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Akkadian Empire

[4]see the map of Mesopotamia

There are several reasons for taking the year 2350 as a turning point
in the history of Mesopotamia. For the first time, an empire arose on
Mesopotamian soil. The driving force of that empire was the Akkadians,
so called after the city of Akkad, which Sargon chose for his capital
(it has not yet been identified but was presumably located on the
Euphrates between Sippar and Kish). The name Akkad became synonymous
with a population group that stood side by side with the Sumerians.
Southern Mesopotamia became known as the "land of Sumer and Akkad";
Akkadian became the name of a language; and the arts rose to new
heights. However, even this turning point was not the first time the
Akkadians had emerged in history. Semites [whether Akkadians or a
Semitic language group that had settled before them] may have had a
part in the urbanization that took place at the end of the 4th
millennium. The earliest Akkadian names and words occur in written
sources of the 27th century. The names of several Akkadian scribes are
found in the archives of Tall Abu Salabikh, near Nippur in central
Babylonia, synchronous with those of Shuruppak (shortly after 2600).
The Sumerian king list places the 1st dynasty of Kish, together with a
series of kings bearing Akkadian names, immediately after the Flood.
In Mari the Akkadian language was probably written from the very
beginning. Thus, the founders of the dynasty of Akkad were presumably
members of a people who had been familiar for centuries with
Mesopotamian culture in all its forms.

According to the Sumerian king list, the first five rulers of Akkad
(Sargon, Rimush, Manishtusu, Naram-Sin, and Shar-kali-sharri) ruled
for a total of 142 years; Sargon alone ruled for 56. Although these
figures cannot be checked, they are probably trustworthy, because the
king list for Ur III, even if 250 years later, did transmit dates that
proved to be accurate.

As stated in an annotation to his name in the king list, Sargon
started out as a cupbearer to King Ur-Zababa of Kish. There is an
Akkadian legend about Sargon, describing how he was exposed after
birth, brought up by a gardener, and later beloved by the goddess
Ishtar. Nevertheless, there are no historical data about his career.
Yet it is feasible to assume that in his case a high court office
served as springboard for a dynasty of his own. The original
inscriptions of the kings of Akkad that have come down to posterity
are brief, and their geographic distribution generally is more
informative than is their content.The main sources for Sargon's reign,
with its high points and catastrophes, are copies made by Old
Babylonian scribes in Nippur from the very extensive originals that
presumably had been kept there. They are in part Akkadian, in part
bilingual Sumerian-Akkadian texts. According to these texts, Sargon
fought against the Sumerian cities of southern Babylonia, threw down
city walls, took prisoner 50 ensis, and "cleansed his weapons in the
sea." He is also said to have captured Lugalzagesi of Uruk, the former
ruler of Umma, who had vigorously attacked UruKAgina in Lagash,
forcing his neck under a yoke and leading him thus to the gate of the
god Enlil at Nippur. "Citizens of Akkad" filled the offices of ensi
from the "nether sea" (the Persian Gulf) upward, which was perhaps a
device used by Sargon to further his dynastic aims. Aside from the 34
battles fought in the south, Sargon also tells of conquests in
northern Mesopotamia: Mari, Tuttul on the Balikh, where he venerated
the god Dagan (Dagon), Ebla (Tall Mardikh in Syria), the "cedar
forest" (Amanus or Lebanon), and the "silver mountains"; battles in
Elam and the foothills of the Zagros are mentioned. Sargon also
relates that ships from Meluhha (Indus region), Magan (possibly the
coast of Oman), and Dilmun (Bahrain) made fast in the port of Akkad.

Impressive as they are at first sight, these reports have only a
limited value because they cannot be arranged chronologically, and it
is not known whether Sargon built a large empire. Akkadian tradition
itself saw it in this light, however, and a learned treatise of the
late 8th or the 7th century lists no fewer than 65 cities and lands
belonging to that empire. Yet, even if Magan and Kapturu (Crete) are
given as the eastern and western limits of the conquered territories,
it is impossible to transpose this to the 3rd millennium.

Sargon appointed one of his daughters priestess of the moon god in Ur.
She took the name of Enheduanna and was succeeded in the same office
by Enmenanna, a daughter of Naram-Sin. Enheduanna must have been a
very gifted woman; two Sumerian hymns by her have been preserved, and
she is also said to have been instrumental in starting a collection of
songs dedicated to the temples of Babylonia.

