Brotherhood of Kings - Book Review
February 19, 2022
A great read on how international relations shaped the ancient near east from 2300 BCE to 1300 BCE.
Synopsis
From Amazon (there was no synopsis on the back cover of the book)
Amanda Podany 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."
Details
- 2010
- Oxford University Press
- Written by Amanda H. Podany
What's the Book About?
The book focuses on 1000 years of international diplomacy and how these relations between kings shaped the ancient near east from the earliest accounts of diplomacy, right up to the fall of Mitanni.
The book is broken up into 4 sections:
- The Early Dynastic Period and Akkadian Empire
- The Old Babylonian Kingdom
- A Time of Crisis and Change
- The Amarna Age
My Review
Our records of diplomacy come to us from the various written tablets that have been excavated throughout the near east, along the eastern Mediterranean, Anatolian and Syrian regions and of course the city of Amarna in Egypt.
Podany goes into the first recorded evidence of diplomacy and describes how diplomacy was a means to secure trading routes between very distant lands.
It's interesting to note that this is not the first instance of diplomacy, but merely the first written evidence of diplomacy. From the earliest written records (2300 BCE) we find that the customs and sophisticated system of diplomacy had already been well established prior to the starting date in the book.
The Writing is not just on the Wall, it's also on a Tablet
It's also interesting to see the progression of the language of diplomacy – quite literally. Far-reaching kingdoms needed a common language which could be written down, sent to a foreign king, then translated into the specific language of the king – that language was Akkadian, and the writing was in cuneiform baked onto a clay tablet.
Kingdoms would either send scribes to Sumer to learn Akkadian; or, host scribes from Sumer to learn Akkadian. Diplomacy was big in the ancient world and the Akkadian language would continue in use long after the Akkadian empire vanished.
Did Everyone Play by the Rules?
Not all cultures understood the value of diplomacy. Somewhere around 1595 BCE Mursili I from today's Turkey sacked the city of Babylon. They didn't ask for a treaty; they didn't send scribes; they just went in with an army, looted and stole the sacred god Marduk, leaving as quickly as they came. Eventually though, the Hittites saw the benefits of diplomacy and joined the "brotherhood"
The attack on Babylon resulted in little written records being found so we have a gap of about 200 years. While diplomacy was certainly carried out between kingdoms around the Mesopotamian and Syrian regions, evidence of it is sorely lacking. It wasn't until Egypt's Thutmose I invaded Syria, that the power in the region — Mitanni, took notice and opted for diplomacy instead of war.
Give Peace a Chance
From this diplomatic engagement between Mitanni and Egypt, a relative calm came across the near east. Granted there were wars and border disputes, but the major powes: Hittites, Egypt, Babylon, Mitanni were at peace and using diplomacy to import and export luxury goods between empires.
What of the Brotherhood?
Family in ancient times was everything. While there were instances of political assassinations within a royal family, this was the exception and not the norm.
To the ancients, marriage of a king's sister or daughter to foreign a king created a bond between the two nations – a bond which enhanced the stability of a treaty and thus, the stability between nations.
Though messengers would travel back and forth with requests for luxury goods, they also requested audiences with the queen who was sister or daughter. During this audience, the queen would impart important information on the status of the kingdom, if she was being treated well, and any needs she may have from home.
The queen herself was not alone in the foreign land: she would have been accompanied with a contingent of servants from her land who would remain with her and provide her with a continued environment of her home culture.
Trade between Nations
The best part of the book for me was when the author talked of how trade was greatly benefited from diplomacy. We had traders from as far away as Afghanistan and Indonesia (through India) trading goods with places as far west as Syria. From luxury items such as Lapis Lazuli and carnelian (red crystals) to everyday spices such as cloves found in a pot of a farmer's excavated home (pg 115).
War and Peace
Diplomacy helped maintain the peace. War was expensive - not just waging it but also defending from it. It was more economical to negotiate what you wanted from a foreign power than to take it.
For kingdoms closer by, larger kingdoms would create treaties and call these vassal kingdoms. Kings in this situation were not brothers, but sons and fathers. Only kings who saw themselves as equal to another king would use the term brother.
My Thoughts
I enjoyed this book. Podany did a great job telling a story and keeping cultures and timelines straight. It's not always easy reading ancient history - there are so many cultures across different timelines that it's easy to get confused as to who was in power when and which civilizations were around at the time.
I don't envy the job of a historian trying to piece together fragments of history into a timeline, but I definitely do appreciate their efforts.
Would I Recommend this Book?
Yes, I would recommend this book. If you are looking for a history of international relations from before the rise of Assyria, then this book is for you.
