>>18139291
>>18139303
Cope. The city of Ur began to emerge as a military and political power in Sumer during the Early Dynastic Period III (2600–2350 BC, where the first representations of war chariots in Mesopotamia appear, picrel is a depiction of an onager-drawn cart on the Sumerian War panel of the Standard of Ur, 2500 BC), but its first major military expansion and dominance over other cities occurred mainly during the reign of the Third Dynasty of Ur with Ur-Nammu, around 2112 BC, as a reaction to its vassalage to Semitic Akkadian rule (Akkad was the capital of the Akkadian Empire, the first empire of humanity, founded by Sargon of Akkad, who was the first great Akkadian king to unify Mesopotamia in 2334–2279). However, before that, during the so-called Early Dynastic Period (c. 2900–2334 BC), Ur was already waging wars against rival cities such as Lagash, Umma, and Kish, but it was not yet the dominant power in Sumer; that role was more contested between Kish, Lagash, and Uruk.

The question is this: Donkeys and their hybrids with other equines are were strong and durable than horses, but less fast, which raises the question: How were these animals used in warfare by the Sumerians and Akkadians?

The answer lies in the type of warfare practiced at the time. Sumerian war chariots ≠ light chariots. Sumerian war chariots were heavy, with four solid wooden wheels. They were more like chariots for traction and transportation than the fast chariots introduced by the Non-IE Kassites after 1500 BC along horses (which the Sumerians called anše.kur.r, "donkeys of the mountains", since they came from the Zagros Mountains where the Kassites arose).