Brotherhood of Kings: How International Relations Shaped the Ancient Near East by Amanda H. Podany (PDF)

Description

Amanda Podany here takes readers on a vivid tour through a thousand years of ancient Near Eastern history, from 2300 to 1300 BCE, paying particular attention to the lively interactions that took place between the great kings of the day.Allowing them to speak in their own words, Podany reveals how these leaders and their ambassadors devised a remarkably sophisticated system of diplomacy and trade. What the kings forged, as they saw it, was a relationship of friends-brothers-across hundreds of miles. Over centuries they worked out ways for their ambassadors to travel safely to one another’s capitals, they created formal rules of interaction and ways to work out disagreements, they agreed to treaties and abided by them, and their efforts had paid off with the exchange of luxury goods that each country wanted from the other. Tied to one another through peace treaties and powerful obligations, they were also often bound together as in-laws, as a result of marrying one another’s daughters. These rulers had almost never met one another in person, but they felt a strong connection–a real brotherhood–which gradually made wars between them less common. Indeed, any one of the great powers of the time could have tried to take over the others through warfare, but diplomacy usually prevailed and provided a respite from bloodshed. Instead of fighting, the kings learned from one another, and cooperated in peace.A remarkable account of a pivotal moment in world history–the establishment of international diplomacy thousands of years before the United Nations–Brotherhood of Kings offers a vibrantly written history of the region often known as the “cradle of civilization.”

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Brotherhood of Kings, by Amanda Podany, is one of the most interesting books on Near Eastern Archaeology that I have read in a long time.This book tells the history of the Bronze Age Middle East through the eyes of Kings, Queens, Princes, Princesses and vassals who wrote letters found in archives preserved in Mesopotamia, Syria and Egypt. These letters reveal the personalities of the writers in a very human way. Some of the Kings were greedy for gold; others constantly whined that the gifts that had been sent to them by other Kings were not sufficient. Amenhotep III of Egypt seemed to have an interest in marrying as many foreign princesses as possible and several letters reveal the size of the dowry and bridal gifts exchanged by the Pharaoh and his father-in-law.Some of the stories are familiar to students of the Ancient Near East. For example, the letters between an Egyptian Queen (Ankhesenamen, the widow of Tutankhamen?) and the King of the Hittites, in which the Egyptian Queen asks for the Hittite King to send one of his sons to Egypt so that she can marry him (as her husband has died and she does not want to marry one of her subjects) is a well-known, and fascinating, story. One wonders how history would have changed if the Hittite Prince had married the Egyptian Queen (instead of being assassinated en route to Egypt).Other sets of correspondence were not familiar to me. One of the most interesting of these, are the set of letters between Zimri-Lim (King of Mari) and a number of other Kings to whom he had married his daughters. One of the young ladies was very unhappily married and seems to have genuinely feared for her life. She was probably quite relieved when her husband divorced her and sent her home.This book is well written and easy to read. It is full of fascinating information and tells numerous interesting tales in a very lively manner. I recommend it highly to anyone interested in ancient Near Eastern history.

⭐Dr. Podany is super lecturer and writer – American public knows less than nothing that they should about ancient Mesopotamia and that the attributes of ‘civilization’ created there c. 3000 BC have many fundamental influences today. The title indicates the central theme – diplomacy between monarchs – but of course much else is described – Some of the stories about these relationships are actually very funny. Dr. Podany quotes from their letters – of course she has personal experience based on exploration of the ruins and reading cunniform no less.

⭐Thanks to the astonishing durability of burnt clay tablets, tantalizing glimpses of day-to-day diplomacy between ancient Near Eastern powers have been preserved to this day. Abused princess married off to a violent vassal king begging her father to take her back, an angered king lecturing to a recently enthroned ally about the proper etiquette of gift-giving, a widowed Egyptian queen doing the unthinkable and asking a foreign prince for a husband — these and other millennia-old stories as told by the very letters and histories the kings, queens, princes and princesses themselves dictated.Now these stories are told in an engaging book. The author has the knack of writing scientifically sound but eminently readable history. The cast of characters — such as princess-collecting Pharaoh of Egypt, tragic king of Mitanni and several would-be empire-makers — comes alive, and the reader is made really feel for them.Podany’s research is up to date and she always informs the reader if there is scholarly debate about the exact nature of a given fact. I can recommend this book not only for the light it casts on ancient history, but also for the sheer human drama.

