Christian BOUDIGNON (Université d’Aix-Marseille, CNRS, Centre P.-A. Février),
Les « crimes de guerre » existaient-ils en 614 après J.-C. ? ou La prise de Jérusalem par les Perses sassanides [Did “war crimes” exist in 614 AD? or The capture of Jerusalem by the Sassanid Persians]
Keywords: Did “war crimes” exist in 614 AD? or The capture of Jerusalem by the Sassanid Persians. war crimes, holy war, fair war, excess of violence, Jerusalem, 614 A. D., Strategios monk of Saint-Sabas, Sophronius of Jerusalem.
Abstract: In Antiquity the « fair war » or the « holy war » had been theorized against excess of violence. In modern times, « war crimes » have been thought as a definition of excess of military violence. In this paper, we try to compare the narrative approach on military violence in the text of the monk Strategios: the Fall of Jerusalem (614 A.D.), and modern ideas of « war crimes ». After a presentation of the historical background, we focus on four pre-concepts used in the text of Strategios : objectivation of military violence on civilians, martyrization of the victims, use of a comput of dead people in Jerusalem as a possible juridical proof against the adversaries, use of animal metaphors. Is it possible to think of these pre-concept as a form of juridical response to the military violence experimented at that time ?