A friend at the club has asked for recommendations for warfare in the Mesopotamian Bronze Age with a focus on Sumer - I have told him about the two Nigel's WRG tome (new one soon?) but wonder if there is anything readable and relatively up to date?
I'd start with Bill Hamblin's Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC: Holy Warriors at the Dawn of History (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Warfare-Ancient-Near-East-1600/dp/0415255899/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=).
I will pass that on - thank you Duncan
For Sumeria, I thought Chris Flaherty's work was useful.
(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjAVz0ZpOTFBoOB6tBbUh4DZ_1bCOQqGswcDvgderOsA3uVKQWYrdbcWXdmFcTDWZyKiceHFU3lIMfNCrILceb72J-LpIvbVPkLQ0iLQxRRuN4ihO2oEgMuhUKR58NWJDZSpBF5m13fewUqvovNEl4-WMp8vggK0SPHvzyJX9gZFWjJ-1-bDH83X-vrOw)
Quote from: Duncan Head on April 03, 2023, 08:27:01 PMI'd start with Bill Hamblin's Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC: Holy Warriors at the Dawn of History (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Warfare-Ancient-Near-East-1600/dp/0415255899/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=).
Just to second that one, I think at one time it was on web as a pdf, free
Hamblin's book is excellent and readily accessible. From the history side, I would look at (the late) Amelie Kurht's 2 volume The Ancient Near East. It's one of my all-time favourite reads.
Ygael Yadin's 'Art of war in Biblical Lands'. Might take a bit of finding to buy but illustrations are excellent and should be available in Libraries. I managed to buy a copy a few years back from a second hand bookshop for £20.
Worth checking religious bookshops for the Yadin. I got mine from one at a low price that can only be explained by the lack of Christian content concerning the sellers.
Also, there are two versions, a single and a double folio edition - afaik identical in content
I see prices for Yadin all over the board. If you are patient, you can pick them up for (what I think are) bargain prices. If you were in the States, I could send you the two-volume version.
It's worth shopping around for second hand copies of Yadin. Massive price variation, dependent in part on condition.
I see Oxfam are offering one in their sale for £5.99 (https://onlineshop.oxfam.org.uk/the-art-of-warfare-in-biblical-lands-in-the-light-of-archaeological-discovery/product/HD_300774584)
Thank you all very much for your suggestions -