Weapons

Because warfare was so prominent in the everyday life of Ancient Mesopotamians, understanding of Ancient Mesopotamian way of life requires study of the warfare they spent excessive resources on. War itself is — in many senses — a form of art: war is complex, war evolves, war is structured while simultaneously being disorderly. Much can be learned about warfare in Ancient Mesopotamia from the weapons they used. Written texts from this time period rarely describe how warfare was conducted, so deducing a detailed explanation of how fights were fought requires extensive research and analysis of the physical evidence present. This physical evidence largely consists of the weapons they used and the iconographic evidence we have. So, using excavated weapons that have been dated to this time period, multiple pieces of martial art, and the rare written information concerning warfare we answer three main questions: “What weapons were used during this time period?”, “How were the weapons of this time period used?”, and the big picture idea, “How do the weapons and warriors go together to create a successful military campaign?”

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