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Assyrian Equipment
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Paul Wilson
Professor Ryan Masters
Hist 132
19 December 2022
Assyrian Equipment
Today you are going to learn a little about one of the mightiest civilizations of the 8th century.

You will learn about the soldiers and the type of equipment that each one had. The materials it

was made out of. I will tell you how they made the equipment that they used for battle. Assyrian

army was a deadly army by the type of gear they had. A poorly equipped army is not a big threat

or a formidable force.

The Assyrian army consisted of four main units. They were the calvary. We pretty much know

what that is but if not ill tell you. They are armed infantry on a horse very deadly because of the

higher attack platform and the speed in which they can close on an enemy. Sometimes they are

heavily armored or lightly. The Assyrian calvary were both depending on the situation that arose.

They had thre types of units in the calvary. The first one was the light calvary which were really

quick and had no armor. They used bows and javelins for the weapons. The next is the heavy

archers. Now these guys had full scale body armor and used bows they were kind of like a tank

in a way. Then the heavy calvary were armored soldiers with spears that was used to fight heavy

armored infantry. The heavy calvary with spear could have been used to break a defensive line

maybe. No one is really sure what the purpose was for, but spears are pretty dang long so that’s

what it would seem like. Next unit type is the Infantry which has three types included to. You

have the spearmen which were armed with a shield, spear, and a dagger or short sword. Now

their main job was to provide defense and support for the calvary. They would go around the

calvary units and look for targets that they could soften up for the infantry to move in. Now you
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have the archers These guys were also well armored and armed with a recurve bow. Sometimes

they had a shield bearer with them to protect them with a shield if the need arose. They had

short sword for close combat if they needed it, but they were a long-range unit. Another fun fact

is the Assyrians learned how to put an archer on a horse with a composite bow and have him

shoot by himself with now help accurately. Then you have the slingers. If you trying to figure

these guys outthink of the great story of David and goliath. These guys had a sling and rocks in

which was used to pelt the enemy with. Now these rocks were meant to crush so they did more

then pester the enemy wit hit it killed some if it hit the right spot. Now you have the charioteers

which were carts with wheels on them pulled by two horse that had good speed but limited

protection. They usually had four soldiers and could carry bows and other various weapons.

They were used as mobile artillery and shock troops.

The materials that the Assyrians arms and armor were made out of varied. First, they

started off with bronze weapons and armor. Which is copper. It’s a pretty soft metal and if it gets

bent its hard to put it back into shape. So, if a sword got bent in a battle it was useless. After they

started conquering other people and assimilating them into their society, they would use that

people’s technology and add it to theirs. They got iron by adopting the Hittites technique of

smelting and incorporated it into their daily lives. So, it became an everyday use for them. It was

quite easy to bend an iron sword back or fix an iron helmet that was dented or a shield. The

earlier forms of helmets were made of Leather covered with scales. Some were even made of

copper. The helmets were made of iron. Before the swords all were forged from iron and shaped

into a blade. They were made from copper or bronze. Even the handle was made of iron for the

iron swords, and bronze for the bronze swords. The spears were made from wood shafts with

iron spear heads instead of bronze. They also used iron lances which was rare. The armor that the
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archers wore was a special type of leather scale armor which consisted of iron scales and leather

sewn together. They used two types of bows the composite bow and the recurve. The composite

bow needed two guys to string it and was made of sinew, horn, glue, wood and leather. They

even used axes although they were not used much for combat. They were used more for

chopping trees and were made of bronze. The slings were iron and were really cheap to make.

these slings had a range of 1300ft Nand the bows had a range of 700 yards. The javelins were

iron and used mainly to break enemy shields and puncture their armor. The Assyrian army had a

few types of shields. When the battering rams would move up to the door of an enemy

stronghold the archers would move up with a reed shield to protect them. First their shield was

comprised of bronze and wood which were not very sturdy. A wooden shield that took a hit from

an enemy blunt weapon or an axe would have shattered easily. Might have even been able to be

pierced by a crossbow. Then they went to iron shields, and they had three types. The first type is

the round shield which is the most common one that was used by the army. Sometimes they

embedded the shield with spikes which could have been used for bashing into people. The next

shield was a convex shield which was pretty much a rectangle shield that could also have spikes

on it and be used as a weapon. Then they had a cone like shaped shield. The daggers were made

of iron too and were way sturdier than their bronze counterparts. This made it easier for stabbing

and close combat. Now the leather scaled armor they created was a marvelous creation. It

allowed for way more flexibility than regular scaled armor. The way they created this is they

looked at nature as an inspiration and realized that you don’t just make armor out of a hard shell.

They best movement was made by making small scales flexible and able to work together. This

was some of the earliest leather scale armor in the world. The scale armor was usually made

form bronze iron and leather it all is depending on what it was needed for. They also created an
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armor called the Yanghai armor. This armor was believed to be a one size fits all armor and was

only issued to light calvary and mounted infantry. This armor offered a lot of movement for the

soldier but didn’t need to be fitted for each soldier individually. The king himself was even

heavily armored in a chariot that had a bunch of armor, and he had his own protection detailed

that were some of the most armored of the troops. Another piece of protective equipment would

be the good old horse. With out the horse they would not have the ability to be so fast and

maneuverable on the battlefield.

So, in the end the Assyrians were a well armored force that made sure their soldiers were

equipped to take on anything. Although they were a very technological advanced people and

enormously powerful, they still succumbed to the fate of expansion too quickly. The equipment

the Assyrians developed was more than likely a steppingstone for future civilizations like the

Persians or other powerful military. Afterall that’s how one should learn is by looking back at

history and seeing what mistakes and developments were made. Only way to grow is to learn

from the past.

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Works Cited

BROWN, MARLEY. “Fit for Fighting.” Archaeology, vol. 75, no. 3, May 2022, pp. 30–33.

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Landau, Elaine. The Assyrians. Lerner Publishing Group, 1997. EBSCOhost,

https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=32445&site=ehost-

live.

Moreno-Gutierrez, D., 2016. The Usage of Iron for Assyrian Weaponry – StMU Research

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of-iron-for-assyrian-weaponry-take-two/> [Accessed 2 October 2022].

Rea, C., 2017. The Iron Army: Assyria – Terrifying Military of the Ancient World – Part I.

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iron-army-assyria-terrifying-military-of-the-ancient-world-part-i/> [Accessed 2 October

2022].

Weapons and Warfare. 2016. LATE ASSYRIAN ARMY. [online] Available at:

<https://weaponsandwarfare.com/2016/07/04/late-assyrian-army/> [Accessed 2 October

2022].