Battle of Uruk

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Uruk
partof=Sargon's conquest of Sumer
campaign=


caption=
date=c.2271 BC
place=Near Uruk
casus beli=Sargon's conflict with Lugal-Zage-Si
territory=
result=Akkadian victory
combatant1=Akkad
combatant2=Sumerian provinces
commander1=Sargon the Great
commander2=Lugal-Zage-Si
strength1=Uncertan, but probably around 5,000
strength2=Unknown
casualties1=Unknown
casualties2=Unknown, but high

Battle of Uruk was one of the decisive battles in which king Sargon the Great of Akkad subdued Sumer and brought it under his control. Our only information about this battle is from a copied inscription at Nippur, and the date for the battle is uncertain. [Kuhrt, Amélie, "The Ancient Near East: C.3000-330 B.C.", Routledge 1996 ISBN 978-0415167635 p. 49, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=V_sfMzRPTgoC&pg=PA49&dq=battle+sargon+Uruk&ei=At5fSOSCKIfMtAPl-Ixj&client=firefox-a&sig=VOzSG6GFvNeV7whVCVc8EWVpbdE] ] During his military campaign, Sargon attacked the city of Uruk and destroyed it. The survivors fled the city and joined with other armies from the fifty Sumerian provinces under the leadership of king Lugal-zage-si of Umma, before opposing Sargon. In this pitched battle that ensued c. 2271 BC, Lugal-zage-Ssi, the chief rival and opponent of Sargon, was defeated and his forces were routed [La storia, Enrico Cravetto, Rotolito Lombarda, 2007 Instituto Geografico De Agostini S.p.a., p 281] . After the battle, Lugal-zage-si himself was captured by Sargon and brought to Nippur 'haltered like a dog'. [Rice, Michael, "The Archaeology of the Arabian Gulf, Routledge, 1994, ISBN 978-0415032681, p. 106 [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=hcAOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA106&dq=battle+sargon+Uruk&ei=At5fSOSCKIfMtAPl-Ixj&client=firefox-a&sig=VPoZnFpKlltO-W0Zyz4nzavIH4U] ]

References