The End Of The Bronze Age

THE END OF THE BRONZE AGE C H A NGE S IN WARfAR E AND T HE C A T A ST R O P HE C A . 12 0 0 B.C .

Robert Drews

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PRI N C ET O N UN I VE RS I T Y P R E S S PR I N C ET ON, N EW J ER S E Y

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CO N T EN TS Co pyrig ht {' 1993

by Pnn ceto n Unive rsity I'ress

Pu blished by Princet on Uni versrrv Press. 41 \X'Jlham Stree t. L IST O F lL L U ST R A TlO N .'

Pri nceton. New j ersev 0 854 0 In the United Kingdom : Prince to n University Press, Chiche ster, West Sussex

A C KN O W LE D G M EN TS

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All RIgh ts Reserved AB B RE VI A n O N S

Lib rary

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PA RT O N E: INT ROD UCTIO N

Drew s, Ra be n. Th e en d of [he Bro nze Age: C h anges in \'(Iar fare and [he ca tastro p he ca . 120 0

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B. C.

i Ra ben Drew s.

C H APT ER 01':E

The Ca tas tro phe an d Its Chro no log y

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O L\P T ER TWO

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Includes bibliog rap h ical referenc es an d index. ISBN 0 · 69 1-0 4811 ·8 1. Bro nze ag e-c-M edir er r.mean Regio n.

M ed iterranean Region.

2. \X'arfare. Prehisroric-

3. Chariot warfare-c-- Med irerr anean Region.

4. \V'e3pon s. Preh istor ic-c-M edirerr .mean Region . Reg ion - A nti quities .

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5 . Med uerrauean

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T his book has been com posed in Saban Prince ton Un iversity Press bo o ks arc printed on acid -free paper

Th e Ca tastro phe Surveyed 8 Anatolia 8 Cyp rus 11 Syria 13 111e Sal/them l.euant 15 Mesopotam ia 17 Egyp t 18 G reece and th e Aegean Islands Crete 26 Su m m ary 29

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Co m mitt ee on Prod uct ion Guidelines fo r Book Lo ngevity o f the

PART rwo. ALTER N ATIV E EXPLAN ATIO NS O F TH E CATAST RO PH E

Co unci l o n Library Resou rces

C HA PTE R T HREE

an d mee t the gui delin e s for perma nence and dur ab ility o f the

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Earthqu ak es

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C H APTER f O UR

M igrat ion s

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The Egyptian Evidence 48 The O rigins of th e Thesis 5.1 Ar chaeo logical ,111.1 Historical Considerations C HA PTE R FIVE

Ironwork ing

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C H APT ER SIX

Dro ught

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C II APT ER SEVEN

Systems Co llapse

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C O:-':T E ~T S

LIST O F ILL USTRATI O NS

( HAPTER EIGHT

Ra iders

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PART THREE: A MILITARY EXPLANATI ON O F THE CATAST RO PH E

FIGURE I. M ap of Eastern Mediterranean, show ing ma jor sites destroyed in the Ca tastro phe

CHAPTER N INE

Preface

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a Military Exp lan atio n of the Catastrophe

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CHA PTER TEN

The Cha riot Warfare of th e La te Bronze Age

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Th e Beginn ings of Char iot War fare 104 Chariotries: Numbers and Costs 106 How Chariots Were Used in Battle 113 Th e Battles at Megiddo and Kad esh 129 CHAPTE R ELEVEN

Foorsoldiers in the Late Bro nze Age

135 " Runners ": Th e Role of lnfantryrnen in Chariot Warfare 141 T he Recruitment of Infantrym en ill the Late BrOllZe Age 147 infantry For ces in the Catastrop he 157

CHA PTER 1WELVE

Inf antry a nd Horse Troops in th e Earl y Iron Age

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CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Ch anges in Armor a nd Weapons at th e End of the Bronze Age

