Sargon the Assyrian & Babylon
The Greeks called the area Mesopotamia, literally the "land between the two rivers," a reference to the Tigris and Euphrates basin. In the Bible, the area is called Shumer , the original Sumerian word for the southern part of Iraq, the site of Sumer with its capital at the city of Ur.
|
If the river is followed northward from Sumer for about 200 miles, the site of ancient Akkad can be found. The area of present-day Iraq is the site of ancient Sumer and Akkad, two city-states that produced the most sophisticated armies of the Bronze Age. From here, in 2300 B.C., Sargon the Great launched a campaign of military conquest that united all of Mesopotamia. Sargon the Great united all of Sumer into a single state. Within a decade Sargon had extended his conquests from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea and northeastward to the Taurus Mountains of Turkey. |
 |
Sargon the Great provided the world with its first example of a military dictatorship. Among the more common foreign enemies of the southern city-states were the Elamites, the peoples of northern Iran. The conflict between Sumerians and Elamites probably extended back to Neolithic times, but the first recorded instance of war between them appeared in 2700 B.C., when Mebaragesi, the first king on the Sumerian King List, undertook a war against the Elamites, and "carried away as spoil the weapons of Elam." The typical neolithic army of men brought together to meet a temporary crisis found in Egypt throughout the Old Dynasty period had been clearly superseded in Sumer by the professional standing army. We know from the Tablets of Shuruppak (2600 B.C.) that even at this early date the kings of the city-states provided for the maintenance of 600-700 hundred soldiers on a full-time basis. This first "Iran-Iraq war" was fought in the same area around Basra and the salt marshes that have witnessed the modern conflict of the last decade between the same two states.
Sargon made such an impression on Mesopotamia-the region that is now occupied by modern Iraq, eastern Syria, and southern Turkey and has been home to some of the oldest major ancient civilizations, including the Sumerians, Akkadians, Persians, Babylonians, and Assyrians. Four times he invaded Syria and Canaan, and spent three years thoroughly subduing the countries of "the west" to unite them with Mesopotamia "into a single empire."
 |
|
The first historical evidence of soldiers wearing helmets is also provided on the stele. From the bodies of soldiers found in the Death Pits of Ur dating from 2500 B.C., we know that these helmets were made of copper and probably had a leather liner or cap underneath. But in Sumer, the presence of a well-crafted helmet indicated a major development in military technology that was so effective that it drove the mace from the battlefield.
Sargon's two sons and successors, Rimush and Manishtushu, were not so illustrious, and both were assassinated; Naram-Sin (2254-2218), Sargon's grandson, followed up the earlier successes by marching into Magan, whose king he took captive. He assumed the imperial title of "King Naram-Sin, of the four quarters", and, like his grandfather, was addressed as "the god of Agade" (Akkad), reminiscent of the divine honours claimed by the Pharaohs of Egypt. Sargon defeated the four leaders of Elam, led by the king of Awan. Their cities were sacked; the governors, viceroys and kings of Susa, Barhashe, and neighboring districts became vassals of Akkad, and the Akkadian language made official. Elam is one of the most ancient civilizations on record. It lasted from around 2700 B.C. to 539 BC, coming after what is known as the Proto-Elamite period, which began around 3200 B.C. when Susa, the later capital of the Elamites began to receive influence from the cultures of the Iranian plateau to the east.