Sargon died at a very old age after putting the grounds of the
millitary traditions of Mesopotamia. The inscriptions, also preserved
only in copies, of his son Rimush are full of reports about battles
fought in Sumer and Iran, just as if there had never been a Sargonic
empire. It is not known in detail how rigorously Akkad wished to
control the cities to the south and how much freedom had been left to
them; but they presumably clung tenaciously to their inherited local
autonomy. From a practical point of view, it was probably in any case
impossible to organize an empire that would embrace all Mesopotamia.

Since the reports (i.e., copies of inscriptions) left by Manishtusu,
Naram-Sin, and Shar-kali-sharri speak time and again of rebellions and
victorious battles and since Rimush, Manishtusu, and Shar-kali-sharri
are themselves said to have died violent deaths, the problem of what
remained of Akkad's greatness obtrudes. Wars and disturbances, the
victory of one and the defeat of another, and even regicide constitute
only some of the aspects suggested to us by the sources. Whenever they
extended beyond the immediate Babylonian neighbourhood, the military
campaigns of the Akkadian kings were dictated primarily by trade
interests instead of being intended to serve the conquest and
safeguarding of an empire. Akkad, or more precisely the king, needed
merchandise, money, and gold in order to finance wars, buildings, and
the system of administration that he had instituted.

On the other hand, the original inscriptions that have been found so
far of a king like Naram-Sin are scattered at sites covering a
distance of some 620 miles as the crow flies, following the Tigris
downriver: Diyarbakr on the upper Tigris, Nineveh, Tall Birak (Tell
Brak) on the upper Khabur River (which had an Akkadian fortress and
garrison), Susa in Elam, as well as Marad, Puzrish-Dagan, Adab
(Bismayah), Nippur, Ur, and Girsu in Babylonia. Even if all this was
not part of an empire, it surely constituted an impressive sphere of
influence.

Also to be considered are other facts that weigh more heavily than
high-sounding reports of victories that cannot be verified. After the
first kings of the dynasty had borne the title of king of Kish,
Naram-Sin assumed the title "king of the four quarters of the earth"
[that is, of the universe]. As if he were in fact divine, he also had
his name written with the cuneiform sign "god," the divine
determinative that was customarily used in front of the names of gods;
furthermore, he assumed the title of "god of Akkad." It is legitimate
to ask whether the concept of deification may be used in the sense of
elevation to a rank equal to that of the gods. At the very least it
must be acknowledged that, in relation to his city and his subjects,
the king saw himself in the role played by the local divinity as
protector of the city and guarantor of its well-being. In contemporary
judicial documents from Nippur, the oath is often taken "by
Naram-Sin," with a formula identical with that used in swearing by a
divinity. Documents from Girsu contain Akkadian date formulas of the
type "in the year in which Naram-Sin laid the foundations of the Enlil
temple at Nippur and of the Inanna temple at Zabalam." As evidenced by
the dating procedures customary in Ur III and in the Old Babylonian
period, the use of such formulas presupposes that the respective city
acknowledged as its overlord the ruler whose name is invoked.

Under Akkad, the Akkadian language acquired a literary prestige that
made it the equal of Sumerian. Under the influence, perhaps, of an
Akkadian garrison at Susa, it spread beyond the borders of
Mesopotamia. After having employed for several centuries an indigenous
script patterned after cuneiform writing, Elam adopted Mesopotamian
script during the Akkadian period and with a few exceptions used it
even when writing in Elamite rather than Sumerian or Akkadian. The
so-called Old Akkadian manner of writing is extraordinarily appealing
from the aesthetic point of view; as late as the Old Babylonian era it
served as a model for monumental inscriptions. Similarly, the plastic
and graphic arts, especially sculpture in the round, relief work, and
cylinder seals, reached a high point of perfection.

Thus the reign of the five kings of Akkad may be considered one of the
most productive periods of Mesopotamian history. Although separatist
forces opposed all unifying tendencies, Akkad brought about a
broadening of political horizons and dimensions. The period of Akkad
fascinated historiographers as did few other eras. Having contributed
its share to the storehouse of legend, it has never disappeared from
memory. With phrases such as "There will come a king of the four
quarters of the earth," liver omens (soothsaying done by analyzing the
shape of a sheep's liver) of the Old Babylonian period express the
yearning for unity at a time when Babylonia had once again
disintegrated into a dozen or more small states

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References

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