Assassinations Throughout the Ages

**Kilo11** · October 17, 2017, 10:04 AM

Hey everyone,

I am currently doing research for a paper I am writing (I am an academic philosopher, for those who might be interested), and am trying to find some good articles/books on the history of assassination, both as it was done in practice, and what norms/laws were in effect with respect to assassination. I was banging my head against the wall trying to sift through the myriad of **** that google scholar dumped out, when I thought to myself "Hey, I (sort of) know a bunch of folks who are rife with historical knowledge, and source materials!"

So here I am! The request is (if you didn't get it from the above) for any texts you know of that discuss assassination as a political or military tool, anything about how it was viewed, anything about the norms/laws associated with assassination (if anything was ever considered "beyond the pale", or was actually illegal, or was just simply "note done", etc.), and anything about when/how/why these norms may have changed. Thanks in advance guys, and for anyone who's interested, I can send you the paper when it's done; it should be a doozy!

Edit: Also, though individual cases of assassination are always interesting to read about (e.g. Julius being stabbed down in the Theatre of Pompey), that's not really what I'm after. Just things about the practice itself, not about individual cases.

**QuintusSertorius** · October 17, 2017, 10:09 AM

The Bosporan royal family seemed to be keen on assassination and murder as a means to resolve familial disputes, look up the Spartocids.

Ptolemy Keravnos assassinated Seleukos Nikator, like most "assassinations" in this age, it wasn't done by some hired knife, but someone close to the victim surprising them.

**NosPortatArma** · October 18, 2017, 04:33 AM

Originally Posted by QuintusSertorius

The Bosporan royal family seemed to be keen on assassination and murder as a means to resolve familial disputes, look up the Spartocids.

Ptolemy Keravnos assassinated Seleukos Nikator, like most "assassinations" in this age, it wasn't done by some hired knife, but someone close to the victim surprising them.

so, was there ever something akin to maintaining a network of assassins and using them against foreign enemies, as we do in eb2?

**Cojyman (RO/IT)** · October 17, 2017, 01:37 PM

I'll take the paper when it's done! I'm really curious about it!
Will the study cover from ancient to contemporary times?

**Sar1n** · October 17, 2017, 02:00 PM

Originally Posted by Kilo11

So here I am! The request is (if you didn't get it from the above) for any texts you know of that discuss assassination as a political or military tool, anything about how it was viewed, anything about the norms/laws associated with assassination (if anything was ever considered "beyond the pale", or was actually illegal, or was just simply "note done", etc.), and anything about when/how/why these norms may have changed. Thanks in advance guys, and for anyone who's interested, I can send you the paper when it's done; it should be a doozy!

Been reading Dune? AFAIK in reality, there weren't actual conventions about about assassination practices at all, not even in Feudal Japan. Technically, assassination is illegal by definition, leading to interesting circular argument regarding targeted killings practiced by US and Israel in Middle East: "assassination is defined as illegal, as since we sanctioned these killings, they aren't illegal and therefore not asssassinations".

But to point you in some direction, Wikipedia has a complete text of Arthashastra, an ancient Indian treatise on statecraft, that includes section about assassinations. Can be worth reading about.

**Kilo11** · October 17, 2017, 02:18 PM

Originally Posted by Cojyman (RO/IT)

I'll take the paper when it's done! I'm really curious about it!
Will the study cover from ancient to contemporary times?

Good to know Cojyman. I'll send it to you in pm when it's done; hopefully in the next three weeks or so, depending on whether or not I can get the SSHIP mod working for Stainless Steel (if it starts working, I anticipate a drop in productivity

). Also, it's not a historical paper, but rather a philosophical one, focusing on moral and political philosophy, so any historical aspects will be purely for cases/examples, but the main thrust of the paper is about general moral/political points. Still, I expect it be of general interest; I mean, who doesn't find assassination at least "interesting".

Originally Posted by Sar1n

Been reading Dune? AFAIK in reality, there weren't actual conventions about about assassination practices at all, not even in Feudal Japan. Technically, assassination is illegal by definition, leading to interesting circular argument regarding targeted killings practiced by US and Israel in Middle East: "assassination is defined as illegal, as since we sanctioned these killings, they aren't illegal and therefore not asssassinations".

But to point you in some direction, Wikipedia has a complete text of Arthashastra, an ancient Indian treatise on statecraft, that includes section about assassinations. Can be worth reading about.

This issue of circularity is actually part of the point of writing on assassination explicitly, rather than "targeted killing" or "extrajudicial execution", which both seem to be simply taking assassination and trying to wrap them in quasi-legal language. Hopefully the paper will be able to clear up some of the issues while making some progress in the moral/legal understanding of the practice as well.

And thanks for the suggestion of Arthashastra Sar1n! I read that ages ago and totally forgot that it existed, but you're right, there is good treatment in there on assassination. I will have a look at that again.

**Sar1n** · October 17, 2017, 02:35 PM

You're welcome.

If you do intend to focus on philosophical and moral aspects, Dune actually becomes relevant. It's an interesting "what if", with assassination between feudal houses being legal and regulated by conventions, as means of solving feuds without all-out war.

**Darkan** · October 17, 2017, 03:25 PM

Although I can't point you towards any sources, I wanted to mention the Persian Assassins, which used assassinations as a political and religious tool. Together with their (alleged) drug use, it would certainly give you a different perspective over the morality (or lack of morality) regarding assassinations.

Add-on: After a quick search I found this https://www.amazon.com/History-Assas...ds=hashshashin

**Colos1987** · October 18, 2017, 04:35 AM

Not that centrally, I don't think so. Even if someone employed an assassin on a permanent contract, I would think they were used internally, not against foreign targets.

Colos

**Sar1n** · October 18, 2017, 06:44 AM

Originally Posted by Colos1987

Not that centrally, I don't think so. Even if someone employed an assassin on a permanent contract, I would think they were used internally, not against foreign targets.

Colos

Nizari assassins were employed against crusaders. Or other muslim rulers, when deemed necessary.

**Erken** · October 18, 2017, 01:34 PM

Assassination was a common practice in the medieval iceland. The chiefs were not afraid to hire the first person to try to kill (or at least wound) their enemies (or one of their men). In this case, they promised to the killer their protection/friendship, defend them at the thing, help them to leave iceland for their proscription ; the freedom could also be the reward for a slave.

At a higher level, the assasination of Snorri Sturluson by the men of Gissur Thorvaldsson, by order of the king Hákon Hákonarson, is a good example of the scandinavian practice.