Dezső Tamás: The Assyrian Army l/1

Dezső Tamás: The Assyrian Army l/1

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.