In Shalmaneser’s record, the emphasis is on the victory, not the causes or strategy of the war. Even with such specific events as the second inscription’s discussion of Hazael’s stand at Sanir, the emphasis is on the victory, not the battle’s details. Neither text even alludes to the cause of the war. Typically, wars in the Old World were written to exalt kings’ deeds. The reasons for the wars were irrelevant. The Maya inscriptions give terser accounts in comparison to the kings’ deeds; but not surprisingly, we hear more of their victories than their defeats.
Against this backdrop, Mormon’s reporting is unusual. Against all ancient logic, Mormon dwells on the causes and the problems, moving quite quickly over the victories themselves. This tells us that Mormon has an agenda that is atypical for the ancient world. Mormon includes the battles, not because they praise the rulers’ victories, but because they show the distressing consequences when the Nephites’ internal divisions lead them away from Nephite ideals. Their rejection of their tradition abrogates the foundational promise. They are susceptible to defeat, even to destruction.
Text: Mormon continues to organize his text along year lines. Even when he does not use the year change to mark a new chapter, the year change becomes the structural element that defines a unit of thought. This incident is contained within a year’s chronicle. The first event is Pahoran’s murder and the organization of the Gadiantons. Its terminus is the fortieth year. In the forty-first year comes the battle against Coriantumr. My point is not that those events occurred within the given years—of course, they did—but that Mormon is using the year’s chronicle to structure his text, even within a single chapter. There is no chapter break at this point, even though there is a year’s end.