The period between c. 1100 and the mid-8th century BCE has been seen as one of decline for the Elamite civilization,
[1]
[2]
which had by that time occupied the highlands of the south-western Iranian plateau and the fertile lowlands of the Susiana plain for over a millennium. These historically obscure centuries represent a transitional phase between the Middle Elamite and Neo-Elamite Kingdoms. Following M.-J. Steve, we have split the period at 900 BCE, resulting in a ’crisis phase’ between 1100 and 900 and an early Neo-Elamite period between 900 and 744 BCE.
[3]
In his ’Elamite war’ of 1125-1104 BCE, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar I invaded Elam and forced the Elamite king Hutelutush-Inshushinak to abandon Susa.
[4]
[5]
After this date, there is a drastic reduction in written sources for the history of Elam, both in Mesopotamian documents (either Babylonian or Assyrian) and in inscriptions and tablets from Elam itself.
[2]
The traditional interpretation has been that there was a disintegration of centralized authority in Elam between the Babylonian invasion and the reemergence of well-attested Elamite kings in the 8th century BCE.
[6]
However, some scholars question this, pointing out that systematic archaeological excavation of many Elamite sites has yet to be carried out.
[7]
Further, the gaps in the Mesopotamian historical sources, instead of reflecting the disappearance of Elam as a political entity, may be a function of the political crises and famine that affected Assyria and Babylonia during this period.
[2]
Population and political organization
Due to a scarcity of evidence, the political organization of Elam in the centuries between c. 1100 and 744 BCE remain unclear. Some archaeologists and historians argue that Elam split into multiple autonomous chiefdoms after the Babylonian invasion,
[8]
while others believe it maintained its unity as an organized and centralized state.
[7]
Documents excavated at the site of Anshan dating to the 11th century BCE hint at the survival of some form of royal administration, at least in the highlands.
[9]
Secure population estimates for the area under Elamite control in this period are lacking.
[1]: (Liverani 2014, 461) Liverani, Marco. 2014. The Ancient Near East: History, Society and Economy. Translated by Soraia Tabatabai. Abingdon: Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7DRZQS5Q.
[2]: (Diakonoff 1985, 18) Diakonoff, I. M. 1985. "Elam." In The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. II: The Median and Achaemenian Periods, edited by I. Gershevitch, 1-24. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/IIDGFEPA.
[3]: (Steve 1992, 21-22) Steve, M.-J. 1992. Syllabaire élamite: Histoire et Paléographie. Civilisations Du Proche-Orient 2. Neuchâtel: Recherches et Publications. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/NVMM9G55.
[4]: (Carter and Stolper 1984, 43) Carter, Elizabeth, and Matthew W. Stolper. 1984. Elam: Surveys of Political History and Archaeology. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2SDF8S3B.
[5]: (Vallat 1998) Vallat, F. 1998. "Elam I: The History of Elam." Encyclopaedia Iranica. London: Mazda Publishers. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-i. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/3ACKKUDJ.
[6]: (Liverani 2014, 527-28) Liverani, Marco. 2014. The Ancient Near East: History, Society and Economy. Translated by Soraia Tabatabai. Abingdon: Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7DRZQS5Q.
[7]: Wouter Henkelman 2016, personal communication.
[8]: (Hansman 1985, 30) Hansman, J. 1985. "Anshan in the Median and Achaemenian Periods." In The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol II: The Median and Achaemenian Periods, edited by I. Gershevitch, 25-35. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/IXD6RNNR.
[9]: (Waters 2000, 10) Waters, Matthew W. 2000. A Survey of Neo-Elamite History. Helsinki: The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/JH4EIDJU.
| none |
| Elam - Dark Age |
| continuity |
| Succeeding: Elam I (ir_neo_elam_1) [None] | |
| UNCLEAR: [continuity] |
| quasi-polity | |
| confederated state |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| inferred absent |
| inferred absent |
| inferred absent |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| inferred present |
| absent |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| inferred present |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| present |
| present |
| inferred present |
| absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| present |
| absent |
| inferred present |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| inferred absent |
| unknown |
| inferred present |
| inferred absent |
| present |
| absent |
| unknown |
| Year Range | Elam - Crisis Period (ir_elam_8) was in: |
|---|---|
| (1100 BCE 901 BCE) | Susiana |
Evidence is very scarce for the period - if it was a quasi-polity, this means there was no single capital. If a unified state, the capital could have been Susa, which was probably still an important centre. The site was still occupied between 1000 and 725/700 BCE.