Armor 174 Javelins , Sp ears, and Lan ces Sw ords 192

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CHA PTER FOURTEEN

The End of C ha riot War fare in the C atast ro phe BIBLIO GRAPHY I NDEX

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FIGUR!" 2. Tanged, ellip tica l weapon-heads of th e late second millenn ium : a. RS 1l0/99, fro m Catast ro phe de struction level at Uga rit ; 7 em. ; after Yon et aI., " O rga nisatio n," figure 28 b. RS 80/270, fro m Catastrophe destruction level at Ugarit; 8.5 crn. ; after Yon et a l., "Organisarion.," figure 27 c. J 1 3; from EI Kh adr, Isr ael ; 9.2 em.; aft er Cross and Mil ik, "Typological Study, n figure 2 d. Fro m Mycenae; 13 .7 cm.; after Avila, Lan zen spitzen, Tafel 28 , no. 76 9 e. Fro m Hazar; head , 8.5 em ., sho e, 4 crn.; after Yadin et aI., Ha zar , vols . 3-4, plate 347 , nos. 3 and 6 FIGURE 3 . Ea stern Mediterranean sw ords of the Late Bronze Age: a. Sick le swo rd from tomb of Turankh arnun ; 40 em.; after Ya din, Art of Warfare, vol. 1, 207 b. LH II rapier from Plovdiv, Bulgaria; 76 crn.; after Sanda rs, " Later Aegean Bronze Swords, n plate 22 , no. 7 c. Anato lian rapier found near Bogh azk 6y; 79 em . including " killed " tang; aft er Un al et aI. , " H ittite Sword, n 47 FIGURE 4. Cur- and-thrust swo rds from the period of th e Catast ro p he: a. N aue Type II swo rd from Aran yos, Hungary; ca . 65 crn.; after Cowen, " Flange-H ilred Cutt ing Sword, n fig. 2, no. 4 b. " M erne pra h Swo rd" from Ugarit; 74 crn.; after Schaeffer, " Bro nze Sword from Ugarit, n 227. c. Longest of the four swords from " Ia maison du Grandprerre d'Ugarit" ; 73 crn. ; after Sch aeffer, Ugaritica, vol. 3,fig.223 d . N aue Type II sword from M ycenae ; 60 crn.; a fter Cowen , " Fla nge-H ilted C utti ng Sword, n fig. 2, no . 6 PLATE 1. Sen I attacking the ch ariots of the Hittite king. Line draw ing of relief from Amun temple at Ka rn ak . Plate 34 in The

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Bat tle Relie fs uf King Set) ' I. Co urresv of rhe O rienta l lnsrirure of rhc Un iversity of Ch icago

ACK N OW U-:D G,'vl ENTS 123

PLATE 2 . " Ba rtle Scene" fresco fro m Pylo s, recon stru c ted by Pier de j ong, Fresco 22 H64 (pla re ,\1) in M abel La ng, T he Palace of Ne stor at Pylas . \ ' 0 1. 2 : T he Frescoes (Princeton : Princet on University Press, 196 9). Reprodu ced by permission of Prince ton Universit y Press. Pho tograp h o btai ned fro m rhe University of Cin cinnati

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PLATE 3. A shardana skirm ishe r slayin g a H irrire cha rioteer a r Kade sh . Ab yd o s relief. Pho to grap h courtesy of Vronw y H ankey

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PLATE 4. A shardana skirm ishe r cu tt ing off rhe ha nd o f a slain H irrire ch a r iotee r a r Kad esh. Ab ydos relief. Pho rogr aph co u rtesy of Vro nwy Hankey

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PLA TE 5. Sharda na bod yguar ds of Ram esses II, a r Kadesh. Abydos relie f. Phoro grap h cou rtesy of Vro nw y Ha nkey

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PLATE 6 . Land barrie of Ram esses III, in Yea r Eighr , agai ns t Philistine and other aggr essor s. Line drawing of relief from M cdin er H abu . Co urtesy o f the Oriental lnsrirure o f the Un ivers ity of C hic a go

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PLATE 7. Sea bat tle of Rarn esscs III, in Year Eigh t, aga inst Philistine an d othe r aggressor s. Line d rawing of relief from Mediner H abu . Co u rtesy of rhe O rie nt al Inst itute o f th e Un iversity of C hicago

160

PLATE 8 . "Warrio r Vase " fro m M ycen ae, side A. Ph ot og ra p h o b ra ine d from Marburg! An Resource, Ne w York

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PLATE 9. Seri I arracking Shos h u Bedouin in Ca n aa n. Line drawin g of relief from Arnun temp le ar Ka rna k. Plat e J in The Battle Reliefs of King Sety 1. Co urtesy of rhe Oriental lnsrirure of rhe University of C hicago

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PLATE J O. Bartle of Rarnesses III again st Libya ns. Line d rawing of relief from Medin cr H abu . Co urtesy of the O rienta l Institute of the Univc r siry of C hicago

