![Stele of the vultures (phalanx)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Stele_of_the_vultures_%28phalanx%29.jpg)
Warfare in Sumer predominantly consisted of small-scale conflicts between nearby
city-states
A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as ...
.
Sumer
Sumer () is the earliest known civilization in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. It is one of the cradles of c ...
ian armies consisted of
bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...
-armoured soldiers armed with various weapons, including
spear
A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fasten ...
s,
sword
A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...
s and
sickle-swords, engaging each other in
phalanx
The phalanx ( grc, φάλαγξ; plural phalanxes or phalanges, , ) was a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar pole weapons. The term is particularly use ...
-like formations. When
besieging cities,
battering ram
A battering ram is a siege engine that originated in ancient history, ancient times and was designed to break open the masonry walls of fortifications or splinter their wooden gates. In its simplest form, a battering ram is just a large, hea ...
s and
sapper
A sapper, also called a pioneer (military), pioneer or combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties, such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefie ...
s would be used to breach the defences; on the open battlefield, chariots were also used. Most wars were fought because of inter-city rivalries, or for wealth, resources, and prestige. Military victories were later glorified in
Mesopotamian art
The art of Mesopotamia has survived in the record from early hunter-gatherer societies (8th millennium BC) on to the Bronze Age cultures of the Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires. These empires were later replaced in the Iron Ag ...
— a major source of historical information.
History
![Imprisoned man of Umma on the Stele of the Vultures](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Imprisoned_man_of_Umma_on_the_Stele_of_the_Vultures.jpg)
During the
Uruk Period
The Uruk period (ca. 4000 to 3100 BC; also known as Protoliterate period) existed from the protohistoric Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age period in the history of Mesopotamia, after the Ubaid period and before the Jemdet Nasr period. Named after ...
of
Sumerian history, jobs in Sumeria became more specialized. Leading to
city-states
A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as ...
forming armies. The armies of Sumer could have thousands of soldiers; some city states could field armies five thousand or six thousand men strong.
These large armies would consist of many military units — smaller units would often be combined into larger ones. One, known as the ''Nu-Banda'', contained 60-100 men. Other known units include the ''
Shub-Lugal,'' which served as household troops and made up the majority of
Sargon's army. Some soldiers were called ''Niksum'' — these would be given plots of land.
Skirmisher
Skirmishers are light infantry or light cavalry soldiers deployed as a vanguard, flank guard or rearguard to screen a tactical position or a larger body of friendly troops from enemy advances. They are usually deployed in a skirmish line, an i ...
s were called ''Nim'', meaning "flies".
Weapons and tactics
Soldiers were well-trained and equipped; generals were also valued, with Sargon of Akkad appointing his to the position of ''Sagi-mah'' or chief cupbearer. Archaeological studies show that the Sumerians used war-carts and iron and bronze weapons;
most soldiers used axes, daggers, and spears; units with spears would be organized into close-order formations.
Armor included
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
and
bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...
helmet
A helmet is a form of protective gear worn to protect the head. More specifically, a helmet complements the skull in protecting the human brain. Ceremonial or symbolic helmets (e.g., a policeman's helmet in the United Kingdom) without protect ...
s, as well as bronze
armor
Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or fr ...
and
cloak
A cloak is a type of loose garment worn over clothing, mostly but not always as outerwear for outdoor wear, serving the same purpose as an overcoat, protecting the wearer from the weather. It may form part of a uniform. Cloaks have been and a ...
s studded in metal discs, although some depictions of
light infantry
Light infantry refers to certain types of lightly equipped infantry throughout history. They have a more mobile or fluid function than other types of infantry, such as heavy infantry or line infantry. Historically, light infantry often fought ...
show them without armor, only wearing skirts adorned with feathers. The oldest known helmet ever, the Golden Wig, was made of beaten and engraved gold with a wadded linen line. Bronze and copper alloy helmets dating back to 2500 BCE have also been found. By 2100 BCE, bronze scale armor had developed.
![Meskalamdug helmet back view](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Meskalamdug_helmet_back_view.jpg)
To support the main army there would be light infantry equipped with javelins and bows. Sumerian soldiers used basic bows before the
Akkadian Empire
The Akkadian Empire () was the first ancient empire of Mesopotamia after the long-lived civilization of Sumer. It was centered in the city of Akkad (city), Akkad () and its surrounding region. The empire united Akkadian language, Akkadian and ...
