Ancient Assyrians` Open Field Battles: Total Amount, Wins and Defeats (preliminary) (original) (raw)
This research aims to seek an answer to the question of what sort of defence strategies and structures were used by the Syro-Hittite City States and the Israelite Kingdoms against the Assyrians between 731 BC and 701 BC. In order to do that, the attacking units of the Neo-Assyrian army is investigated to understand the changes of offensive strategies and tools and what type of defence should have been followed accordingly. Furthermore, it analyses the various fortifications systems of Karkamiš, Sam’al, Bit-Adini and Damascus and their strategies against Assyrian dominance. Furthermore, to comprehend the situation in the Near East better, this research also pursues the evidences from Samaria, Gezer, Lachish and Jerusalem by looking at their fortification systems, defence tools and various other structures such as, anti-siege ramps and tunnel systems. Lastly, it deepens the analyses on the attacking strategems and the defence tactics of the ancient states throughout the world by giving examples from various ancient strategists such as; Aineias Tacticus, Philon, Vegetius and Sun Tzu. In order to ascertain this research, the archaeological evidence, textual records and the palace reliefs were examined carefully. The evidence suggests that the Assyrian army technologically surpassed their rivals and thus they gained the dominance over the Near East. While the Assyrians were attempting to achieve the success, their strategy consisted of the open pitched warfare against the Syro-Hittite city states and the siege warfare against the Israelite Kingdoms. Nevertheless, the result is the decisive victory of the Assyrians on both sides which indicates their superiority and technological advancements against the challengers during the Iron Age II.
Alexander the Great managed thanks to his military and political skill to conquer the mighty Persian Empire, setting the scene for the birth of the Hellenistic world. Though we can appreciate the ingenuity of the young Macedonian king as a general on the basis of his victories, many aspects of his military actions are not always so clear and are a matter of historical debate. The same obscurity applies to his opponent, Darius III, the Great King of Persia. This has, of course, to do with the quality of the historical sources we have at our disposal, a well known problem regarding the entire period. Alexander and Darius fought three major battles that sealed the fate of the Persian Empire: at Granicus, Issus and Gaugamela. Of the three, Gaugamela was the last, therefore the most decisive. Nevertheless, the reconstruction not only of the battle itself but also of the events leading up to it, remain obscure. One of the crucial points that our sources confuse is the exact location of the battle. Though at a first look it seems the least of the problems that our sources have, it is imperative, because it would allow us to comprehend the military options that the two commanders had during a campaign that sealed the fate of the Persian Empire. The present paper aims to readdress this old problem, one of the many regarding Alexandrian studies, by combining an overview of the relevant sources, with the prevailing modern scholarly views and together with some preliminary observations from my visit in 2011 to the province of Erbil in northern Iraq, in the wider area of which the battle was conducted.