Great Battles of the Ancient World | Sumer, Akkad, and Early Mesopotamian Warfare (Lecture 3)

Lecture 3: Whatever the case with the origins of warfare, there can be little doubt that by the time the first cities appeared in Sumer in c. 3000 B.C., warfare was already an established fact of life. The nature of warfare in the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3000–2350 B.C.) is attested only through a light dusting of evidence, but that material now crucially includes written records. From a variety of sources, it seems that warfare was endemic among the city-states of early Sumer. We examine the evidence in an attempt to reconstruct the conventions and conditions of warfare among the first cities, as well as the nature of Sumerian armies, their weapons, and battle tactics. We also explore what this evidence suggests about the organization of Sumerian society. The prevalence of warfare in Mesopotamia led to the regional ascendancy of Akkad in the period 2350–2100 B.C., under the conqueror Sargon and his grandson, Naram-Sin, who appears to have been worshipped as a god. The connection between warfare and empire is thus made clear at the outset of recorded history.

Essential Reading:
Cooper, Reconstructing History from Inscriptions.
Dawson, The First Armies, pp. 76–117.
Kuhrt, The Ancient Near East, 1.19–73.

Supplemental Reading:
Van De Mieroop, History of the Near East, pp. 1–79.
Winter, “After the Battle Is Over.”
Yadin, The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands, pp. 32–57.

Lecture 4: https://www.bitchute.com/video/glvOSPC06EvJ/