[1]
[1]: (Carter and Stolper 1984, 184)
"Elamite documentation reveals that the Sutrukid dynasty (the last dynasty of the 2nd mil- lennium b.c.) continued beyond the reign of Hutelutus-Insusinak with kings Silhina-hamru- Lagamar, Humban-numena II, Sutruk-Nahhunte II, and Sutur-Nahhunte I. Texts excavated at Ansan indicate the existence of kings, but no titles are given: Aksir-nahunte and Aksir- simut (both contemporaries of Sutruk-Nahhunte II). There are contextual, paleographic, and onomastic reasons to believe that Hutran-Tepti, Att-hamiti-Insusinak, and Humban-nikas I, son of Humban-tarah, ought to be dated in the period 1000-750 b.c. Finally, after a break of a few years, the name Hallutas-Insusinak appears during the mid-8th century b.c. (paleo- graphic and filiation arguments). These royal names partially fill a gap of some 300 years in the Mesopotamian documentation for the kings of Elam. The royal titulature of these indi- viduals does not, therefore, speak in opposition to an independent Ansan." [1]
[1]: (Quintana 2011, 187)
(Relationship): "Elamite documentation reveals that the Sutrukid dynasty (the last dynasty of the 2nd mil- lennium b.c.) continued beyond the reign of Hutelutus-Insusinak with kings Silhina-hamru- Lagamar, Humban-numena II, Sutruk-Nahhunte II, and Sutur-Nahhunte I. Texts excavated at Ansan indicate the existence of kings, but no titles are given: Aksir-nahunte and Aksir- simut (both contemporaries of Sutruk-Nahhunte II). There are contextual, paleographic, and onomastic reasons to believe that Hutran-Tepti, Att-hamiti-Insusinak, and Humban-nikas I, son of Humban-tarah, ought to be dated in the period 1000-750 b.c. Finally, after a break of a few years, the name Hallutas-Insusinak appears during the mid-8th century b.c. (paleo- graphic and filiation arguments). These royal names partially fill a gap of some 300 years in the Mesopotamian documentation for the kings of Elam. The royal titulature of these indi- viduals does not, therefore, speak in opposition to an independent Ansan."
[1]
(Entity): Inshushinak Dynasty.
[1]: (Quintana 2011, 187)
"Although Elam did not maintain a political unity during these intervening centuries of obscurity, local chieftains must have preserved a semblance of control in areas where their authority had been traditionally exercised. Cameron suggests that local rule would probably have remained strongest in the remote Eastern districts of Elamite territories, sc. the region of modern Fars." [1] JR: This view may be changing. We asked Wouter Henkelman about the degree of centralization in Elam in the first half of the 1st millennium BCE as a whole. He told us that ’the ascending view is that Elam was an organised and centralised state up until the Assyrian invasions’ (of the mid-7th century BCE). [2] For this reason, I’ve coded for scholarly disagreement.
[1]: (Hansman 1985, 30)
[2]: Henkelman 2016, personal communication.
"Although Elam did not maintain a political unity during these intervening centuries of obscurity, local chieftains must have preserved a semblance of control in areas where their authority had been traditionally exercised. Cameron suggests that local rule would probably have remained strongest in the remote Eastern districts of Elamite territories, sc. the region of modern Fars." [1] JR: This view may be changing. We asked Wouter Henkelman about the degree of centralization in Elam in the first half of the 1st millennium BCE as a whole. He told us that ’the ascending view is that Elam was an organised and centralised state up until the Assyrian invasions’ (of the mid-7th century BCE). [2] For this reason, I’ve coded for scholarly disagreement.
[1]: (Hansman 1985, 30)
[2]: Henkelman 2016, personal communication.
Decline of the administrative system. "The causes and characteristics of the crisis were both old and new. The long-term causes (the salinisation of agricultural fields, the collapse of the network of irrigation canals, and the decline of the local administrative systems) were combined with the effects of the more recent wars, the political instability, and the invasions." [1]
[1]: (Liverani 2014, 469)
Decline of the administrative system.
"The causes and characteristics of the crisis were both old and new. The long-term causes (the salinisation of agricultural fields, the collapse of the network of irrigation canals, and the decline of the local administrative systems) were combined with the effects of the more recent wars, the political instability, and the invasions. The latter eventually led to famines and epidemics, a drastic reduction of the population, and low birth rates." [1] "Ruins of reservoirs have been discovered along with water intakes, spillways and outlets and even the sewerage systems dating as far back as the Pre-Archaemenid and Assyrian (1500-600 BC) periods." [2] Possible expert disagreement, although the later quote does not seem to be time-specific.
