transportation and travel

   In the fourth millennium b.c. and before, the inhabitants of Mesopotamia and surrounding regions had to rely on very basic forms of transportation, such as walking, riding donkeys, and riding in small boats on the local rivers. Around 3000 b.c., however, shipbuilders managed to construct large seaworthy vessels that could navigate in open waterways like the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. This allowed for faster travel to and trade with distant lands, including India and Egypt; expanded opportunities for fishermen; and more expansive travel and trade in general.

   The First Wagons and Chariots During the same period, probably sometime between 3500 and 3000 b.c., the widespread practical application of the wheel resulted in the appearance of the first wagons and carts in Sumeria. These early wheels were solid - consisting of two half disks of wood nailed together to form a circle - and were therefore quite heavy and bulky. Noted scholar Lionel casson comments on what he calls heavy wagons with a box-like body borne on four solid wheels and drawn by teams either of oxen or onagers, a type of wild ass. Some remains dating back [to] about 2500 B.c.havebeen excavated, and these all belong to wagons that were quite small, the bodies only twenty inches [51cm] or so broad and the wheels twenty to forty inches [51 to 102cm] in diameter. This may have been the size that the onagers pulled, since any larger wagon of so massive a style would be too much for them. Indeed, pictures [paintings and sculpted reliefs] of the age more often than not show the beasts hitched in teams of four rather than just two. (Travel in the Ancient World, p. 23).

   Another disadvantage of these early solid, wooden wheels was that the edges of the wood tended to crack, fray, and rapidly wear out under heavy loads. Centuries later, in the second millennium b.c., the Assyrians added sheets of metal - at first copper or bronze and later iron - to the wheel rims, which made them much more durable. Another advance in the second millennium b.c. was the ability to bend strips of wood to form the wheel rims; this allowed for the attachment of spokes running from the rim on the outside to a hub in the center. The result was a much lighter wheel, which in turn made the vehicles faster. In the same era, this advance also made possible the development of faster, more maneuverable chariots, which developed from two-wheeled carts that had appeared somewhat later than the four-wheeled variety.

   Beasts of Burden The earliest wagons and chariots were pulled not only by oxen and onagers but also by donkeys and mules. It was not until circa 2300 B.c.thathorses began to be used as draft animals in Mesopotamia; this remained on a limited scale for some time because horses were expensive to raise and were not much larger than donkeys. Also, the harnesses used for horses in this era rested and pushed on their throats rather than on their shoulders, which severely limited the amount of weight they could pull without choking. Horses were not effectively used to pull wagons and chariots until the mid-second millennium b.c. And horses were not used for riding (by soldiers, messengers, traders, and travelers) with any frequency until at least the ninth century b.c. Even then, the absence of stirrups, which had not yet been invented, made it difficult to maintain one's balance on a horse.

   Another beast used for transportation and travel in ancient Mesopotamia, the camel, appeared relatively late compared to other animals used for pulling vehicles, carrying loads, and riding. There were actually two broad types of camel employed in the Near East. One, the two-humped, or Bactrian, camel originated in central Asia, was comfortable in cool climates, and was used exclusively as a pack animal. The single-humped dromedary camel was first tamed in Arabia, thrived in hot climates, and was used both for carrying loads and for riding and fighting. Both types were imported into Mesopotamia by the Assyrians sometime between about 1000 and 900 b.c.