, but
Sargon's empire spread the
composite bow
A composite bow is a traditional bow made from horn, wood, and sinew laminated together, a form of laminated bow. The horn is on the belly, facing the archer, and sinew on the outer side of a wooden core. When the bow is drawn, the sinew (stret ...
throughout Mesopotamia. It is likely the bow was given to the Akkadians by
nomadic peoples; it became a very important Mesopotamian weapon, and many soldiers used them.
The armies also contained small
war wagons
A war wagon is any of several historical types of early fighting vehicle involving an armed or armored animal-drawn cart or wagon.
China
One of the earliest example of using conjoined wagons in warfare as fortification is described in the Chinese ...
, which generally had a crew of two: a rider and a warrior.
They were pulled by
donkey
The domestic donkey is a hoofed mammal in the family Equidae, the same family as the horse. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a ...
s,
mule
The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two pos ...
s, or
crossbreed
A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. ''Crossbreeding'', sometimes called "designer crossbreeding", is the process of breeding such an organism, While crossbreeding is used to main ...
s; horses were not introduced before the 2nd millennium BCE and when present may have been too expensive outside of elite units.
Causes and conflicts
One common cause for war was rivalries between city states, often caused by previous conflicts. For example,
Umma
Umma ( sux, ; in modern Dhi Qar Province in Iraq, formerly also called Gishban) was an ancient city in Sumer. There is some scholarly debate about the Sumerian and Akkadian names for this site. Traditionally, Umma was identified with Tell J ...
and
Lagash
Lagash (cuneiform: LAGAŠKI; Sumerian: ''Lagaš''), was an ancient city state located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, about east of the modern town of Ash Shatrah, Iraq. Lagash (modern Al-Hiba) w ...
waged several wars against each other, while the cities of
Ur,
Uruk
Uruk, also known as Warka or Warkah, was an ancient city of Sumer (and later of Babylonia) situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates River on the dried-up ancient channel of the Euphrates east of modern Samawah, Al-Muthannā, Iraq.Harm ...
, and
Kish
Kish may refer to:
Geography
* Gishi, Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan, a village also called Kish
* Kiş, Shaki, Azerbaijan, a village and municipality also spelled Kish
* Kish Island, an Iranian island and a city in the Persian Gulf
* Kish, Iran, ...
all rivalled each other. Wars were often started as one city-state tried to secure greater power — a legendary example is
Gilgamesh
sux, , label=none
, image = Hero lion Dur-Sharrukin Louvre AO19862.jpg
, alt =
, caption = Possible representation of Gilgamesh as Master of Animals, grasping a lion in his left arm and snake in his right hand, in an Assyr ...
, king of Uruk, declining to become a vassal of Kish. Records show that some wars were started to control
trade routes
A trade route is a Logistics, logistical network identified as a series of pathways and stoppages used for the commercial transport of cargo. The term can also be used to refer to trade over bodies of water. Allowing Good (economics and accounti ...
and their valuable resources.
King
Meskiaggasher fought wars in the
Zagros Mountains
The Zagros Mountains ( ar, جبال زاغروس, translit=Jibal Zaghrus; fa, کوههای زاگرس, Kuh hā-ye Zāgros; ku, چیاکانی زاگرۆس, translit=Çiyakani Zagros; Turkish: ''Zagros Dağları''; Luri: ''Kuh hā-ye Zāgro ...
for timber, metal, and stone, while Sumerian myths recording wars against the mythical kingdom of
Aratta
Aratta is a land that appears in Sumerian myths surrounding Enmerkar and Lugalbanda, two early and possibly mythical kings of Uruk also mentioned on the Sumerian king list.
Role in Sumerian literature
Aratta is described as follows in Sumeri ...
most likely represent real campaigns in
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
for
Lapis Lazuli
Lapis lazuli (; ), or lapis for short, is a deep-blue metamorphic rock used as a semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense color.
As early as the 7th millennium BC, lapis lazuli was mined in the Sar-i Sang mines, ...
and
tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal.
Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...
.
Elam
Elam (; Linear Elamite: ''hatamti''; Cuneiform Elamite: ; Sumerian: ; Akkadian: ; he, עֵילָם ''ʿēlām''; peo, 𐎢𐎺𐎩 ''hūja'') was an ancient civilization centered in the far west and southwest of modern-day Iran, stretc ...
ites and
Gutians
The Guti () or Quti, also known by the derived exonyms Gutians or Guteans, were a nomadic people of West Asia, around the Zagros Mountains (Modern Iran) during ancient times. Their homeland was known as Gutium (Sumerian language, Sumerian: ,''Gu ...
would often raid the city-states' vital supply routes; many city-states formed
military alliances
A military alliance is a formal Alliance, agreement between nations concerning national security. Nations in a military alliance agree to active participation and contribution to the defense of others in the alliance in the event of a crisis. ...
to defend against such raiding.