[1]: (Liverani 2014, 469)
[2]: (Mahmoudian and Mahmoudian 2012, 97) Angelakis A N, Mays L W, Koutsoyiannis, D. 2012.Evolution of Water Supply Through the Millennia. IWA Publishing.
"Thus, these seals, once thought to show strong continuity with earlier traditions, have been redated to the Middle Elamite phase. The final date of c.1000 BC for AIX is far from certain and it is possible that the frit seals of this style continued in use through the Neo-Elamite I period (c. 1000-725/700 BC). [1]
[1]: (Carter and Stopler 1985, 166)
inferred continuity with earlier and later periods
Elam in the Iron Age: stone wall technology used for burial chambers. [1] Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text (perhaps for the region of Mesopotamia rather than Elamite Susiana): "Its walls were built from stone." [2]
[1]: Javier Alvarez-Mon, ‘Elam in the Iron Age’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 468
[2]: The death of Gilgameš: c.1.8.1.3. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk.
Elam in the Iron Age: stone wall technology used for burial chambers. [1] Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text (perhaps for the region of Mesopotamia rather than Elamite Susiana): "Its walls were built from stone." [2] Mortar existed at the time of Sumer because they also built with brick which would have required mortar. Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text: "Now Aratta’s battlements are of green lapis lazuli, its walls and its towering brickwork are bright red, their brick clay is made of tinstone dug out in the mountains where the cypress grows." [3] During the Shutrukid Period new construction activity replaced mudbrick with glazed and baked brick (but no specific mention is made of defensive structures). [4]
[1]: Javier Alvarez-Mon, ‘Elam in the Iron Age’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 468
[2]: The death of Gilgameš: c.1.8.1.3. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk.
[3]: Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird: c.1.8.2.2. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk.
[4]: (Bryce 2009, 676). Trevor Bryce. The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire. Routledge. Abingdon.
Late Bronze, Early Iron Age: ‘Large fortresses occupied mountain spurs at strategic points, and smaller forts were built along important lines of communication’. [1] Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text: "the fortress is too high and cannot be reached". [2] If forts were positioned on hills were a feature of the fortified architectural landscape in c2000 BCE and in Elam in c1000 BCE it is likely they also were used between times, and possibly after.
[1]: Michael D. Danti, ‘The Late Bronze and Early Iron Age in Northwestern Iran’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 368
[2]: Ninurta’s exploits: a šir-sud (?) to Ninurta: c.1.6.2. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk.
Ur III (c2000 BCE) inscription mentions the construction of a moat and rampart in the region of Elam. [1] The Achaemenids built a moat at Susa. [2] It is not much of a stretch to suggest that if moats were a feature of the fortified architectural landscape in c2000 BCE and c500 BCE they also were used between times. However, since I have not yet found a reference to a moat specific to the Elamite period I will leave an expert to make the decision on if/when to code inferred present.
[1]: (? 2018) Author?. Title?. Javier Alvarez-Mon. Gian Pietro Basello. Yasmina Wicks. ed. 2018. The Elamite World. Routledge. Abingdon.
[2]: (Root 2015, 49) Margaret Cool Root. 2015. Achaemenid Imperial Architecture: Performative Porticoes of Persepolis. Sussan Babaie. Talinn Grigor. Persian Kingship and Architecture: Strategies of Power in Iran from the Achaemenids to the Pahlavis. I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd.
Ur III (c2000 BCE) inscription mentions the construction of a moat and rampart in the region of Elam. [1] Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text: "My master: the Asag has constructed a wall of stakes on an earthen rampart". [2] The unfinished city of Chogha Zanbil began by Elamite king Untash-napirisha (1275-1240 BCE) had a section "designated as the royal city, covers an area of c. 85 ha, lying to the east of the temenos, and protected by a rampart." [3] Later, after c500 BCE?, the Achaemenids built a long rammed mud defensive wall (the Kam Pirak). [4] Earth ramparts are a known defensive fortification c2000 BCE and c500 BCE and there is also a reference to them being used during the Elamite period. They seem to be a consistent feature of the architectural landscape over the period.
[1]: (? 2018) Author?. Title?. Javier Alvarez-Mon. Gian Pietro Basello. Yasmina Wicks. ed. 2018. The Elamite World. Routledge. Abingdon.
[2]: Ninurta’s exploits: a šir-sud (?) to Ninurta: c.1.6.2. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk.
[3]: (Bryce 2009, 160-163). Trevor Bryce. The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire. Routledge. Abingdon.
