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Aron Pinker

Nineveh's Defensive Strategy and Nahum 2– / I.O.S.O.T.-Kongress in Ljubljana 2007

No records exist that spell-out Assyrian military thinking in the 7^th century BCE with respect to the defense of the country and in particular of Nineveh. An attempt is made to elicit a plausible defensive strategy for Nineveh, which integrates topographical considerations, preferences in military investments, and the modus operandi of the various armies at that time. Insights into Nineveh's defensive strategy and identification of the causes for its failure provide a framework for a coherent interpretation of Nah 2f. It is suggested that Nahum implies a defensive strategy for Nineveh and points to its potential failure as a means for establishing his vision of redemption (Nah 1,13) as a comforting possibility. Nahum reasons that Assyria could perish because its defensive strategy does not properly account for the change in the tempo of war operations introduced by fighting cavalry.

Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, Walter de Gruyter

Print ISSN: 0044-2526
Volume: 118, 12/2006
Pages: 618 - 625

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