Warfare in Mesopotamia

495 Words2 Pages
Centuries ago, Ancient Mesopotamia was one of the first and longest complex civilizations to be established. This magnificent empire was built along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Ironically, Mesopotamia means “between the river”1 and is known as part of the Fertile Crescent which is now modern day Iraq. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers played a dominant role in the continuous battle for ultimate power. Warfare became one of the main reasons the Mesopotamians perished. Known evidence of the first act of warfare came from the Sumerian civilization. The Sumerians reigned from 3100 to 2000 B.C.E mainly in Southern Mesopotamia and met their demise by the Akkad civilization (2350-2200 B.C.E). The Akkad’s leader Sargon conquered(in 2325 B.C) the Sumerians easily because they were not unified, but ruled by smaller leaders which governed surrounding city-states. The Sumerians first began their warfare conquest among their inner city-states. The first evidence of war was in 2525 B.C.E between Lagash and Umma, two city-states who were 18 miles apart. Umma was demolished by the kingdom of Langash. In honour of his victory, the king of Langash created a commemorative stone, called a stele, in celebration. The commemorative stele was known as “The Stele of Vulture’, named after a fragment of the stele which depicted an image of vultures carrying defeated troops’ heads3. The Sumerians weaponry included a bronze chariot made of 4 wheels and operated by 4 donkeys , a sickle sword was the primary weapon, the bronze socket axe which later changed into the piercing axe, all invented around 2500 B.C.E4. Though Sumer had very war like tactics even though most conflicts were within their only civilization, it was not enough to stop the salinization issue(high levels of salt in soil discouraging agriculture) and war advancements of Sumerians flourished through the Babylonian empire
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