[4]: (Ball 2001, 315) Warwick Ball. 2001. Rome in the East: The Transformation of an Empire. Routledge. London.
In the north-west of Persia by c800 BCE: "Double and triple stone walls, with a thickness of 3.6 m and a height of 12 m, surrounded some cities" [1] - present for that region at that time; however this is not a direct reference to the Elamite region.
[1]: (Hejazi and Saradj 2015, 6) Mehrdad Hejazi. Fatemeh Mehdizadeh Saradj. 2015. Persian Architectural Heritage: Architecture, Structure and Conservation. WITPress. Southampton.
‘Major categories are pear-shaped stone maceheads, copper/bronze spiked and star maces, shortswords, knives/daggers with upturned ends, iron socketed spears, and arrowheads’ [1] Hasanlu, a major city in western Iran destroyed by invaders in the 9th century BCE, was ’a centre for metal-working and a pioneer in making iron’ and excavations there have uncovered an iron making furnace, and their technological advances included a steel knife [2] For the ancient state of Elam and the Zagros Mountains region there is not much data, although archaeologists have dated Iron Age Period III to 800-500 BCE. [3] Luristan borders Susiana region to the NW. Here Vanden Berghe divided the Iron Age into three periods 1000-800/750 BCE in which bronze and iron used together and 800/750-600 BCE when weapons were made from iron and ritual articles from bronze. [4]
[1]: Michael D. Danti, ‘The Late Bronze and Early Iron Age in Northwestern Iran’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 359
[2]: (Coulson 2012) Michael Coulson. 2012. The History of Mining. The Events, Technology and People Involved in the Industry That Forged The Modern World. Harriman House Ltd. Petersfield.
[3]: (Potts 2016, 251) D T Potts. 2016. The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State. Second Edition. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
[4]: (Kuz’mina 2007, 368) Elena E Kuz’mina. J P Mallory ed. 2007. The Origin of the Indo-Iranians. BRILL. Leiden.
Coded as present as the following has been found for a time frame in the region covering this polity: copper and bronze weapons found in graves [1]
[1]: Michael D. Danti, ‘The Late Bronze and Early Iron Age in Northwestern Iran’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 347
Coded as present as the following has been found for a time frame in the region covering this polity:copper and bronze weapons found in graves [1]
[1]: Michael D. Danti, ‘The Late Bronze and Early Iron Age in Northwestern Iran’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 347
In Anatolia siege warfare was mentioned in Old Hittite records. [1] Presumably at this time the catapult was not used? In India, according to Jain texts, Ajatashatru, a 5th century BCE king of Magadha in North India, used a catapult "capable of hurling huge pieces of stone". [2] Marsden (1969) said archaeological records exist before the 4th century BCE. [3] The Achaemenids (c400 BCE?) are assumed to have had the catapult because the Macedonians did. [4] Pollard and Berry (2012) say torsion catapults first came into widespread use in the Hellenistic period 4th - 1st centuries BCE. [5] The Syracuse Greek Dionysios I invented a form of crossbow called the gastraphetes in 399 BCE which encouraged the development of large tension-powered weapons. [6] There is no direct evidence for catapults for this time/location. The aforementioned evidence we currently have covering the wider ancient world suggests they were probably not used at this time, perhaps because effective machines had not been invented yet.
[1]: Siegelova I. and H. Tsumoto (2011) Metals and Metallurgy in Hittite Anatolia, pp. 278 [In:] H. Genz and D. P. Mielke (ed.) Insights Into Hittite History And Archaeology, Colloquia Antiqua 2, Leuven, Paris, Walpole MA: PEETERS, pp. 275-300
[2]: (Singh 2008, 272) Upinder Singh. 2008. A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. Pearson Longman. Delhi.
[3]: (Marsden 1969, 5, 16, 66.) Marsden, E. W. 1969. Greek and Roman Artillery: The Historical Development. Toronto: Oxford University Press.
[4]: (Dandamaev 1989, 314) Dandamaev, M A. 1989. A Political History of the Achaemenid Empire. Brill.
[5]: (Pollard and Berry 2012, 45) Pollard, N, Berry, J (2012) The Complete Roman Legions, Thames and Hudson, London Rives, J (2006) Religion in the Roman Empire, Wiley
[6]: (Keyser and Irby-Massie 2006, 260) Paul T Keyser. Georgia Irby-Massie. Science, Medicine, And Technology. Glenn R Bugh. ed. 2006. The Cambridge Companion to the Hellenistic World. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
The counter-weight trebuchet was first used by the Byzantines in 1165 CE.