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O R PH OTO GR APH S a nd per mission to publis h th em in thi s book I a m gra tef ul ro the O rienta l lnsrirure of the University of Ch icago and to Princeton Univer sirv Press. Ar the O rie nt.rl Insrirure my req ues rs we re very kind ly expedi ted by Jo hn Lar son and Lisa Sn ide r. T he pho to gra ph of t he reconstructed "Barrie Scene" fresco ar Pylos was mad e for me by Tucke r Blackburn, Rese a rch Assoc iate in th e Depa rtment of Clas sics ar rhe Universirv of Cin cinnari. For rhe illust rat io ns of "Sharda na warriors" I am indebted to Vronwy Han key, who pro rnp rly and gracio usly respo nded to my requ est for her ma tch less pho togr aph s of the Ab ydo s reliefs of rhe Barrie of Kadcsh , The " \Va rrio r Vase" illustr atio n ca me from :>-!arbu rg ! An Reso ur ce, of New York. For th e d rawing of ligures 2- 4 I rh ank !\kg Coo de Sha nnon . D rs. Joanna Scurloc k a nd Richa rd Bea l p rovided me wirh much co nsrruc rive criticism ar c1 cru cial suge of rhis ma nuscr ipt . I rh.ink rhem for sav in g me fro m errors lar ge a nd sma ll and exone ra te them en ti re ly tr oru tho se rh ar remain . I a m also inde bted, for vario us ki ndn esses and cornmu nicari on s, ro Professor s Leo na rd Albe rsrudr, Fra nk C ross, Stuart Piggo rr, Anthony Sno dgrass, and Sma rr Wh l.'eler. T he cdiror s ar Princeton Universiry Press have again been very help ful : fo r rheir good work and judgme n t I rha nk Lauren Os bo rne, Co lin Barr, and especia lly Lauren O ppenhe im. For bib lical passages, un less otherw ise , pec ihed . I have used rhe RSV rra nslar io n. T he rr.m slar iou s of occasio nal lines fro l1l Ho mer a ncl o the r G ree k a ut ho rs a re my ow n.

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B. Pr itc hard , ed ., A II Ci,"lt N t'.tr-!·:.Istt'm Tex ts ReI.ltillg t .. th e O ld Test.nn ent, 3d ed. Prin ceton : Prince ton Uni vers ity Press, J 969 A rcba eologi c.i! Reports

Arcb.iologischer Anzciger Al/ ata/i,lII Stl/ die; Bulletin 0/ th e AIIIN ic,m S,:/wo!; 0/ Oriont,i l Resc.uch Bul let »: 0/ th e l nstitute 0/ A rdJ,1eoiogy (l .{//1/101I) RilJ/ic,rI Arcb.ieol og ist Bulletin de Ca rresp o nd.m cc l lcllcn iqu » I.E.S. Edw a rds, C. J. G'ldd , "J.G .L. Ha m mo nd , a nd E. So l· lbe rge r, eds , Th e Ca mb ridge A llt-ielll HIsto ry. _i d ed . Ca mb ridge: C am h ridge Univers itv Press, 19 70 Cl.issic.tl Philology Clas sica l Q I/arterly

Israel Explor.ttion lou rn.il j ournal 0/ the A meric'lII O ri"III.rI Societ y [o urnal 0/ the Amcric.nt Rrsc.trc]... Cen ter in F,:.:vpt IOIlT/ r.1} 0/ Bih lica ! l .it cr.ttu rc [ou rnal 0/ f gypti,m A rc/Men/og)' kmrn.t! 0/ I lellenu: St udi es [c ntrn.tl 0/ Nc.i r Eastern Stu di.» [ourua l /0 1' t lu : Stu dv o{ t lu : ()}, I '}"st,IIII,'1I1 '1011 m al 0/ Sem itir Stndies .\ I;ttei}l/ngell d,'s Dvn tscb cn :l rd "'jnl,,gist!,,'11 lnstu ut s

°11l1. Alt ogether, th e ass aults up on Egypt in th e reign of Ram esses III seem to have co ns tituted th e most serio us external threat that Egypt had faced since the invasion of th e byksos in the sevente enth century B.C .

GR EECE AND T H E A EG EAN I SLAND S

None of the pa laces of Late Hell adi c Gre ece surv ived ver y far int o th e tw" lUa n III Period, 12 1: "Ir is now clea r that th e town of Ka rphi was first in ha bited during a relativel v ea rlv stage in LM 1II

C"

101

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Carling , A R ( 198H- 89): 107 .

