Landscapes of Warfare
Urartu and Assyria in the Ancient Middle East
University Press of Colorado
Landscapes of Warfare offers a detailed examination of the Urartian empire. Situated in the highlands of Turkey, Armenia, and Iran and less known than its rival, the Neo-Assyrian empire, Urartu presents a unique case of an empire whose power was not centralized in cities but was instead distributed among mountain fortresses. The book’s spatial studies demonstrate that practices of systematic warfare were motivated by imperialism and shaped Urartian and Assyrian places in specific ways, creating symbolically and materially powerful fortified landscapes.
Tiffany Earley-Spadoni challenges traditional views by highlighting the role of warfare in shaping landscape organization, proposing that Urartu's strength lay in its ability to strategically optimize its terrain through the creation of fortified regional networks. Employing an interdisciplinary approach that includes GIS-enabled studies and integrates archaeological, historical, and art-historical evidence, the narrative reveals how warfare was a generative force in the organization of space and society in the ancient Middle East. The book situates Urartu's developments within the wider context of regional empires, offering insights into the mechanisms of warfare, administration, and the formation of cultural identity.
Tiffany Earley-Spadoni challenges traditional views by highlighting the role of warfare in shaping landscape organization, proposing that Urartu's strength lay in its ability to strategically optimize its terrain through the creation of fortified regional networks. Employing an interdisciplinary approach that includes GIS-enabled studies and integrates archaeological, historical, and art-historical evidence, the narrative reveals how warfare was a generative force in the organization of space and society in the ancient Middle East. The book situates Urartu's developments within the wider context of regional empires, offering insights into the mechanisms of warfare, administration, and the formation of cultural identity.
‘This rigorous book will change how we think about the ancient kingdom of Urartu as well as the dynamic roles that landscapes played in mediating violence and trauma in the ancient Middle East.'
—Benjamin Porter, University of California, Berkeley
Tiffany Earley-Spadoni is associate professor in the Department of History at the University of Central Florida and director of the Kurd Qaburstan Project in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and the Vayots Dzor Fortress Landscapes Project in Armenia. She has received major grants and fellowships from the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and she has received the American Society of Overseas Research Service to the Profession Award in 2023 and a university-wide Teaching Incentive Program Award in 2021 for her contributions to scholarship and teaching at UCF.