Slings had been present since the Chalcolithic. [1] Before the Archaemenid king Cyrus (c600 BCE), Persian light infantry carried only the bow and sling. [2]
[1]: (Forouzan et al. 2012: 3534) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/ainsworth/items/itemKey/Q5RVEPUU.
[2]: (Gabriel 2002, 162-163 Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport.
"Composite bows are known from both Mesopotamia and the Great Steppe from the III millennium BCE. The Scythian bow was different from the Mesopotamian one primarily in its overall dimensions - it was smaller so that it could be used from the horseback. At the same time, self bows were also in use, but because of their large size they were not suitable for use by horse riders." [1] In his discussion of weapons used by the Achaemenid army Gabriel (2002) mentions the "noncomposite" simple bow directly for light cavalry and chariots and the ’bow’ for light infantry and heavy infantry and notably does not mention use of the composite bow by Persian forces. [2] Earlier Gabriel mentions the composite bow was used from the late third millennium BCE but that it was difficult to manufacture and it was "very susceptible to moisture, which rendered it useless." [3] This suggests the simple bow was most likely the standard weapon. Hypothesis: nomads who were full-time warriors were able maintain their composite bows every day. Agricultural polities who did not wanted to store the weapons. This may have meant they probably relied most on their stocks of easy to preserve simple bows, even though arrows shot from them carried less range.
[1]: Sergey A Nefedov, RAN Institute of History and Archaeology, Yekaterinburg, Russia. Personal Communication to Peter Turchin. January 2018.
[2]: (Gabriel 2002, 162-164) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport.
[3]: (Gabriel 2002, 28) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport.
"Unlike other areas of the world where the spear developed into a thrown weapon, in the Middle East it remained primarily a stabbing weapon." [1] This passage does not say the javelin had no role at all. The weapon may have had a secondary role. The last reference for the military use of the javelin in this region was Ur. The lament for Sumer and Ur mentions javelins in the battle for Ur c2000 BCE. [2]
[1]: (Gabriel and Metz 1991, 59) Richard A Gabriel. Karen S Metz. 1991. The Military Capabilities of Ancient Armies. Greenwood Press. Westport.
[2]: Hamblin, W. J. 2006. Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC. New York: Routledge.
Not present at this time: "the hand-held crossbow was invented by the Chinese, in the fifth century BC, and probably came into the Roman world in the first century AD, where it was used for hunting." [1] The crossbow also developed after the Syracuse Greek Dionysios I invented a form of crossbow called the gastraphetes in 399 BCE. [2]
[1]: (Nicholson 2004, 99) Helen Nicholson. 2004. Medieval Warfare: Theory and Practice of War in Europe, 300-1500. PalgraveMacmillan. Basingstoke.
[2]: (Keyser and Irby-Massie 2006, 260) Paul T Keyser. Georgia Irby-Massie. Science, Medicine, And Technology. Glenn R Bugh. ed. 2006. The Cambridge Companion to the Hellenistic World. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
"The effective range of the simple bow varied from 50 to 100 yards. And the arrow shot by a simple bow was unable to penetrate leather or bronze armour. The effective range of the composite bows varied between 250 and 300 yards." [1] However, the composite bow itself could not penetrate armour more than 2mm thick [all designs or just the early designs?] and was susceptible to rotting in high-moisture environments. [2] "The composite bow was a recurve bow made of wood, horn and tendons from oxen, carefully laminated together. These bows were probably invented by the nomads of the Eurasian steppe and brought into Sumer by the mercenary nomads." [1] "Composite bows are known from both Mesopotamia and the Great Steppe from the III millennium BCE. The Scythian bow was different from the Mesopotamian one primarily in its overall dimensions - it was smaller so that it could be used from the horseback. At the same time, self bows were also in use, but because of their large size they were not suitable for use by horse riders." [3] In his discussion of weapons used by the Achaemenid army Gabriel (2002) mentions the "noncomposite" simple bow directly for light cavalry and chariots and the ’bow’ for light infantry and heavy infantry and notably does not mention use of the composite bow by Persian forces. [4] Earlier Gabriel mentions the composite bow was used from the late third millennium BCE but that it was difficult to manufacture and it was "very susceptible to moisture, which rendered it useless." [2] This suggests the simple bow was most likely the standard weapon. Hypothesis: nomads who were full-time warriors were able maintain their composite bows every day. Agricultural polities who did not wanted to store the weapons. This may have meant they probably relied most on their stocks of easy to preserve simple bows, even though arrows shot from them carried less range.