'''~ For the mosr recent report o n the se two sites see G . C Gesel l, L. P. Day, and W. D. Co ulsen. "The 1991 Seaso n ar Kavou si, C rete, " Al A 96 ( 199 2): 353 .

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I N TR OD UC TI O N

man y small communities were not destr oyed, having been simpl y aba ndoned in the early twelfth cent ury B.C., the great centers went up in flames. In fact, in all the lands menti on ed it is only in the interi or of the so uthe rn Levant that one can find at least a few significant centers that were no t destroyed by fire at least once du ring the Catastro phe. In the aftermath of destru ction man y centers were rebuilt , and a surprising number of them were on or within sight of the seacoast. Tiryns, Troy, lalysos, Tarsus, Enkorni, Kirion, Ashdo d, and Ashkel on are th e bestknown of these rwelfth-cent ur y coas tal settlements, but ther e were ma ny othe rs. Another expedient, favored especially by the survivors of the Catastroph e in eastern Crete, was ro locate new town s high in th e mountains. Sma ll, unfortified settlements were far less commo n in the middl e of the twelfth centu ry than they had been a cent ury earlier. Egypt escaped the Catastro phe, inasmuch as no Egyptian cities o r palaces are known to have been dest royed, although after Ramesses III pha raon ic power and prest ige ent ered a sharp decline. And in Mesop otam ia the Catastrophe seems ro have don e little damage: the kin gs of Assur remained strong through the twelfth centu ry, and Babylonia 's t roubl es were of a conventional kind. But in all other civilized lands, the Catastro phe was synonymous with the burning of rich palaces and famou s cities.

PART TWO ALTERN ATI VE EXPLA NATI O NS O F THE CATAST ROPHE

PART THREE A MILITARY EXPLANATION OF THE CATAST RO PH E

Chapter Nin e PREFACE TO A NHLlTARY EXPLAN ATIO N OF THE CATAST RO PH E

T

H E CATAST ROP HE can most eas ily be expl ained , I believe, as a result of a radi cal innovatio n in wa rfa re, whi ch su ddenl y gave to "b arbarian s" th e milit ary adv antage over the long esta blished and civilized kingdom s of th e eas tern Mediterr an ean . We sha ll see that th e Late Bronze Age kingdo ms, both lar ge a nd small, depended o n a rmies in which the ma in compo nent was a cha riot co rps. A king's military might was measure d in horses a nd cha riots: a kingdo m with a th ous and cha riots was man y tim es st ro nger th an a kin gdom with o nly a hundred. By th e begin ning of the twelfth century, however, the size of a king's cha r iorry ceased to ma ke mu ch difference, beca use by th at time cha riotry everyw here had become vulnera ble to a new kind of infantry. The infantries th at evidently defeated even the greatest cha riot a rmies during th e Cat ast ro phe used weapons and guerr illa tactics th at were cha racte rist ic of barbarian hill peopl e but had never been tried en masse in th e plains and against the cente rs of th e Late Bro nze Age king do ms. Th e M ed inet Habu reliefs indi cate that the wea po ns of Rame sses' oppon ents were javelins and lon g swo rds, wh ereas th e traditional weapon of th e chari ot corps was the bow. N either th e long swo rd nor th e javelin was an inventi on of th e late th irte enth centu ry: a lon g slashing swo rd had been availabl e in temp er ate Eu rope for centuries, and th e javelin everyw here fo r millennia . Until sho rtly befo re 1200 B.C., however, it had never occ urred to an yone th at infant rymen with such weap on s coul d o utrnatch cha riots. On ce that lesson had been lea rned, power sudd enly shifted from the Great Kingdom s to motl ey co llect ions of infa nt ry wa rriors. The se warri ors hailed from barbarou s, mountainou s, o r otherwise less desirabl e land s, some next door to th e kingdo ms and some far away. Befo re attem pting to demo ns trate these generalizatio ns, I must ma ke some ap ologies. Warfare in th e preclassical world is a subject o n which we evide nt ly will never kn ow very much . We have some idea w ha t warfa re was like in fifth-century G reece, and a few Rom an battl es ca n be reconstru cted in detail. Byext en sion , we can imagine at least the o utlines of batt les fough t by Archaic Greeks and Rom an s. But beyo nd ca . 700 q uest ions begin to multipl y, and a bo ut th e seco nd millennium we are gross ly igno ran t. Afte r survey ing what is kno wn an d can be know n abo ut war fare at Ugarit, Jean

