|
A history of ancient Akkad (Akkadians) from its rise to fall including its kings, cities, laws and contributions to civilization Care to express an opinion on a current or past historical event? Need to ask a question from our many visitors? Just visit our Forum and leave your message. The Akkadians were a Semitic people living on the Arabic peninsula during the great flourishing period of the Sumerian city-states. Although we don't know much about early Akkadian history and culture, we do know that as the Akkadians migrated north, they came in increasing conflict with the Sumerian city-states, and in 2340 BC, the great Akkadian military leader, Sargon, conquered Sumer and built an Akkadian empire stretching over most of the Sumerian city-states and extending as far away as Lebanon. Sargon based his empire in the city of Akkad, which became the basis of the name of his people. This great capital of the largest empire humans had ever seen up until that point later became the city of Babylon, which was the commercial and cultural center of the middle east for almost two thousand years. |
The Akkadians Portions of this work contributed by Robert A. Guisepi and F. Roy Williams, University of California Sargon The Great SARGON OF AKKAD was an ancient Mesopotamian ruler who reigned approximately 2334-2279 BC, and was one of the earliest of the world's great empire builders, conquering all of southern Mesopotamia as well as parts of Syria, Anatolia, and Elam (western Iran). He established the region's first Semitic dynasty and was considered the founder of the Mesopotamian military tradition. Sargon is known almost entirely from the legends and tales that followed his reputation through 2,000 years of cuneiform Mesopotamian history, and not from documents that were written during his lifetime. The lack of contemporary record is explained by the fact that the capital city of Agade, which he built, has never been located and excavated. It was destroyed at the end of the dynasty that Sargon founded and was never again inhabited, at least under the name of Agade. According to a folktale, Sargon was a
self-made man of humble origins; a gardener, having found him as a baby floating
in a basket on the river, brought him up in his own calling. His father is
unknown; his own name during his childhood is also unknown; his mother is said
to have been a priestess in a town on the middle Euphrates. Rising, therefore,
without the help of influential relations, he attained the post of cupbearer to
the ruler of the city of Kish, in the north of the ancient land of Sumer. The
event that brought him to supremacy was the defeat of Lugalzaggisi of Uruk
(biblical Erech, in central Sumer). Lugalzaggisi had already united the
city-states of Sumer by defeating each in turn and claimed to rule the lands not
only of the Sumerian city-states but also those as far west as the
Mediterranean. Thus, Sargon became king over all of southern Mesopotamia, the
first great ruler for whom, rather than Sumerian, the Semitic tongue known as
Akkadian was natural from birth, although some earlier kings with Semitic names
are recorded in the Sumerian king list. Victory was ensured, however, only by
numerous battles, since each city hoped to regain its independence from
Lugalzaggisi without submitting to the new overlord. It may have been before
these exploits, when he was gathering followers and an army, that Sargon named
himself Sharru-kin ("Rightful King") in support of an accession not achieved in
an old-established city through hereditary succession. Historical records are
still so meager, however, that there is a complete gap in information relating
to this period. Not content with dominating this area, his wish to secure favorable trade with Agade throughout the known world, together with an energetic temperament, led Sargon to defeat cities along the middle Euphrates to northern Syria and the silver-rich mountains of southern Anatolia. He also dominated Susa, capital city of the Elamites, in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran, where the only truly contemporary record of his reign has been uncovered. Such was his fame that some merchants in an Anatolian city, probably in central Turkey, begged him to intervene in a local quarrel, and, according to the legend, Sargon, with a band of warriors, made a fabulous journey to the still-unlocated city of Burushanda (Purshahanda), at the end of which little more than his appearance was needed to settle the dispute. As the result of Sargon's military prowess and ability to organize, as well as of the legacy of the Sumerian city-states that he had inherited by conquest and of previously existing trade of the old Sumerian city-states with other countries, commercial connections flourished with the Indus Valley, the coast of Oman, the islands and shores of the Persian Gulf, the lapis lazuli mines of Badakhshan, the cedars of Lebanon, the silver-rich Taurus Mountains, Cappadocia, Crete, and perhaps even Greece. During Sargon's rule Akkadian became adapted to the script that previously had been used in the Sumerian language, and the new spirit of calligraphy that is visible upon the clay tablets of this dynasty is also clearly seen on contemporary cylinder seals, with their beautifully arranged and executed scenes of mythology and festive life. Even if this new artistic feeling is not necessarily to be attributed directly to the personal influence of Sargon, it shows that, in his new capital, military and economic values were not alone important. Because contemporary record is lacking, no
sequence can be given for the events of his reign. Neither the number of years
during which he lived nor the point in time at which he ruled can be fixed
exactly; 2334 BC is now given as a date on which to hang the beginning of the
dynasty of Agade, and, according to the Sumerian king list, he was king for 56
years. 2334 BC is now given as a date on which to
hang the beginning of the dynasty of Agade, and, according to the Sumerian king
list, he was king for 56 years. The latter part of his reign was troubled
with rebellions, which later literature ascribes, predictably enough, to
sacrilegious acts that he is supposed to have committed; but this can be
discounted as the standard cause assigned to all disasters by Sumerians and
Akkadians alike. The troubles, in fact, were probably caused by the inability of
one man, however energetic, to control so vast an empire without a developed and
well-tried administration. There is no evidence to suggest that he was
particularly harsh, nor that the Sumerians disliked him for being a Semite. The
empire did not collapse totally, for Sargon's successors were able to control
their legacy, and later generations thought of him as being perhaps the greatest
name in their history. Attributing his success to the patronage of the goddess Ishtar, in whose honor Agade was erected, Sargon of Akkad became the first great empire builder. Two later Assyrian kings were named in his honor. Although the briefly recorded information of his predecessor Lugalzaggisi shows that expansion beyond the Sumerian homeland had already begun, later Mesopotamians looked to Sargon as the founder of the military tradition that runs through the history of their people. Home Page |