It is probable that over time, inhabitants of villages migrated to the cities, because the cities provided greater protection, causing the rural population to shrink. Victory in war brought
prestige
Prestige refers to a good reputation or high esteem; in earlier usage, ''prestige'' meant "showiness". (19th c.)
Prestige may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Films
* ''Prestige'' (film), a 1932 American film directed by Tay Garnett ...
and
wealth
Wealth is the abundance of Value (economics), valuable financial assets or property, physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for financial transaction, transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the ...
to the king of the victorious city.
During the
Early Dynastic Period, there were an increasing amount of wars between rival Sumerian city-states. These wars were very small-scale: the cities of
Umma
Umma ( sux, ; in modern Dhi Qar Province in Iraq, formerly also called Gishban) was an ancient city in Sumer. There is some scholarly debate about the Sumerian and Akkadian names for this site. Traditionally, Umma was identified with Tell J ...
and
Lagash
Lagash (cuneiform: LAGAŠKI; Sumerian: ''Lagaš''), was an ancient city state located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, about east of the modern town of Ash Shatrah, Iraq. Lagash (modern Al-Hiba) w ...
, who fought many wars against each other, are only 25 miles apart. Most battles took place only a few days march from each involved city-state. One war known to have taken place over a comparatively long distance, was between
Kish
Kish may refer to:
Geography
* Gishi, Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan, a village also called Kish
* Kiş, Shaki, Azerbaijan, a village and municipality also spelled Kish
* Kish Island, an Iranian island and a city in the Persian Gulf
* Kish, Iran, ...
and
Elam
Elam (; Linear Elamite: ''hatamti''; Cuneiform Elamite: ; Sumerian: ; Akkadian: ; he, עֵילָם ''ʿēlām''; peo, 𐎢𐎺𐎩 ''hūja'') was an ancient civilization centered in the far west and southwest of modern-day Iran, stretc ...
, who were located 160 miles apart.
Modern historians know very little about the tactics of Sumerian armies because records glorify victories, but rarely talk about how the battle was fought.
Sumerian soldiers would besiege cities using battering rams and sappers while the defenders built towers.
Although the walls of some ancient Sumerian cities may not have initially served as defensive fortifications, being originally designed to protect cities from wild
animal
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motilit ...
s and
flood
A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...
s, and to demonstrate the power and wealth of a settlement, they eventually took on a defensive aspect; moats also become widely used in the 13th century B.C.
Once a city was captured, its walls would be destroyed in order to humiliate the city, which was also looted. A large section of the population would often be captured and enslaved, while the victor would dedicate the
spoils of war to the
patron deity
A tutelary () (also tutelar) is a deity or a spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of "tutelary" expresses the concept of safety and ...
of their city.
Depictions
![Standard of Ur - War](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Standard_of_Ur_-_War.jpg)
Depictions of warfare are a common
theme
Theme or themes may refer to:
* Theme (arts), the unifying subject or idea of the type of visual work
* Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos
* Theme (computing), a custom graphical ...
in
Mesopotamian art
The art of Mesopotamia has survived in the record from early hunter-gatherer societies (8th millennium BC) on to the Bronze Age cultures of the Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires. These empires were later replaced in the Iron Ag ...
. Usually the art,
commissioned by the victors, would celebrate and glorify a military victory. Some notable examples are the
Royal Standard of Ur and the
Steele of the Vultures: the Royal Standard depicts soldiers, led by the king of Ur, marching over the corpses of their enemy, while others drag
prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold priso ...
behind them; while the Steele of Vultures depicts the king of
Lagash
Lagash (cuneiform: LAGAŠKI; Sumerian: ''Lagaš''), was an ancient city state located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, about east of the modern town of Ash Shatrah, Iraq. Lagash (modern Al-Hiba) w ...
defeating the king of
Umma
Umma ( sux, ; in modern Dhi Qar Province in Iraq, formerly also called Gishban) was an ancient city in Sumer. There is some scholarly debate about the Sumerian and Akkadian names for this site. Traditionally, Umma was identified with Tell J ...
, soldiers marching in a
phalanx
The phalanx ( grc, φάλαγξ; plural phalanxes or phalanges, , ) was a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar pole weapons. The term is particularly use ...
-like formation, and vultures carrying the severed heads of the soldiers from Umma, who had fallen in heaps in front of the soldiers from Lagash.
Epigraphy
Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...
and
archaeological
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
records show other depictions of warfare.
References
Ancient Mesopotamia
Ancient warfare
{{Ancient Mesopotamia topics, state=collapsed