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No ugayro l co ncluded th at " rna lhe urcuse me nt, nous nc savo ns pratiqu ement rien su r l' arrnee qu ' Ugarit pou vair alors rnettre sur pied. " I O n man y qu esti on s o ne on onl y guess, and since gue ssing seems unprofess ion al, historians do as little of it as pos sibl e. T he result , however, is that for lack of evid ence on e of the mo st impo rt ant things ab out the preclassical world is lar gely ignor ed. There is goo d reason to think th at the evolut ion of warfare made and unmade the world of the Late Bronze Age. Even thou gh we ca nno t be certa in a bo ut th is evo lutio n , an d espe ciall y ab out its deta ils, it is tim e th at we begin to guess . The descri pti on of Bronz e Age and ea rly Iron Age warfare would o rd inar ily be th e task of the military historian. For so me tim e, however, mil itar y history ha s been of little int erest to professional sch ol ar s. During its go lden age, in the late nin eteenth and earl y tw entieth centuries, the sub ject was utilitari an and pragmat ic, written by and fo r men wh o h ad consid erab le military experien ce. O ne stu die d it in order to wi n wa rs . The stu dy of ancient m ilitar y history culmi na ted in G er ma ny, w ith th e first volu me of H an s Delbni ck's Geschich te der Kriegskunst and th e magisterial works of Johannes Kro mayer and Georg Veith. ? Since World Wa r II milit a ry history has been-qu ite understandabl y-in bad o do r in mo st academ ic circles. Even if military histor y remained a vigo ro us di scipline, it is doubtful th at rod ay's sch ol arl y officer s would find Bronze Age a nd early Iron Age wa rfar e int elligibl e eno ugh to ex trac t from it lessons useful for cadets . Since the re is no X eno pho n, Ca esar, o r Vegetius to serve as a Wegweiser to th e Nea r Ea st, th e mil itar y h istory of thi s region is frus trating ly o pa q ue. Written records co nta in hundred s of referen ces to wea po ns an d military p ersonnel , but more often th an not the meaning of th e wo rds is un certain . Even in H ebrew, which is relativel y int elligible, it is not entirely cle ar wh en th e word parashim means " hor ses" and when it means "caval rymen. " In Egyptian, Hittit e, Hurri an , Ugar itic, Akkadian, and Mycen aean Greek th e situ a tion is far worse. H ere the stu dy of milita ry history is stuc k at th e lexi cograph ical stage, since th ere are un certainties abo ut even th e most basic and elem en tary terms. Th e gene ra l plight of scho la rs attempting to illuminate a ll th is d arkness is described by Timo thy Kendall , co nde m ned to extract from th e N uzi tabl ets what they had to say a bo ut mil itary matters: "The N uz i texts perta ining to military perso n nel and supplie s co nt ain a vast nomenclature.. . . As o ne begin s to read th ese texts, he immediately finds h imself confronted by th is stran ge new vocabulary and to his di scouragement he

J. No ugay rol,

" C uerrc et pJix;' Uga rir," Iraq 25 (1% .1): 117. Delbrii ck.. Gcscbichte der Kriegsknn st im Rahmen dcr politiscben Geschicbte , vo l. 1: Dus Altertnm I Ber lin, 1900); Kro mayer JnJ Veith, Antik » Scb lochtfclder , 4 vols. (Berlin, 190.3- 31 ); .m d HL'nl'(?St.'1I miff K riegs ftOjhnut g der C riechen und Romer (M unich , 1928 ). The re \ V-J S nothing remc relv compa rable in English o r Fren ch . I

