"And Terah took Abraham his son, and Lot, the son of Aran, his grandson, and Sarah, his daughter-in-law, the wife of Abraham, his son, and went out with them from Ur of the Chaldees …"
(Genesis 11:31).
The memory of the state of the ancient Sumerians and Sumerians as such died thousands of years ago. For example, they are not mentioned either by the Greek chroniclers or even by the Bible. It speaks of the Chaldean city of Ur, but not a word about the Sumerians! Meanwhile, it was with them that the appearance of the first armies was associated. Some believe that their appearance was associated with the beginning of the manufacture of weapons from metal. But no: the first, to some extent, even regular armies appeared at the end of the 4th - beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. NS. in the interfluve of the Tigris and Euphrates, when the ancient Sumerians learned to irrigate and began to cultivate new varieties of agricultural crops, which entailed a significant increase in population density. The communities were getting cramped. A centralized power appeared, and with it the people who guarded it, first from the neighbors, and then from the disaffected within the community itself. At first, these “guards” were temple servants and slaves, that is, not free community members living by their own labor, but people dependent on the temple economy and being supported by it. It was from these people who stood outside the community that the first permanent security detachments began to form.
Why was it important for them to be outside the community? Yes, because then there was a custom of blood feud, and it was necessary to somehow get around it. A foreign slave or an alien mercenary was therefore an ideal candidate for "soldiers." So it was they who formed the first regular army, even designated by a special term that can be translated as "temple squad". So, as you can see, the Sumerians gave us this "invention" as well. Although, of course, it is important that socially these warriors were very different from their later European counterparts, and their status most likely corresponded to the Egyptian Mamelukes or Turkish Janissaries. But the people's militia, as the basis of the army, gradually lost its role, so that universal conscription began to be replaced by service on a voluntary basis. Later, the duty to fight began to be perceived by free members of the community as something completely alien to them. In any case, in the poem about Gilgamesh, he was directly blamed for the fact that he forced the inhabitants of his city to participate in military campaigns. That is, the war among the Sumerians has become a purely professional affair.
"Standard from Ur". Wood inlay is made of mother of pearl, lapis lazuli and red limestone. OK. 2600 BC NS. British museum. London.
Of course, we do not know exactly how people fought at that time far from us. But we can imagine this, studying the military affairs of different primitive peoples and referring to the artifacts that have come down to us. And it is they who tell us truly amazing things, namely that the ancient Sumerians knew the system and knew how to observe it! That is, for battle, they were built in several rows, one after the other. On the famous "Stele of Kites" from Ngirsu, we see that the depth of the formation of their infantry could reach seven rows, that is, the Sumerians understood that all their strength lies in the unity of the soldiers, and they fought not in a crowd, but … phalanx!
"Stele of Kites". Discovered in 1881 in the area north of Basra, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Detail depicting a Sumerian phalanx. Louvre.
Unfortunately, there is no evidence from that time detailing the battles. The epic about Gilgamesh does not give an intelligible answer to this question, especially since its written edition, which has survived to our time, was made only in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. NS. But then we have archaeological finds with images of battle scenes, for example, the same Stele of Kites. It is interesting that on it only the first row of warriors is depicted with huge, almost human-sized shields. Apparently, the warriors carry these shields with both hands and, therefore, they cannot take part in hand-to-hand combat. Their task is to cover the main formation from various throwing weapons, which were then widely used and … needless to say, what a strong psychological impact the solid wall of impenetrable shields that rolled on them had on various "wild" tribes ?! On the other hand, it is possible that this image is a whim of the artist and from the Sumerians all the warriors had large rectangular shields and went to the enemy with spears in their hands, like, say, the same ancient Greeks who borrowed the phalanx from the Sumerians!
Stella of Kites. Estimated appearance, extant details and their locations. Louvre.
It is interesting that in their appearance the Sumerian warriors were very different from the warriors of other peoples of their time. Judging by the "standard from Ur" (mother-of-pearl inlay made on a wooden plate), the Sumerian warriors looked quite different from the warriors of other peoples of Mesopotamia. The fact is that they wore cloaks outward on their shoulders, covered, apparently, with bronze plaques, similar to the famous Caucasian cloaks, except perhaps without shoulders! For some reason, on the "standard" they are shown without shields and armed only with rather short (about two meters) and thick spears, which, judging by the image, were held in two hands.
The famous helmet of the Sumerian king Meskalamdug.
Of the protective equipment, the following were also considered mandatory: a bronze helmet of a perfect sphero-conical shape (archaeologists, however, found several helmets of a different shape); the aforementioned cloak-burka, well protected from arrows (arrows with stone tips got stuck in thick wool), darts and stones, and in close combat also from being hit by an ax; soft thick felt carapace-sling. A skirt - traditional clothing for men could be made from bunches of wool and also had protective properties, although it did not restrict movement. All this equipment protected well from bronze, and even more so from copper weapons.
In addition to spearmen in burqas, the Sumerians also had warriors who, in addition to a spear and a dagger, also had axes. Moreover, with a spear and an ax, they most likely acted simultaneously: either a spear in the right hand, and an ax in the left, or vice versa - it was more convenient for anyone! For some reason, the Sumerians did not like onions, although they were certainly known to them. And this was their most serious disadvantage, which made it possible for their neighbors from Akkad to win precisely with the help of a large number of archers, who struck the enemy at a distance!
However, the Sumerians still had archers. They were mercenaries-Alamites - a people resulting from a mixture of an alien Semitic tribe and a black local population. Modern Lurs are tall mountaineers with brown skin and black hair, probably resembling the ancient Elamites.
The first mention of Elamite military strength dates back to 2100 BC, when Elamite mercenaries entered the service of the Sumerians to strengthen the border in the Zagros mountains and operated in detachments of 25 people. Their daily diet consisted of barley cake and a mug of beer. The next mention of the Elamites dates back to the 13th century, when Elam fielded 3415 "horned" warriors sent to Hunur. The Elamite warriors probably got this name due to the fact that they wore helmets with horns.
On the "standard from Ur" we can also see how the Sumerians use the phalanx and war chariots in concert, and these chariots themselves are very carefully depicted on it. And, by the way, they were again very different from the chariots of the Egyptians, Hittites and the same Assyrians, but only not in their perfection, but … in their primitive design!
Sumerian chariots had four wheels, knocked out of planks, with board sides, which made them heavy. And they harnessed them not to horses, but to four onagra - wild donkeys at once - so their chariots were not very fast. Modern experiments show that they could hardly reach speeds of more than 25 km / h, and, moreover, they were distinguished by their sluggishness.
It could not be otherwise. After all, the front axle of the wheels was non-rotating. And besides, the ancient Sumerians did not know a rigid collar (apparently, their heavenly instructors did not tell them this simple device, and they themselves did not think of it!), And they harnessed their donkeys to chariots, putting a leather or rope loop around their necks. She squeezed their necks and did not allow them to run quickly or pull a large load. However, since they went into battle together with the phalanx, they especially did not need high mobility. The Sumerians tried to break through the enemy's battle formations with the help of chariots, while the warriors on the chariots armed themselves with javelins and spears, which they threw at the enemy that was making way for them! The clashes did not last long. The wounded were usually finished off, and who could be taken prisoner. True, in the beginning this was not practiced either, since slave labor did not become profitable immediately.
Rice. A. Shepsa
