrian army. Despite this interest in the topic and our increasing knowledge about the military history of Assyria and the details of the structure of the Assyrian army, however, very few monographic syntheses on the Assyrian army exist. The Assyrian Army by Tamás Dezső is a comprehensive study that attempts to examine all possible aspects of the problem. The author examines the three major groups of sources which can be employed in the reconstruction of the Assyrian army: (1) the written (cuneiform) sources, (2) the pictorial evidence (palace reliefs and wall-paintings), and (3) the archaeological evidence (arms and armour). The book follows the logic of the different branches reconstructed from the Assyrian palace reliefs. This reconstruction is based on the representations of more than 3,000 Assyrian soldiers depicted on the sculptures of various Assyrian kings. This picture is a fairly coherent one and can be considered as the archetype of the later armies of the ancient times.

2. Cavalry & Chariotry

INTRODUCTION:  One of the most important chapters in the military history of Assyria and the Near East is the development of the cavalry as an independent arm of the army. Although the art of horse riding was known as early as the beginning of the 2nd millennium B.C. the cavalry as an independent, regular arm of an army can be identified for the first time in Assyria during the early 1st millennium B.C. In addition to the earlier Near Eastern use of horsemen as 'mounted messengers,' the first depictions of the cavalry as a fighting arm appear in the palace reliefs of Assurnasirpal II (883--859 B.C.). It is obvious that the first Assyrian (and Near Eastern) cavalry units were not established by Assurnasirpal II, and that other Near Eastern peoples had cavalry units at that time. The horse-breeding peoples of the Zagros and Armenian Mountains certainly used cavalry units among their troops. The earliest appearance of this foreign cavalry is in the palace reliefs of Assurnasirpal II, as fleeing horsemen pursued by the Assyrian chariotry.  In this scene an Assyrian chariot (perhaps belonging to the king himself) is pressing six enemy horsemen equipped with bows and swords. It is not known exactly where horsemanship and the cavalry developed, but it probably happened somewhere in the triangle formed by the Armenian Mountains, the Zagros Mountains and Assyria. But it was in Assyria that, in the course of its development, the cavalry became an independent arm of the army. The Assyrians developed the various uses of the cavalry on which the cavalry traditions of later ages were based. The cavalry was divided into lancers and mounted archers at the latest during the reign of Sennacherib, and the armoured cavalryman appeared in the Assyrian army as well. All the important ways of using the cavalry appear in the Assyrian palace reliefs. What is more, the same sculptures show how the cavalry overshadowed and finally replaced the chariotry, which gradually became an obsolete and redundant part of the Assyrian army. The role played by the Assyrian cavalry in the general development of the military use of horsemanship has not been fully recognised. Only a few articles on this topic - based on cuneiform sources  or on the depictions of cavalry in palace reliefs - have been published. These studies are, however, highly specialized, and the general summaries of the military history of the Near East still do not lay proper stress on the cavalry developments mentioned above.

II/2. Recruitment and Logistics

Following the first two volumes of this project, the aim of this study is to discern the logic behind the social and economic background of the military service.

The areas to be explored in this volume are (1) the recruitment system of the imperial army, including the social background of the individual soldiers and the service itself; (2) the supply and logistics of the army at home bases and during the campaigns, including the economic background of the individual soldiers and the service itself.

Hungarian Summary:

Az asszír hadsereg történetének most megjelent kötete Dezső Tamás hatkötetesre tervezett monográfia-sorozatának harmadik darabja. Az első két kötet (2012) az asszír hadsereg szerkezetét, fegyvernemeit, alakulatait írja le. Mostani kötetében a szerző a hadtörténet kevéssé érdekesnek tartott, a történelmi példák szerint azonban a legfontosabb aspektusát vizsgálja, az újoncozást és az utánpótlást. Kik szolgáltak a soknemzetiségű hadseregben? Vajon tényleg csak asszírok lehettek tisztek? Hogyan sikerült évente több ezer lovat zsákmányolni az ellenséges területekről?
Ha meg akarjuk érteni azt a közel háromszáz éves sikertörténetet, amely az újasszír korszak (Kr. e. 911–612) katonai hódításait fémjelezte, meg kell ismernünk azokat a mechanizmusokat, amelyek az ókori világ egyik legnagyobb és leghatékonyabb hadigépezetét működtették.