The Late Bronze Age (LBA) texts from Western Asia depict a period characterized by the balancing of power between regional polities, now labelled as an “Age of Diplomacy”. In her new study of the cuneiform sources from LBA Anatolia, Marta Pallavidini reasons that, besides textual contents, “it is possible to investigate the modalities of the political relations among big powers through the analysis of the textual typologies implemented exactly for handling these interregional relations” (p. 2). This analysis aims to reconstruct procedures in the diplomatic praxis from the formal aspects of textual redaction, as well as the ideology of power from the topoi and figures of speech.
The work is organized in four chapters. Chapter 1 (Introduzione), sets the historical scene, defines the corpus of primary sources and discusses two very loaded terms: diplomacy and propaganda. Chapter 2 (La diplomazia), offers a thorough analysis of the formal aspects of the texts and the practice of diplomacy. In Chapter 3 (La propaganda), the discussion of rhetorical figures and topoi aims to elucidate aspects of Hittite royal ideology. The results of the research are presented in chapter 4 (Risultati della ricerca e prospettive di indagine). A rich bibliography, useful system of indices, and a substantial (30 pp.) summary in German complete the book.
The project underlying the book is ambitious. Its approach may be comparable to Korošec's Hethitische Staatsvertrage (Leipzig, 1931), but besides the political treaties it examines decrees, verdicts and correspondence. Beckman's Hittite Diplomatic Texts (Atlanta, 1999), and in part, Breyer's Ägypten und anatolien… (Vienna, 2010), based on a similar corpus of sources, do not share the author's aim of reconstructing procedural aspects of diplomatic practice. The best comparison for the book is G. Kastemont's Diplomatique et droit international en Asie occidental (1600 – 1200 av. J.C.) (Louvain-La-Neuve, 1976). That monograph was criticized because of its superimposition of the technical categories of medieval diplomatics on LBA documents (e.g. Archi's review in SMEA 16, 1975), a risk that Pallavidini carefully avoids.
Through a meticulous analysis, Pallavidini provides new suggestions on place and methods of redaction of the different text typologies, on formal and procedural aspects concerning their legal value, and on their circulation and archiving. These results (chapters 2 and 4, pp. 300–10), escape general rules. The conclusion is rather that there seems to be a lack of standardization applied to the diplomatic sources, or even only to text groups such as the treaties (p. 302). Rejecting the existence of master copies for diplomatic texts, the author instead aims to define the particular elements which assign a text its legal authority (p. 301), if any. Some of them, such as swearing an oath, may even be omitted in some texts, but are reconstructed through the analysis of other sources.
The lack of a coherent view of the Hittite diplomatic procedures also depends on the limited number of texts forming the corpus, their fragmentary state of conservation, and the uncertainty about their context of provenience; subsequently, it is often a matter of discussion whether some texts are archival copies, drafts, or translations of originals. In the absence of a flattened view, the author instead provides readers with a dynamic wealth of information collected case-by-case, often leading to original solutions for specific questions. This is the richest contribution offered by the book.
Readers of the Anglo-American school might find the organization of the book odd. At 197 pp., chapter 2 comprises almost two-thirds of the entire book, resulting in a disproportionate analysis with respect to chapter 3, on propaganda, to which only 56 pages are dedicated. The style in chapter 3 becomes narrative, and thus hardly goes with the analytic and highly descriptive style of chapter 2. In general, the book truly stays in the Italian–German tradition of assigning prominence to the analysis of the primary sources over the emergence of a thesis: accepting this perspective, it is an excellent product of that scholarship.
A more reflective approach to the definitions of the primary sources might provide a better insight into the understanding of diplomatic procedures. Without much discussion, Pallavidini divides texts into three main groups: treaties, international dispositions and correspondence (ch. 1.4), but at least two of these groups respond to modern, etic categories. She analyses in detail internal textual elements that can be used to reconstruct the emic conceptualization of textual categories (e.g. ch. 2, pp. 45–83). Despite this fruitful discussion, she sticks to the etic categories, preventing her from approaching one fundamental question: was there a diplomatic praxis and procedure separated from the rest of the administrative and legal ones?
As an example, the Hittite terms ishiul and lingai-, and their Akkadian equivalents, define not only political treaties, but also other Hittite texts with normative value (e.g. L. d'Alfonso, “Le fonti normative…”, in M. Liverani and C. Mora (eds), I diritti del mondo cuneiforme, Pavia, 2008, 325–59; J. Miller, Royal Hittite Instructions and Related Administrative Texts, Atlanta, 2013, 1–9). If there was no distinction in defining political treaties, edicts, instructions and oath-texts for Hittite officials, was there a difference in procedures and praxis between domestic and international matters? Pallavidini provides a wealth of data to answer these questions. For example, the palaeographic analysis makes Beckman's suggestion of the existence of a “chancellery ductus” unlikely (pp. 185–97, 207–11, 234–40, and 304–7). The study of the distribution of the sources of international diplomacy within Hattusa provides a different insight: Temple 1 might have been the reference archive for Hittite diplomacy, but the collection of texts pertaining to relations with Egypt in (or under?) Building E, points to the presence of competing criteria of archival procedures for diplomatic texts. In both cases, however, the degree of development in the praxis of international relations would be better understood by comparing these data with those of similar textual categories dealing with domestic matters.
I left the treatment of propaganda to my closing note. Through a diachronic study of the topoi connected with the representation of kingship in different textual groups, Pallavidini is able to produce original results. She emphasizes how themes and modalities of the propaganda vary profoundly depending on textual typology and historical contexts. For example, the custom of referring to Suppiluliuma's deeds by his son Mursili II, sometimes with positive, sometimes with negative connotations, is explained by the different addressees, and the consequent emphasis on a legalistic versus heroic concept of kingship (pp. 254–6). The emphasis on generosity (magnanimità) only in texts reaching subjugated rulers provides another example of a conscious use of textual construction for propaganda. Although this chapter resounds with original conclusions, the author's contextual approach should not have easily dismissed display art and inscriptions (p. 310), and the circulation of luxury objects; and cannot provide precise reconstruction of the singular historical circumstances underlying a given propagandistic message.
In this book, Pallavidini raises many original suggestions to answer questions pertaining to diplomatic procedure, praxis and diffusion of royal ideology. Specialists in the “Age of Diplomacy” will find in it an insightful textual analysis on all of these aspects, and some preliminary notes on propaganda.