⭐This is a good read for someone with a basic knowledge of Ancient Near Eastern and Egyptian history. The information is scholarly in nature, but the author’s style is highly readable and directed towards the non-scholar. No beautiful graphics or pictures, but the timeline presented at the front is excellent. I really enjoyed learning more about the interactions and relationships between the powerful kingdoms of the 3rd millennium BCE. While it is not difficult to find a solid historical narrative of one of the kingdoms, this book gives one a much better sense of the larger picture and how the region operated as a whole (without undue focus on the battles between them), which makes it all more accessible and understandable. I highly recommend it to the layperson with a very basic knowledge of that area and period of history already who wants to get a stronger sense of the vibrancy of the region.

⭐Although the author modestly says that her book merely scratches the surface of the subject of Late Bronze Age treaties, correspondence, and bride and wealth exchange, there is in fact an abundance of such enlightening history here, brought to life by the very words (in translation) of the ancient kings of the Near East, and also by the writer’s interpolations and comfortable style. Adds a very nice dimension to the layman’s comprehension of ancient history. I highly recommend this book, but gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because the illustrations are rather few: pictures aren’t strictly essential to such a text, I suppose, but more of them, even some in color, would have brought back those times with a still-greater feeling of intimacy.

⭐Outstanding source book in understanding communication between the four great powers and how it grew into diplomacy. Great maps…easy to read and good primary sources.

⭐Worked well for my classes

⭐This is one of the best, if not the best, books on the subjects I’ve ever read. I wanted to get it in 2015, but was busy being pregnant with a 1 year old at home. I finally got it and couldn’t put it down once started. Extremely readable and the level of research is superior. I’d assumed previously that this book primarily encompassed the Amarna letters but it begins with Mari and lesser known Ebla.

⭐Thank you. Everything ok

⭐Amanda Podany ist mit “Brotherhood of Kings” ein eingängliches und gut zu lesendes Werk gelungen, das sich zugleich auch durch fachliche Exzellenz und Tiefe auszeichnet. Sie behandelt Diplomatie von der mittleren Frühbronzezeit (2500 v. Chr.) bis zum Ende der Spätbronzezeit (1300 v. Chr.) im Vorderen Orient einschließlich Ägypten. In narrativem Stil beschreibt sie das ewige Ringen um Frieden oder Krieg unter den großen und berühmten sowie weniger berühmten Herrschergestalten des Alten Orients.Ihre Darstellung beginnt mit den ersten Belegen für überstaatliches Handeln im alten Sumer und im Reich von Akkade. Die altbabylonische Zeit wird vor allem unter dem Gesichtspunkt von Kriegen und Bündnissen sowie von Fernhandel betrachtet. Am Übergang von Mittel- zu Spätbronzezeit spielen die externen Interventionen in Mesopotamien und der Konflikt zwischen den aufstrebenden Großmächten eine überragende Rolle und werden als Vorspiel zur Amarnazeit gesehen. Schwerpunkt der ganzen Darstellung ist jedoch die Amarnazeit selbst. Hier werden ähnlich dem bekanntenSammelband

⭐ausführlich die diplomatische Rethorik, Heiratspolitik, Güteraustausch, Konflikte und Friedensschluss behandelt. Zugleich sind dies auch die Themen, die in den vorausgehenden Kapiteln immer wieder zum Tragen kommen.Dabei geht Podany sauber auf die jeweilige Quellenlage ein und illustriert nicht Bezeugtes durch Vergleichsquellen. Immer wieder finden sich in diesem Band dann auch gute Karten, Schwarzweiß-Fotos und Zeittafeln, die das Beschriebene weiter illustrieren. Zugleich hütet sie sich vor anachronistischen Vergleichen mit der heutigen Zeit. Die Akteure kommen durch die Quellen in moderner englischer Übersetzung wiederholt selbst zu Wort.Damit hebt sich Podanys Band positiv von vergleichbarer Literatur ab. Von einer Lektüre können Laie wie Fachwissenschaftler gleichermaßen profitieren, der letzte findet Fußnoten ab S. 313, so dass diese das Textbild nicht stören. Zu loben ist hierbei sicher auch die sauber ausgewählte Bibliografie am Ende des Bandes. Etwas zu kurz kommt sicher der juristische Blickwinkel auf völkerrechtliche Fragen, die sich etwa beim ebenfalls lesenswertenBand von Amnon Altmann

⭐finden.Still reading this one, too

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