[1]: (Roy 2015, 20) Kaushik Roy. 2015. Warfare in Pre-British India - 1500 BCE to 1740 CE. Routledge. London.
[2]: (Gabriel 2002, 28) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport.
[3]: Sergey A Nefedov, RAN Institute of History and Archaeology, Yekaterinburg, Russia. Personal Communication to Peter Turchin. January 2018.
[4]: (Gabriel 2002, 162-164) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport.
‘Major categories are pear-shaped stone maceheads, copper/bronze spiked and star maces, shortswords, knives/daggers with upturned ends, iron socketed spears, and arrowheads’ [1]
[1]: Michael D. Danti, ‘The Late Bronze and Early Iron Age in Northwestern Iran’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 359
In Sumer the first swords appeared about c3000 BCE but until c2000 BCE their use were restricted because the blade often became detached from the handle. [1] "All armies after the seventeenth century B.C.E. carried the sword, but in none was it a major weapon of close combat; rather, it was used when the soldier’s primary weapons, the spear and axe, were lost or broken." [2] Late Bronze/Early Iron Age: shortswords. [3]
[1]: (Gabriel and Metz 1991, 63) Richard A Gabriel. Karen S Metz. 1991. The Military Capabilities of Ancient Armies. Greenwood Press. Westport.
[2]: (Gabriel 2002, 26-27) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport.
[3]: Michael D. Danti, ‘The Late Bronze and Early Iron Age in Northwestern Iran’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 359
‘Major categories are pear-shaped stone maceheads, copper/bronze spiked and star maces, shortswords, knives/daggers with upturned ends, iron socketed spears, and arrowheads’. [1] Spear-using phalanx first used in Sumer 2500 BCE. The phalanx was in use until the 1st century BCE. [2] "Unlike other areas of the world where the spear developed into a thrown weapon, in the Middle East it remained primarily a stabbing weapon." [3]
[1]: Michael D. Danti, ‘The Late Bronze and Early Iron Age in Northwestern Iran’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 359
[2]: (Gabriel 2002, 25) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport.
[3]: (Gabriel and Metz 1991, 59) Richard A Gabriel. Karen S Metz. 1991. The Military Capabilities of Ancient Armies. Greenwood Press. Westport.
‘Major categories are pear-shaped stone maceheads, copper/bronze spiked and star maces, shortswords, knives/daggers with upturned ends, iron socketed spears, and arrowheads’ [1]
[1]: Michael D. Danti, ‘The Late Bronze and Early Iron Age in Northwestern Iran’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 359
Present in the previous polity and axeheads found in the neighboring region of Luristan at this time. [1] The war axe evolved after the development of body and head armour. Invented by the Sumerians, the socketed penetrating axe was "one of the most devastating close-combat weapons of the Bronze and Iron ages." [2]
[1]: Bruno Overlaet, ‘Luristan During the Iron Age’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 380
[2]: (Gabriel and Metz 1991, 61) Richard A Gabriel. Karen S Metz. 1991. The Military Capabilities of Ancient Armies. Greenwood Press. Westport.
The donkey was probably domesticated from the African wild ass ’in more than one place’ but for the Nubian subspecies 5500-4500 BCE in the Sudan. [1] Donkey herder was a profession in Akkadian (c2200 BCE) period Mesopotamia. [2] "During the Bronze Age the standard mechanism of transport was the donkey (Egypt) or the solid-wheeled cart drawn by the onager (Sumer)." [3] The Achaemenids used donkeys (e.g. Darius III) and camels (e.g. Cyrus I) in their baggage train. [4] Likely to have been used as donkeys appear to have been raised in the wider region at least since Akkadian times. It is possible they were not used frequently, however, as there were other options.
[1]: (Mitchell 2018, 39) Peter Mitchell 2018. The Donkey in Human History: An Archaeological Perspective. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
[2]: (Foster 2016, 73-74) Foster, Benjamin R. 2016. The Age of Agade. Inventing Empire In Ancient Mesopotamia. Routledge. London
[3]: (Gabriel 2002, 7) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport.
