Sargon the Assyrian & the Sumerian Renaissance

Ancient Elam lay to the east of Sumer and Akkad (modern-day Iraq).

The Old Elamite period, consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian plateau, centered in Anshan, and from the mid-2nd millennium BC, it centered in Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Its culture played a crucial role in the Persian Empire, especially during the Achaemenid dynasty (Darius I, Cyrus II) that succeeded it, when the Elamite language remained in official use.

The Elamite language was not related to any Iranian languages, but may be part of a larger group known as Elamo-Dravidian. At that time the Mannae were neighbours of the empires of Assyria and Urartu, as well as other small buffer states between the two, such as Musasir and Zikirta.

The original Mannaean homeland was situated east and south of the Lake Urmia. By the 820's B.C. they had expanded to become the first large state to occupy this region, later followed by the Medes and the Parsu (Persians).

Sargon united both halves of Mesopotamia for the first time since 4000 B.C. As with most early Sumerian kings, we know little about Sargon the Great. Cuneiform records indicate that in his 50-year reign he fought no fewer than 34 wars. One account suggests that his core military force numbered 5,400 men.

The first military application of THE WHEEL is depicted on the stele which shows Eannatum riding in a chariot. Interestingly, the Sumerians also invented the wheeled cart, which became the standard vehicle for logistical transport in the Middle East until the time of Alexander the Great. The Sumerian invention of the chariot ranks among the major military innovations in history. The Sumerians are also credited with inventing the rein ring for use with the CHARIOT in order to give the driver some control over the onagers. Later, however, in the hands of the Hyksos, Hittites, Cannanites, Egyptians, and Assyrians, the chariot became the primary striking vehicle of the later Bronze and early Iron Age armies. Chariot drivers, archers, and spearmen became the elite fighting corps of the ancient world.

In the ancient world military technology arose in response to perceived practical needs arising from battlefield experience. The armies of Sumer and Akkad represented the pinnacle of military development in the Bronze Age. The armies of Egypt, on the other hand, although already a thousand years old by the time of Sargon, were technologically inferior to the Sumerians and would remain so until, in a remarkable example of technological transfer, the Egyptians themselves obtained the weapons of the Sumerians and used them to forge the world's next great military empire. The weapons of Egypt, as a result, remained far behind developments in Sumer because they were adequate to the task at hand. We know very little about the military organization of Sumer in the third millennium.

Military organization was that by 2400 B.C. the Sumerian kings had largely abandoned their religious functions to the priesthoods while increasing their civil functions and control. During the Sargonid period, the Summerians/Akkadians contributed yet another major innovation in weaponry, the composite bow. The innovation may have come during the reign of Naram-Sin (2254-2218), Sargon's grandson. Yet another source of military manpower would have been available from the conquered non-Sumerian provinces. It was common practice through Greek and Roman times to enlist soldiers of the conquered into the imperial armies of the time. The armies of imperial Egypt, Assyria, Persia, and Rome all had large contingents of former enemies within their ranks.

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