Uploaded March 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Excavating the origins of just war thought in the ancient Near East, Rory Cox will examine the characteristics of the earliest military ethics. He will then consider the extent to which modern wars are still subject to the same challenges concerning the fraught relationship between violence and justice, and whether any contemporary lessons can be drawn from the ancient past.
Rory Cox is a Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of St Andrews and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. His work focuses on the historical relationship between war and ethics. His latest book, Origins of the Just War: Military Ethics and Culture in the Ancient Near East (Princeton University Press, 2023) was awarded the 2024 Distinguished Book Award for Non-U.S. Military History by the Society for Military History.
Excavating the origins of just war thought in the ancient Near East, Rory Cox will examine the characteristics of the earliest military ethics. He will then consider the extent to which modern wars are still subject to the same challenges concerning the fraught relationship between violence and justice, and whether any contemporary lessons can be drawn from the ancient past.
Rory Cox is a Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of St Andrews and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. His work focuses on the historical relationship between war and ethics. His latest book, Origins of the Just War: Military Ethics and Culture in the Ancient Near East (Princeton University Press, 2023) was awarded the 2024 Distinguished Book Award for Non-U.S. Military History by the Society for Military History.