[4]: (Mayor 2014, 289-290) Adrienne Mayor. Animals in Warfare. Gordon Lindsay Campbell. ed. 2014. The Oxford Handbook of Animals in Classical Thought and Life. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
Almost certainly could be coded present if there is evidence the polity used the shield. At this time it is unlikely the warriors went into battle completely unarmoured. The Archaemenids used cane: "From ancient times the peoples of Persia favoured a light, tough shield made of withies or cane. As remarked on at the beginning of this chapter, Herodotus describes the soldiers of Xerxes who carry targes of wicker. Large and deeply convex shields built up of concentric rings of cane or withies are carried by the Sacae (Scythian) guards in the reliefs from the great staircase of the Achaemenid, from the Palace of Persepolis, now in the Berlin Museum. All but the caps of these guards are in the Persian fashion. The large shields are not those of nomadic horsemen, but are a foot soldier’s defence." [1]
[1]: (Robinson 1967) Robinson, H. Russell. 1967. Oriental Armour. Walker and Co. New York.
Last reference to shields present is during Ur III c2000 BCE. [1] Next reference for shields is the Archaemenids: "From ancient times the peoples of Persia favoured a light, tough shield made of withies or cane. As remarked on at the beginning of this chapter, Herodotus describes the soldiers of Xerxes who carry targes of wicker. Large and deeply convex shields built up of concentric rings of cane or withies are carried by the Sacae (Scythian) guards in the reliefs from the great staircase of the Achaemenid, from the Palace of Persepolis, now in the Berlin Museum. All but the caps of these guards are in the Persian fashion. The large shields are not those of nomadic horsemen, but are a foot soldier’s defence." [2] Likely to be inferred present but will leave this one for an expert to confirm.
[1]: (Rutkowski 2007 24)Rutkowski, Ł. 2007. Problematyka militarna w Państwie Ur III. In: D. Szeląg (ed.), Historia i kultura państwa III dynastii z Ur. Warszawa: Instytut Archeologii Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, 17-28.
[2]: (Robinson 1967) Robinson, H. Russell. 1967. Oriental Armour. Walker and Co. New York.
"Of the Medes and Persians as a whole, only a few wore armour. Some had body armour of iron scales and wicker targes and only some of the cavalry wore helmets of bronze or iron. As both Greek mercenaries and Assyrians were amongst the best armed in this great force, one may assume that any armour worn by Persians was inspired by one or the other of these militant peoples." [1] Higher ranks in the Assyrian army (9th century CE?) wore scale armour. [2] "By 2100 BCE the victory stele of Naram Sin appears to show plate armor, and it is likely that plate armor had been in wide use for a few hundred years. Plate armor was constructed of thin bronze plates sewn to a leather shirt or jerkin." [3] Coding this as scale armor.
[1]: (Robinson 1967) Robinson, H. Russell. 1967. Oriental Armour. Walker and Co. New York.
[2]: (Chadwick 2005, 77) Chadwick, R (2005) First Civilizations: Ancient Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, 2nd Edition, Equinox, London.
[3]: (Gabriel 2002, 21) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport.
No mention of plate armour until the Archaemenids who used iron breastplates. [1] The Late Bronze and Early Iron Age in Northwestern Iran: ‘Other major object and material categories include iron and bronze armor’. [2] Is this relevant? What was this metal armour? "By 2100 BCE the victory stele of Naram Sin appears to show plate armor, and it is likely that plate armor had been in wide use for a few hundred years. Plate armor was constructed of thin bronze plates sewn to a leather shirt or jerkin." [3] Coding this as scale armor.
[1]: (Farrokh 2007, 76) Farrokh, K. 2007. Shadows in the Desert: Ancient Persia at War. Osprey Publishing.
[2]: Michael D. Danti, ‘The Late Bronze and Early Iron Age in Northwestern Iran’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 359
[3]: (Gabriel 2002, 21) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport.
Reference for Greece c1600 BCE: "Early Mycenaean and Minoan charioteers wore an arrangement of bronze armor that almost fully enclosed the soldier, the famous Dendra panoply." [1] Reference for Mesopotamia (the Assyrians) c800 BCE?: iron plates used for shin protection. [2] Reference for ’Etruscan Rome’ (400 BCE?): "bronze greaves to protect the shins and forearms of the soldier were standard items of military equipment." [2]
[1]: (Gabriel 2007, 78) Richard A Gabriel. 2007. Soldiers’ Lives Through History: The Ancient World. Greenwood Press. Westport.
[2]: (Gabriel and Metz 1991, 51) Richard A Gabriel. Karen S Metz. 1991. The Military Capabilities of Ancient Armies. Greenwood Press. Westport.
Almost certainly could be coded present if there is evidence the polity used the shield. At this time it is unlikely the warriors went into battle completely unarmoured.
