Warfare

Here you will find articles relating to warfare. It is worth noting that there are no absolute correct answers when it comes to specific tactics in this period. A number of authors may disagree on similar subjects, each with their own valid points of view, but this is in part the nature of studies due to the relative lack of details available. Nevertheless, the following articles provide good insight into warfare as we understand it.




Sumerian Hundred Years War - Umma vs Lagash
This page details the struggle between Lagash and Umma. It comes from this excellent source. I reproduce it in this blog as it is so relevant to the subject matter and is often the source of scenarios for games depicting city-state clashes in Sumer.


The Armies of Sumer and Akkad, 3500 to 2200 BC
The following extract come from Richard A Gabriel's book 'Great Armies of Antiquity'.


Soldier's Lives - Sumer and Akkad
This extract come from Richard A Gabriel's book 'Soldier's Lives through History - The Ancient World'. It gives good coverage of the nuts and bolts of the armies of Sumer and Akkad. His views on the use of battle cars and the composite bow are only one of several amongst scholars. Again, a well rounded overview of Mesopotamian armies of the time - thank you professor.


The Army of the Kings of Ur: The Textual Evidence
Strap yourself in for a scholarly read on what it says - The Army of the Kings of Ur. It's worth the read, taken from this paper. There are lots of interesting details on a subject with too few specifics.


The defensive armament of the soldiers of Sumer and Mari
An informative paper from a Spanish speaking source. The translation is a bit rough in spots but otherwise a solid discussion of armaments of the period.


Evolution of War Chariot Tactics in the Ancient Near East
A paper written by Fabrice De Backer discussing chariot tactics and shield usage and sieges of the time.


Warfare at the dawn of history: warriors of Babylon and Sumer.
An article from the excellent Ancient Warfare magazine (5:12-17) that covers our period nicely giving a well rounded coverage and nice cover art!


Warfare techniques in Early Dynastic Mesopotamia
A handy overview with a number of illustrations. The intro says "The Early Dynastic period can function as a sort of experimental laboratory to study the early development of state-controlled warfare. This paper approaches the topic from the point of view of technical and tactical achievements in three different warfare type, all of them equally new to the period: the battle on wheels, the phalanx attack, and the siege warfare".


Representations of battering rams and siege towers in Early Bronze Age Syria 
This abstract discusses the use of textual evidence for the existence and use of battering rams and other siege engines in Early Bronze Age Syria (third millennium BC) - an interesting article on siege operations.

Origin of the Composite Bow in Ancient Mesopotamia

This abstract discusses the development and use of the composite bow. There is a good bit of detail describing the specialist nature of the weapon and its place in third millennium warfare. The author takes a slightly different view to Hamblin's discussion in his Near East Warfare book so making a nice counterpoint....a useful read.