The Weaponry of the Middle Assyrian Army according to the Written Sources

Abstract

During the Old Assyrian period (2025-1500 BC), the city of Assur was an active commercial centre, which made treaties with other cities along the trade routes. No remarkable military endeavours are attested for the city during this period. This situation changed during the second half of the second mill. BC, when the Assyrian kingdom expanded territorially for the first time. The Assyrian kings of the 13th century BC, Adad-nārārī I (1295-1264 BC), Shalmaneser I (1263-1234 BC) and Tukultī-Ninurta I (1233-1197 BC) annexed the territories in the Jazirah (the former kingdom of Mittani), conquered the surrounding mountainous regions to the north and the east, and, for a brief period of time, even managed to subjugate Babylonia during the reign of Tukultī-Ninurta I.