   The Assyrians recognized the value of the Bactrian camel as a beast of burden for traders and travelers heading into the mountainous areas lying north, northwest, and east of Mesopotamia. A single camel could carry up to five times as much as a donkey and needed to drink far less often than a donkey. Also, the Bactrian camel was well suited to hilly terrain and the cooler temperatures in such regions. The Assyrians, and to an even greater degree the Persians who followed them in Mesopotamia, also were the first to take advantage of dromedaries as pack animals in desert regions. The earlier peoples of the Tigris-Euphrates valley had tended to avoid the arid, scorching deserts of eastern Syria and northern Arabia when traveling or transporting goods toward the west. This naturally made land trips to the Mediterranean coast, Palestine, and Egypt a good deal longer because travelers had to follow a wide, curving arc around the edges of the desert. But the dromedary made it possible for both traders and soldiers to cross these deserts with more ease and frequency. The Assyrians and the Persians also employed the dromedary in battle. The Greek historian Herodotus tells how, in the sixth century b.c., Persia's King Cyrus II (reigned ca. 559-530 b.c.) surprised Lydia's King Croesus by unleashing a regiment of camel-riding cavalrymen, which helped the Persians attain victory:

   [Cyrus] ordered them to advance as the first line of attack against the cavalry of Croesus, with the infantry following and his own cavalry [horsemen] bringing up the rear. . . . The reason for confronting the Lydian cavalry with camels was the instinctive fear which they inspire in horses. No horse can endure the sight or smell of a camel. . . . The ruse succeeded, for when the battle began, the [Lydian] horses turned tail the moment they smelled and saw the camels, and Croesus's chief ground of confidence [his cavalry] was cut from under him. (Histories 1.80-82)

   Hostels and Other Conveniences The Assyrians and Persians also helped pioneer systems of major roads for use by travelers, traders, messengers, and armies. These roads were generally few in number, but some were long and well maintained, in particular the Persian royal road that ran from Mesopotamia northwestward into Anatolia and ended at Sardis, near the Aegean coast. This road could accommodate not only draft animals and wagons loaded with goods but also what was perhaps the largest and most luxurious traveling conveyance ever used in the Near East. The Greeks called it a harmamaxa, roughly translated as "chariot-wagon." In essence, it was a very large wagon with four or more huge wheels, a roof, and hanging curtains on the sides to provide privacy for those who rode inside the padded, comfortable interior. Mostly it was used for transporting noblemen and their families or members of a king's harem.

   Wrestling In addition, all of the peoples of Mesopotamia - from the Sumerians and the Babylonians to the Persians, Greeks, and Sassanians - took part in the most popular of all ancient sports: wrestling. It is likely, in fact, that wrestling is the world's oldest sport. Many modern scholars think it originated in Stone Age times because it was already well developed by the time that the earliest civilizations - in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and China - first began keeping records. For example, archaeologists digging in Iraq in the 1930s found artifacts depicting Sumerian wrestling matches dating from about 3000 B.C. These finds include a small bronze sculpture showing two wrestlers gripping either each other's hips or the wrestling belts they wore around their hips. Wrestling belts were common among most ancient peoples and are still used by wrestlers in a number of countries today. By grasping and then pulling or twisting on an opponent's belt, a wrestler tries to throw the other person off balance and gain the advantage.

   Another clear indication of the popularity of wrestling among the ancient Sum-erians and Babylonians is literary in nature. The title character of the famous Epic of Gilgamesh is a champion wrestler and is frequently called "Gilgamesh the wrestler" in ancient Mesopotamian writings. In the story contained in the epic poem, Gilgamesh faces off with his nemesis and later friend, Enkidu, in a huge, sprawling match in the city streets. The fact that the text describes the two men using their fists and tossing each other into walls suggests that a catch-as-catch-can style, similar to modern professional wrestling, was common and popular. However, various sculptures and other forms of evidence show that other styles of wrestling, with more structured rules, existed as well. It appears that the Babylonians and the Assyrians used wrestling moves similar, and indeed often identical, to those of their ancient Egyptian counterparts. A series of about four hundred paintings of sparring wrestlers, dating from roughly 1900 B.C., were found at Beni Hasan, located on the Nile River in central Egypt. The wrestlers depicted use many of the same moves and holds employed today in both amateur and professional wrestling, including head-locks, armlocks, trips, and shoulder throws. Also shown are wrestlers choking each other. It remains unclear whether choking was considered legal in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.

   See also: chariots; Epic of Gilgamesh; Woolley, Charles Leonard