Pre-Sargonic Akkad under its last king
Lugal-Zage-Si appears in orange. Circa 2350 BC , holding a mace and wearing a flounced royal coat on his left shoulder with a large belt (left), followed by an attendant holding a royal umbrella. The name of Sargon in cuneiform ("King Sargon") appears faintly in front of his face.
Sargon of Akkad The earliest records in the Akkadian language date to the time of Sargon of Akkad, who defeated the
Sumerian king
Lugal-zage-si at the
Battle of Uruk and conquered his former territory, establishing the Akkadian Empire. Sargon was claimed to be the son of a gardener in the
Sumerian King List. Later legends named his father as La'ibum or Itti-Bel and his birth mother as a priestess (or possibly even a
hierodule) of
Ishtar, the Akkadian equivalent of the Sumerian goddess
Inanna. One legend of Sargon from
Neo-Assyrian times quotes him as saying Later claims made on behalf of Sargon were that his mother was an "
entu" priestess (high priestess). The claims might have been made to ensure a pedigree of nobility, since only a highly placed family could achieve such a position. Originally a
cupbearer (
Rabshakeh) to a king of
Kish with a
Semitic name,
Ur-Zababa, Sargon thus became a gardener, responsible for the task of clearing out irrigation canals. The royal cupbearer at this time was in fact a prominent political position, close to the king and with various high level responsibilities not suggested by the title of the position itself. This gave him access to a disciplined corps of workers, who also may have served as his first soldiers. Displacing Ur-Zababa, Sargon was crowned king, and he entered upon a career of foreign conquest. Four times he invaded
Syria and
Canaan, and he spent three years thoroughly subduing the countries of "the west" to unite them with Mesopotamia "into a single empire". However, Sargon took this process further, conquering many of the surrounding regions to create an empire that reached westward as far as the
Mediterranean Sea and perhaps
Cyprus (
Kaptara); northward as far as the mountains (a later
Hittite text asserts he fought the
Hattian king
Nurdaggal of
Burushanda, well into
Anatolia); eastward over
Elam; and as far south as
Magan (
Oman) — a region over which he reigned for purportedly 56 years, though only four "year-names" survive. He consolidated his dominion over his territories by replacing the earlier opposing rulers with noble citizens of Akkad, his native city where loyalty was thus ensured. .
Louvre Museum. Trade extended from the
silver mines of Anatolia to the
lapis lazuli mines in modern
Afghanistan, the
cedars of
Lebanon and the
copper of
Magan. This consolidation of the city-states of Sumer and Akkad reflected the growing economic and political power of Mesopotamia. The empire's breadbasket was the rain-fed agricultural system and a chain of fortresses was built to control the imperial wheat production. Images of Sargon were erected on the shores of the Mediterranean, in token of his victories, and cities and palaces were built at home with the spoils of the conquered lands. Elam and the northern part of Mesopotamia were also subjugated, and rebellions in
Sumer were put down. Contract tablets have been found dated in the years of the campaigns against
Canaan and against
Sarlak, king of
Gutium. He also boasted of having subjugated the "four-quarters" — the lands surrounding Akkad to the north, the south (Sumer), the east (Elam), and the west (
Martu). Some of the earliest historiographic texts (
ABC 19, 20) suggest he rebuilt the city of Babylon (
Bab-ilu) in its new location near Akkad. Troubles multiplied toward the end of his reign. A later Babylonian text states: It refers to his campaign in "Elam", where he defeated a coalition army led by the King of Awan and forced the vanquished to become his vassals. Also shortly after, another revolt took place:
Rimush and Manishtushu Sargon had crushed opposition even at old age. These difficulties broke out again in the reign of his sons, where revolts broke out during the nine-year reign of
Rimush (2278–2270 BC), who fought hard to retain the empire, and was successful until he was assassinated by some of his own courtiers. According to his inscriptions, he faced widespread revolts, and had to reconquer the cities of
Ur,
Umma,
Adab,
Lagash,
Der, and
Kazallu from rebellious
ensis: Rimush's elder brother,
Manishtushu (2269–2255 BC) succeeded him. The latter seems to have fought a sea battle against 32 kings who had gathered against him and took control over their pre-
Arab country, consisting of modern-day
United Arab Emirates and
Oman. Despite the success, like his brother he seems to have been assassinated in a palace conspiracy. He also faced revolts at the start of his reign, but quickly crushed them. , celebrating victory against the
Lullubi from
Zagros 2260 BC. He is wearing a horned helmet, a symbol of divinity, and is also portrayed in a larger scale in comparison to others to emphasize his superiority. Brought back from
Sippar to
Susa as war prize in the 12th century BC. Naram-Sin also recorded the Akkadian conquest of
Ebla as well as
Armanum and its king. at
Tell Brak. To better police Syria, he built a royal residence at Tell Brak, a crossroads at the heart of the
Khabur River basin of the
Jezirah. Naram-Sin campaigned against Magan which also revolted; Naram-Sin "marched against
Magan and personally caught Mandannu, its king", where he instated garrisons to protect the main roads. The chief threat seemed to be coming from the northern Zagros Mountains, the Lulubis and the Gutians. A campaign against the
Lullubi led to the carving of the "Victory Stele of Naram-Suen", now in the
Louvre.
