BEFORE 3500 B.C.E.
Warfare seems to have been a constant preoccupation for
Near Easterners, even as far back as the end of the last great
ice age. One archaeological site that indicates this is Jericho.
Sometime between 10,000 and 8000 b.c.e. a giant stone wall
was erected around a settlement at Jericho. It seems to have
been intended to protect a small population and a spring. Of
special interest to military historians is a stone tower attached
to the wall. Th e tower was about 35 feet high and built solidly,
with a stone staircase up the middle. Th e great antiquity of
the tower is signifi cant because of the tower’s sophisticated
design, which suggests that its builders drew on a tradition
of erecting similar towers. Th e reason Jericho was fortifi ed
at such an early time is unknown, as is the identity of the
enemy. Speculation has tended to focus on the spring and the
likelihood that Jericho was a farming community. Nomads
may have coveted the harvests of Jericho, and traders travel-
ing the ancient trade route that passed through Jericho may
have coveted the water fl owing from the spring.
Th e physical remains at Jericho off er some idea of what
warfare may have been like. An important point to consider
is the signifi cant expense of fortifi cations. Instead of farm-
ing more land or producing more goods, valuable time and
thought were devoted to building walls and at least one large
tower. It is logical to suppose that if the massiveness of the
walls and tower were unnecessary, the society of Jericho
would have built a less imposing fortifi cation. Th us the struc-
tures’ heavy-stone construction, great height, and massive-
ness indicate that the enemy could bring down or penetrate
walls built of wood or small stones. Th is suggests that at that
early date, attackers already knew about using sappers to un-
dermine walls and fi re to burn walls and may have even used
battering rams. Th e tower’s height may have been for guards
to watch for enemies, which would mean that attacks could
come unexpectedly. On the other hand, the tower was situ-
ated so that people on it could fi re arrows or hurl stones at
anyone attempting to scale the walls. Altogether, the evidence
indicates that people were already thinking carefully about
how to wage war.
Farther north, in present-day Turkey, another city off ers
hints about war. Çatalhüyük, established before 7200 b.c.e.,
was built to resemble a beehive. Th e city had no roads or foot-
paths, and its interlocking buildings had few, if any windows
and no conventional doors. People moved from place to place
by climbing ladders through openings in their ceilings and
walking across roofs, occasionally climbing or descending
where buildings were of diff erent heights. Th e dominant the-
ory about why the city was built as it was focuses on military
defense. An enemy, whether bandits or a full army, would
have had no clear entrance to attack. Attacking and entering
an outer building would have left the enemy with nowhere to
go but up a ladder, and defenders could heap stones, arrows,
and burning oil on them. Seizing the city would have required
fi ghting to take each building. Archaeologists believe that thelack of evidence that Çatalhüyük was ever taken by force in-
dicates that its defensive layout was successful.EARLY DYNASTIC PERIOD
(CA. 3000–CA. 2350 B.C.E.)
By 3000 b.c.e. the numerous Sumerian cities established in
southern Mesopotamia were already warring against each
other. For several reasons the waging of war was not a simple
mat ter of a k i ng de c id i ng to t a k e h i s a r my to bat t le. Fi r s t , t here
were no standing armies. Early Sumerian armies consisted of
militias of free male citizens. Second, kings were not absolute
rulers and had to gain consent from a council of elders or
an assembly of citizens. For instance, during the rule of Gil-
gamesh (r. ca. 2700 b.c.e.) the city of Uruk received a demand
to surrender itself to the dominance of another city-state.
Gilgamesh wished to fi ght for his city’s freedom, but Uruk’s
council of elders voted to surrender. Gilgamesh called for an
assembly of Uruk’s free citizens, and the assembly overruled
the council of elders and voted to fi ght to remain free.
Another diffi culty was that typically citizens were ex-
pected to provide their own weapons: spears, daggers, stone
maces, bows and arrows, and slingshots. Although shields
were available, a warrior usually carried his weapon in both
hands and had a dagger strapped to his side. Protective armor
was typically no more than a hat of cloth or leather. Battles in
open land consisted of barrages of arrows when armies were
less than 300 feet apart, because the bow of the time was ac-
curate only up to that distance. Th e barrage could be followed
by a charge. Th e enemy would meet the charging warriors
with spears and rocks hurled from slingshots. A battle be-
tween big city-states could result in 10,000 dead.
Gilgamesh was famous as a city builder. Songs and poems
lauded him for the great wall he directed to be built around
Uruk. It was constructed from fi red clay bricks, which were
expensive but durable for the time; good stone for building
was hard to fi nd in southern Mesopotamia. Th e wall was
wide enough for two chariots to pass side by side, and it had
many towers. Such defenses were necessary because military
leaders were learning how to organize their troops for coor-
dinated attacks that could overwhelm lesser defenses with the
sheer number of warriors scaling the walls.
By the end of the Early Dynastic Period, an arms race had
developed. Bigger walls meant bigger weapons for knocking
walls down. Skulls crushed by maces led to the development
of metal helmets, which in turn resulted in the invention of a
battle-ax that could crash through metal. Th is, in turn, cre-
ated the need for sturdier helmets, leading to the develop-
ment of new casting techniques and then sturdier ax blades
that curved, making cutting through helmets easier.OLD AKKADIAN EMPIRE
(CA. 2350–CA. 2100 B.C.E.)
Th e king who founded the Old Akkadian Empire may have
been history’s fi rst military genius. Sargon I (r. 2334–2279
b.c.e.) established what is thought to have been the fi rstwar and conquest: The Middle East 11310895-1194_Soc&Culturev4(s-z).i1131 1131 10/10/07 2:31:11 PM