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soon di scover s th at a fair number of th ese terms h ave been ina deq ua tely treated or littl e underst o od even by th e ed ito rs of th e most up- to-date Ak ka d ia n lexi con s. " 3 Even wh en all the words a re under stood, problems rem ain. Len gth y inscription s advertis e ph araohs' victo ries at Megiddo and Kad esh, but th e co ur se of th e battles can ba rely be recon structed ou t of th e bomb ast . Perh ap s o ur most informative and least misleadin g so urces of in fo r matio n o n milita ry matters are M ycenaean vase paintings a nd N ear East ern royal reliefs , but [he latter tend to clu ster in a few peri ods and pla ces (esp ecially New Kin gdom Egypt and imp eri al Assyr ia }:' Sur prising ly littl e illumi nation has co me from in corpore evide nce . In th e Nea r Eas t, first of all, archaeo log ists have fo und co ns ide ra bly fewer weapo ns and pieces of armor than have their counterparts at work in the Aegean or in pr ehi storic Eu rop e (the d iscrepancy perh aps reflect s the dif feren ce between tells and tombs as so ur ces of the mater ial record ). And for both th e Aegea n a nd the Nea r East, wh at ha s been found ha s recei ved less atte ntion than it d eserve s. Altho ugh spec ialists have ca ta log ed the weapo ns of th e Bro nze and ea rly Iron Age, they have seldom vent ure d to spec ulateo n th e basis of [h e particul ars-about th e evo lutio n of wa rfa re during th is peri od. And few o ther sc ho lars ha ve found the ca ta logs of an y inte res t at all. Unti l 1964, when Anthon y Sno dgrass publish ed his Early Greek A rm ou r and Weapon s, discussion of th ese o bjects was largely restricted to out-of-print d issertations written in Ge r ma ny early in this century." Th e situatio n today is very much be tte r. The Bron ze Age swords of th e Aegean we re ca ta loged by Nancy Sand ars in the earl y 196 0s, and the spearheads and arrowhea ds by Rob ert Avila in 1983. 6 Th e swo rds of preh istoric Italy ar e a lso now classified a nd pu bl ished , and A. F. Hard ing h as ca ta loged th ose from Yugosla via ." Seriou s study of Ne ar East ern we apo nry peaked in 1926, w hen two little books -Walthe r Wol f 's o n Egypt, and H an s Bon ) Kenda ll, Warfare and Milita ry Matters in th e Nu zi Tablets (Ph. D. dissertation , Brandei s Univers ity, 1975 ), 74 . • The Egyp tian reli efs a re best seen in W. WteszinskI 's collecti on o f p hot ograp hs and in the line d raw ings bas ed on them . Although " pu blished " be fore World W, t II, th e pho togr a phs were quite inacces sible until th eir tece nr rep rinting , by Slarkine Reprints, in two bo xed sets. See now WJ:Ite r Wrcszinsk i, Atlas ;;ur JltJ gy pt ischen Kultur geschichte (Geneva and Paris, 1988 ). < Sno J grass, Early Greek A rmour and Weapom: Fmm the F.",I of the Bronze Age to 600 B.C. (Ed in bu rgh, 1964 ); for the dissert arion s see Sno dg rass , Amts and A m"",r of th e Greeks (Itha ca N.Y., 196 7), 13 1. Sno d grass's Early Greek Armour and Weapo"s itsel f bega n 3S a dissertation. , Sunda rs, "The First Aegea n Swo rds and Their Ances try," Al A 65 (1961 ): 17- 29 ; "Later Aegea n Bronze Swo rds ." AlA 1>7 (1963): J 17-53. Avila, Bnmscne Lanzen- "",I Netls pitzen der griecln schen Spatb ronz czeit, Pdhistotis che Bron zefunde, pan 5, vo l. 1 (M u nich, 1983 ;. .,. V. Bianco Pe roni, Die Sclnoerter in ltalien: Le Spade nell 'Italia continentale, Prahisronsche Bronzefun d e. part 4, vol. 1 {M unich. 19 i Oj; on the publication of the Yugos lavian swo rds see Ha rding , M )'n -'nJeul1s and Europe. 163 .

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net 's on the rest of th e Near East - sketched a n elementar y typ olo gy,S Detailed typologies of Ne a r Easte rn ax es, daggers, swo rd s, a nd spea rs h ave since been publ ished but have been seldo m used o r even ment ioned.. Ch ario rs have been of greater interest, and it is encouragin g to note th at recently th eir technical aspects hav e received exp ert attention . 10 An understa nding of th e milita ry applications of the chari ot, o n the other hand, lags far behind .! Seve ra l assumptions a bo ut th e role of th e ch a rio t on th e ba tt lefield see m to be quite mista ke n, a nd we have apparentl y ign or ed the extent to w hich warfar e in the Lite Bro nze Age wa s "cha riot warfare. " In additio n to the ar ch aeological a nd rypolo gical studies of weap on ry and a rmor, we now have det ailed a na lyses-severa l of th em in d oct oral d issertation s at American universiries-c-of text s dealing with military matter s. Focu sin g especiall y on the technical terminology used in the do cuments of thi s o r that kingdom , the se studies provide kingd om -b y-kingd om surveys of things military at Mari, N uzi, Hatri, Uga rit, Israel, Egypt, Pylos, and Kno sso s.t • Hans Bon net , Die Waffeu d er \6lker d es alten O rien ts (Leipzig, 192 6); Walthe r Wolf , Die B