Hittite sources claim Naram-Sin of Akkad even ventured into
Anatolia, battling the Hittite and
Hurrian kings
Pamba of
Hatti, Zipani of
Kanesh, and 15 others. The economy was highly planned. Grain was cleaned, and rations of grain and oil were distributed in standardized vessels made by the city's potters. Taxes were paid in produce and labour on public walls, including city walls, temples, irrigation canals and waterways, producing huge agricultural surpluses. This newfound Akkadian wealth may have been based upon benign climatic conditions, huge agricultural surpluses and the confiscation of the wealth of other peoples. In later Assyrian and Babylonian texts, the name
Akkad, together with
Sumer, appears as part of the royal title, as in the Sumerian
LUGAL KI-EN-GI KI-URI or Akkadian
Šar māt Šumeri u Akkadi, This title was assumed by the king who seized control of
Nippur, the intellectual and religious center of southern Mesopotamia. During the Akkadian period, the Akkadian language became the
lingua franca of the Middle East, and was officially used for administration, although Sumerian remained as a spoken and literary language. The spread of Akkadian stretched from Syria to Elam, and even the
Elamite language was temporarily written in Mesopotamian
cuneiform. Akkadian texts later found their way to far-off places, from
Egypt (in the
Amarna Period) and
Anatolia, to
Persia (
Behistun).
Submission of Sumerian kings The submission of some Sumerian rulers to the Akkadian Empire, is recorded in the seal inscriptions of Sumerian rulers such as
Lugal-ushumgal, governor (
ensi) of
Lagash ("Shirpula"), circa 2230–2210 BC. Several inscriptions of Lugal-ushumgal are known, particularly seal impressions, which refer to him as governor of
Lagash and at the time a vassal (,
arad, "servant" or "slave") of Naram-Sin, as well as his successor
Shar-kali-sharri. One of these seals proclaims: It can be considered that Lugal-ushumgal was a collaborator of the Akkadian Empire, as was
Meskigal, ruler of
Adab. Later however, Lugal-ushumgal was succeeded by
Puzer-Mama who, as Akkadian power waned, achieved independence from
Shar-Kali-Sharri, assuming the title of "King of Lagash" and starting the illustrious Second Dynasty of Lagash.
