The City Besieged

Exploring the military, legal, social and literary aspects of ancient warfare this study examines the multifaceted nature of the siege phenomenon in the ancient Near East. The book is based on Akkadian and biblical (and, to lesser degree, Greek, Aramaic, Egyptian, Hittite and Ugaritic) sources as well as on the depictions on reliefs from Assyrian palaces and Egyptian temples. The analysis incorporates lexical study and military thinking and focuses on the technology of warfare and human behavior is a state of emergency.