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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. Rory Cox is a senior lecturer in history at the University of St Andrews, where he is also an associate research fellow at the Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence. A fellow of the Royal Historical Society, he has published extensively on the history of ethics and violence, and is the author of John Wyclif on War and Peace. "A most impressive study. Rory Cox puts the war conventions of three ancient societies into conversation with the literature on the ethics of war. The results are clear and convincing. A wonderful contribution."-John Kelsay, Florida State University
"Cox explores the origins of the just war idea in the ancient cultures of Egypt, the Hittites and biblical Israel, showing how each developed its own concept of just war based on divine authority, exercised by or through the king. Origins of the Just War is a significant contribution to scholarship on war and the ethics of war."-James Turner Johnson, author of Ethics and the Use of Force: Just War in Historical Perspective
"A careful, thoughtful and beautifully written work of scholarship. Until now, there has been no systematic treatment of pre-Christian just war thinking. Cox fills the breach by excavating the ethical thinking about war that prevailed in three ancient Near Eastern empires. His findings are significant and will surely open the way for more studies of this kind into ancient societies."-Cian O'Driscoll, author of Victory: The Triumph and Tragedy of Just War "Winner of the Distinguished Book Award for Non-American Military History, Society for Military History" "[A] brilliant new work. . . . Highly-recommended."
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. Rory Cox is a senior lecturer in history at the University of St Andrews, where he is also an associate research fellow at the Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence. A fellow of the Royal Historical Society, he has published extensively on the history of ethics and violence, and is the author of John Wyclif on War and Peace. "A most impressive study. Rory Cox puts the war conventions of three ancient societies into conversation with the literature on the ethics of war. The results are clear and convincing. A wonderful contribution."-John Kelsay, Florida State University
"Cox explores the origins of the just war idea in the ancient cultures of Egypt, the Hittites and biblical Israel, showing how each developed its own concept of just war based on divine authority, exercised by or through the king. Origins of the Just War is a significant contribution to scholarship on war and the ethics of war."-James Turner Johnson, author of Ethics and the Use of Force: Just War in Historical Perspective
"A careful, thoughtful and beautifully written work of scholarship. Until now, there has been no systematic treatment of pre-Christian just war thinking. Cox fills the breach by excavating the ethical thinking about war that prevailed in three ancient Near Eastern empires. His findings are significant and will surely open the way for more studies of this kind into ancient societies."-Cian O'Driscoll, author of Victory: The Triumph and Tragedy of Just War "Winner of the Distinguished Book Award for Non-American Military History, Society for Military History" "[A] brilliant new work. . . . Highly-recommended."