Akkadians
(circa 24th century – 22nd century BC) –
Akkadian archer wielding a composite bow,
while being protected by an infantryman.
Circa 2334 BC, the Akkadians carved up the
first known all-Mesopotamian empire, thereby momentously uniting the speakers
of both Sumerian and Akkadian. In fact, by the middle of 30th millennium BC,
the Akkadians managed to create a culturally syncretic scope (that encompassed
a melting pot of different ethnicity and city-states), which ultimately paved
the way for the emergence of Akkadian as the lingua franca of Mesopotamia
for many centuries to come. However beyond just cultural affiliations with the
advanced Sumerians, the Akkadians also adopted (and loaned) many of the
military systems and doctrines of their Mesopotamian brethren.
One example of such ‘transmissions’ of
military ideas relate to how the Akkadians probably fought in a phalanx-like
formation long before the Greeks (as did the soldiers of the Sumerian
city-state of Lagash
But the practical superiority of the Akkadian
(and Sumerian) warrior culture must have related to the use of wheels – an
invention that not only allowed x logistical support, but also heralded the
development of chariots, the ponderous heavy shock weapons of the Bronze Age.
Moreover, Sargon of Akkad, possibly the first known military dictator of an
empire, implemented the use of composite bows in his otherwise lightly-armed
citizen army. Historically, the effective range and punch of such powerful bows
(in the hands of skilled archers) surely must have given the Akkadians the
military advantage over their Sumerian neighbors – many of whom still relied on
javelins.
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