ABSTRACT
The Iron Age in Eurasia witnessed the origins of a military divergence between Asia and Europe. The varied military divergence collapsed only with the end of Classical Age in Greece c. 340 bce. This chapter focuses especially on the diverging Greek and Persian ways of warfare. During the ninth century bce, the Assyrian army comprised chariots with a crew of three and cavalry armed with lances, spears and bows. The Neo-Assyrian soldiers used light round shields that were made of wicker and covered with leather. Each shield had a single grip in the middle and could be carried by a strap round the neck. This shield emerged in the Late Bronze Age in Anatolia and Assyria. The Achaemenid Persian Empire lasted from c. 550 to 330 bce. This empire was much larger than the Assyrian Empire and under Darius I extended from the Indus River in the east to the Danube River in the west.
