War, Strategy and Tactics in Ancient Mesopotamia

The ancient Mesopotamians pioneered many strategies, tactics and policies in warfare that would be used for thousands of years to come, some of which continue to this day. The Akkadian Empire was the first to build a standing army and the Assyrians perfected siege warfare.

Various empires throughout the history of Mesopotamia used different tactics, often employing the natural environment in creative ways to achieve victory. For example, Hammurabi of Babylon is known to have used dams in order to first cut off the water supply to a city and flood the city before storming it if necessary.

This collection explores the different approaches to Mesopotamian warfare.