Collapse capturing a Babylonian city, as the Akkadians are making a stand outside of their city. 19th century illustration. The empire of Akkad likely fell in the 22nd century BC, within 180 years of its founding, ushering in a "
Dark Age" with no prominent imperial authority until the
Third Dynasty of Ur. The region's political structure may have reverted to the
status quo ante of local governance by
city-states. By the end of Sharkalisharri's reign, the empire had begun to unravel. After several years of chaos (and four kings),
Shu-turul and Dudu appear to have restored some centralized authority for several decades; however, they were unable to prevent the empire from eventually collapsing outright. In the resulting power vacuum the
Gutians, who had been conquered by Akkad during the reign of Sharkalisharri, took control of central Babylonia as far as Adab and Umma and
Anshan briefly controlled the Diyalla region and the city of Akkad itself. Estimates of the length of this interregnum have ranged from 40 years to 100 years. In the preamble of the
Code of Ur-Nammu he claims to have liberated Akšak, Marada, Girikal,
Kazallu, and Uṣarum from Anshan. Little is known about the Gutian period, or how long it endured. Cuneiform sources suggest that the Gutians' administration showed little concern for maintaining agriculture, written records, or public safety; they reputedly released all farm animals to roam about Mesopotamia freely and soon brought about
famine and rocketing grain prices. The Sumerian king
Ur-Nammu (2112–2095 BC) cleared the Gutians from Mesopotamia during his reign. The
Sumerian King List, describing the Akkadian Empire after the death of Shar-kali-shari, states: However, there are no known year-names or other archaeological evidence verifying any of these later kings of Akkad or Uruk, apart from several artefact referencing king
Dudu of Akkad and
Shu-turul. The named kings of Uruk may have been contemporaries of the last kings of Akkad, but in any event could not have been very prominent. The period between BC and 2004 BC is known as the Ur III period. Documents again began to be written in
Sumerian, although Sumerian was becoming a purely literary or liturgical language, much as Latin later became in
Medieval Europe. One explanation for the end of the Akkadian empire is simply that the Akkadian dynasty could not maintain its political supremacy over other independently powerful city-states.
Natural causes: drought, seasonal weather patterns One theory, which remains controversial, associates regional decline at the end of the Akkadian period (and of the
First Intermediary Period following the
Old Kingdom in
Ancient Egypt) with rapidly increasing aridity, and failing rainfall in the region of the Ancient Near East, caused by a global centennial-scale
drought, sometimes called the
4.2 kiloyear event.
Harvey Weiss has shown that Peter B. de Menocal has shown "there was an influence of the
North Atlantic Oscillation on the streamflow of the Tigris and Euphrates at this time, which led to the collapse of the Akkadian Empire". More recent analysis of simulations from the
HadCM3 climate model indicate that there was a shift to a more arid climate on a timescale that is consistent with the collapse of the empire. (c. 2200 BC), with central inscription: "The Divine Sharkalisharri Prince of Akkad, Ibni-Sharrum the Scribe his servant". The
long-horned buffalo is thought to have come from the
Indus Valley, and testifies to exchanges with
Meluhha (the
Indus Valley civilization) in a case of
Indus-Mesopotamia relations. Circa 2217–2193 BC.
Louvre Museum. Excavation at
Tell Leilan suggests that this site was abandoned soon after the city's massive walls were constructed, its temple rebuilt and its grain production reorganized. The debris, dust, and sand that followed show no trace of human activity. Soil samples show fine wind-blown sand, no trace of earthworm activity, reduced rainfall and indications of a drier and windier climate. Evidence shows that skeleton-thin sheep and cattle died of drought, and up to 28,000 people abandoned the site, presumably seeking wetter areas elsewhere. Tell Brak shrank in size by 75%. Trade collapsed.
Nomadic herders such as the
Amorites moved herds closer to reliable water suppliers, bringing them into conflict with Akkadian populations. This climate-induced collapse seems to have affected the whole of the Middle East, and to have coincided with the collapse of the Egyptian Old Kingdom.
Richard Zettler has critiqued the drought theory, observing that the chronology of the Akkadian empire is very uncertain and that available evidence is not sufficient to show its economic dependence on the northern areas excavated by Weiss and others. He also criticizes Weiss for taking Akkadian writings literally to describe certain catastrophic events. According to
Joan Oates, at Tell Brak, the soil "signal" associated with the drought lies below the level of Naram-Sin's palace. However, evidence may suggest a tightening of Akkadian control following the Brak 'event', for example, the construction of the heavily fortified 'palace' itself and the apparent introduction of greater numbers of Akkadian as opposed to local officials, perhaps a reflection of unrest in the countryside of the type that often follows some natural catastrophe. Furthermore, Brak remained occupied and functional after the fall of the Akkadians. In 2019, a study by
Hokkaido University on fossil corals in
Oman provides an evidence that prolonged winter
shamal seasons led to the
salinization of the irrigated fields; hence, a dramatic decrease in crop production triggered a widespread famine and eventually the collapse of the ancient Akkadian Empire. ==Government==