"Of the Medes and Persians as a whole, only a few wore armour. Some had body armour of iron scales and wicker targes and only some of the cavalry wore helmets of bronze or iron. As both Greek mercenaries and Assyrians were amongst the best armed in this great force, one may assume that any armour worn by Persians was inspired by one or the other of these militant peoples." [1] No mentioned of laminar armour up to the Medes (715-550 BCE). Lamellar armour introduced by the Assyrians (9th century BCE?): "a shirt constructed of laminated layers of leather sewn or glued together. To the outer surface of this coat were attached fitted iron plates, each plate joined to the next at the edge with no overlap and held in place by stitching or gluing." [2]
[1]: (Robinson 1967) Robinson, H. Russell. 1967. Oriental Armour. Walker and Co. New York.
[2]: (Gabriel 2002, 21) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport.
Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE text: "May Ninurta, Enlil’s son, set the helmet Lion of Battle on your head, may the breastplate (?) that in the great mountains does not permit retreat be laid on your breast!" [1] In India, cuirasses or breastplates of copper, iron, silver and gold are referenced in the Vedic epic literature. [2] Breastplates are known to have been worn by early Romans [3] and the advanced Greek Cairan armour c600 BCE included the breastplate. [4] In Persia, the Archaemenids (c5th century CE?) are known to have used iron breastplates [5] - did the cavalry of the Medes (715-550 BCE), who preceded them, wear breastplates? Physical evidence for the breastplate does not appear to be common in the ancient world though there appears to be some text references. We also code present on the basis of fabric/textile breastplates which are least likely to survive in archaeological contexts. For that reason a code of suspected unknown may be best at least back to the late bronze age.
[1]: Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird: c.1.8.2.2. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk.
[2]: Singh, Sarva Daman. Ancient Indian Warfare: With Special Reference to the Vedic Period. Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1989. p. 116
[3]: (Cornell 1995, 179) Cornell, T.J. 1995. The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000-264 BC). London: Routledge.
[4]: (J G Manning 2015, Personal Communication to Seshat Databanak)
[5]: (Farrokh 2007, 76) Farrokh, K. 2007. Shadows in the Desert: Ancient Persia at War. Osprey Publishing.
At the time of Ur III c2000 BCE Gu’abba was a seaport on the Persian Gulf that built ships and had a textile manufacturing sector. A trade route from Guabba ran east to the Karun River and beyond (the region of Susiana). The route was also used for the transport of troops. [1] The Achaemenids (from c500 BCE?) possessed possibly the first large-scale militarised naval force [2] (one imagines largely based in the Mediterranean but presumably also some craft in the Persian Gulf) - the fleet consisted of over 600 tiremes that had 170 oarsmen and 30 fighters. [3] Have not found any earlier reference to naval operations occurring on the Persian Gulf that would require fighting ships. Did the Achaemenid fleet come out of nowhere or did it have some smaller-scale precedents in the Neo-Elamite civilization or Sumerian before that? Perhaps most unlikely before the Neo-Elamite Period.
[1]: (? 2018) Author?. Title?. Javier Alvarez-Mon. Gian Pietro Basello. Yasmina Wicks. ed. 2018. The Elamite World. Routledge. Abingdon.
[2]: (Gabriel 2002, 8) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport.
[3]: (Shahbazi 2012, 129) Shahbazi, A Shapour. The Archaemenid Persian Empire (550-330 BCE) Daryaee, Touraj. ed. 2012. The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History. Oxford University Press.
At the time of Ur III c2000 BCE Gu’abba was a seaport on the Persian Gulf that built ships and had a textile manufacturing sector. A trade route from Guabba ran east to the Karun River and beyond (the region of Susiana). The route was also used for the transport of troops. [1] The Karun River runs inland into Khuzestan which was the Elamite heartland. It would be logical for there to have been boats that sailed down this river to the Persian Gulf in all periods. The boats on the Karun could also have ferried troops.
[1]: (? 2018) Author?. Title?. Javier Alvarez-Mon. Gian Pietro Basello. Yasmina Wicks. ed. 2018. The Elamite World. Routledge. Abingdon.
At the time of Ur III c2000 BCE Gu’abba was a seaport on the Persian Gulf that built ships and had a textile manufacturing sector. A trade route from Guabba ran east to the Karun River and beyond (the region of Susiana). The route was also used for the transport of troops. [1] The Karun River runs inland into Khuzestan which was the Elamite heartland. It would be logical for there to have been boats that sailed down this river to the Persian Gulf. The boats on the Karun could also have ferried troops.
[1]: (? 2018) Author?. Title?. Javier Alvarez-Mon. Gian Pietro Basello. Yasmina Wicks. ed. 2018. The Elamite World. Routledge. Abingdon.