Mesopotamia produced one of the earliest civilizations, based on competing city states, which sometimes became united into kingdoms. Before 2500 bc, these states were capable of far-reaching campaigns employing phalanxes of drilled spearmen, ass-drawn battlewagons, and fortified garrison posts. A carved stone known as the Vulture Stela from the city state of Lagash shows the infantry in close order behind large shields led by their king in his battlewagon. A beautifully decorated lyre from Ur depicts similar figures in lapis lazuli and shell. The soldiers wear studded leather cloaks for protection and metal helmets. Weaponry consisted of battleaxes, thrusting spears and daggers for the infantry, while the leaders in their battlewagons carry sheafs of javelins. Battle tactics between two similarly armed armies probably consisted of the ass-drawn wagons skirmishing with each other and the opposing phalanx, seeking to create gaps which could be exploited by the heavy infantry.
The technology of warfare was already quite well developed. The battlewagons were drawn by four asses and were constructed of wicker and leather, mounting a driver and warrior. They are shown with four solid wheels, which suggests that they could not have been a particularly rapid form of transport. They must have been clumsy and difficult to manoeuvre as well. Models of lighter, two-wheeled chariots from grave finds suggest that there were alternative modes of transport, but these may not have been used in war. Perhaps surprisingly, there is little evidence of the employment of missile weapons in the depictions of battle. Slings are occasionally shown, but there is only one surviving depiction of a bow. This is a composite bow on a victory stela of King Naram-Sin (c.2254-2218 bc). Archaeology has revealed the existence of great stone curtain walls, which seem designed for defence by archery. Strangely, there are no depictions of siege warfare, although this would seem likely to have taken place between city states. It is possible that the technology to construct siege engines was not available to the Sumerians. Although Sumerian states did keep documentary records, in which war featured strongly, there is nothing to compare with the kind of information, both visual and the written record, which survives for the later Mesopotamian empires such as the Assyrians.
Bibliography
- Hackett, Gen Sir John, (ed.), Warfare in the Ancient World (London, 1989).
- Yadin, Yigael, The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands (London, 1963)
— John M. Bourne
