Great Battles of the Ancient World

Three types of evidence shed light on origins of warfare: human remains bearing evidence of trauma, artifacts that function primarily as weapons, and monuments such as fortifications or depictions of warriors painted on cave walls. Their interpretations are far from straightforward.

You enter the historical era when written records first become available. Such evidence allows us to reconstruct the conventions and conditions of warfare among the first cities in Sumer in c. 3000 BC and to explore the nature of Sumerian armies, weapons, and battle tactics.

Evidence of warfare in Old Kingdom Egypt is ambiguous, but it is much more plentiful in later periods, when the pharaoh's role was increasingly that of a war leader. Egyptian warfare was transformed by the introduction of the chariot.

With New Kingdom Egypt, you get the first fully recorded battle in history: the Battle of Megiddo. You also cover the later Battle of Kadesh, which is attested in both Egyptian and Hittite accounts.

The reality of the Trojan War has been debated since ancient times. In this episode, survey the archaeological evidence for Troy and for warfare among the mainland Greeks, called Mycenaeans.