Sargon and the Akkadian Empire
Sargon (Sharrum-kin—"true king"), the founder of the Akkadian Empire, epitomized the successful king, beloved of the gods, becoming the role model for later dynasts keen to demonstrate their continuity with the glories of the past.
Many inscribed monuments set up by Sargon and his successors were assiduously copied by later scribes, and a few inscribed objects still survive. These contemporary records provide genuine historical information through which a picture of the Akkadian dynasty can be reconstructed. A body of legend was also accumulating around the Akkadian kings by the time of the next empire, Ur III: This reflects later propaganda more than historical truth.
A cast copper head probably depicting the great Akkadian king Naram-Sin, found at Nineveh. (Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)
Sargon's origins are unknown; he was probably from the northern part of southern Mesopotamia and from a humble background.
According to legend, he was the son of a priestess and a man from the eastern mountains. After his birth, the priestess cast him adrift on the river in a reed basket; he
Was rescued by Aqqi, a water carrier, who raised him as a gardener. In his youth he served Ur-Zababa, king of Kish, whom he succeeded in circumstances the details of which are now lost.
Sargon went on to win thirty-four battles, gaining control of the southern Mesopotamian cities by defeating Lugalzagesi. Parading Lugalzagesi before the Ekur in Nippur in effect demonstrated the transfer of authority from him to Sargon. Sargon also conquered Elam and towns to the north and west including Mari and Ebla. His inscriptions claim that he controlled areas as far afield as "Silver Mountain" (the Taurus range) in Anatolia and that his dominions stretched from the Upper Sea to the Lower Sea, in which he symbolically washed his weapons.
Like Lugalzagesi, who had made similar claims, Sargon's authority was probably closely linked to control of trade and of centers on trade routes rather than involving large-scale territorial conquest. Nevertheless in southern Mesopotamia at least, Sargon established a unified state that exercised hegemony over all the traditionally independent city-states: a new political form for all that it was couched in the traditional language "King of the Land, King of Kish" and, like Lugalzagesi, "King of the four rims of the world."
Sargon established a new city as his capital: Agade, whose name may mean "ancestral town," a minor settlement until Sargon brought it to prominence. A later poem, "The Curse of Agade," describes its architectural and cultural splendors, commercial success, and prosperity. Its glory did not survive the Akkadian period, and today its location is unknown. It was probably situated somewhere between Babylon, Kish, and Sippar.
Authority was centralized and life regimented. The Akkadian kings standardized weights and measures and the script, made Akkadian the official language, and probably introduced the practice of keeping a calendar by naming each year after a particular event. Trade flourished. An inscription records Sargon's dealings with Dilmun (Bahrein), Magan (Oman, a major source of copper), and Meluhha (the Indus civilization, at that time at its height). Sargon's grandson Naram-Sin boasts of a punitive military expedition to Magan in which he personally took part. Imports came from all quarters: from the Levant and Anatolia, from towns across the Iranian plateau, and from lands controlled or exploited by Meluhha; and they even included copal from Zanzibar (found at Ebla). Merchant ships docked at Agade from where imported goods were dispatched to other cities as payment to supporters of the regime or as temple offerings to win the favor of the gods. Agade was the hub of the empire, where crafts and industry were also concentrated.
Trade and military success, bringing booty and tribute, provided Sargon and his successors with abundant funds to support the substantial military machine that ensured their supremacy and their power to extract further taxes or tribute. Sargon claimed that 5,400 people ate daily in his presence, suggesting that he maintained a large standing army as well as other personnel. The army included levies from the various cities and other recruits, some from nomad groups on the periphery such as the Guti and Amorites. These soldiers received rations but might also be paid in grants of land. Sargon built fortresses such as Tell Brak (ancient Nagar or Nawar) in Syria to defend outpost regions but slighted the defensive walls of conquered cities and installed Akkadian governors. He appointed members of the royal family to senior religious posts; his daughter Enheduanna became the entu-priestess of the moon god Nanna at Ur. Supporters of the regime might be rewarded with grants of land, purchased cheaply or acquired by the Akkadians when they conquered hostile cities. Inscriptions claim that tens of thousands of the enemy were slain in battle or made prisoner. Some were used as forced labor (karashim); a camp inhabited by these laborers, probably engaged in quarrying, is recorded on the route between Agade and Susa.
Sargon reigned fifty-six years and was succeeded by his son Rimush, who was murdered in a palace conspiracy after nine years; his successor was Manishtushu ("who is with him"), probably his twin brother. Both extended the empire, campaigning in Iran as far as Marhashi and Sherihum, mounting expeditions to the south and west, and controlling Assur and Nineveh to the north. Manishtushu's son Naram-Sin, who succeeded in 2254 b. c.e., left inscriptions recording his campaigns as far north as Pir Hussein in southeast Turkey. All three rulers had to contend with both internal revolts and raids by tribes along their borders. A fine stele of Naram-Sin depicts his victory over the Lullubi, a mountain tribe to the northeast. Rebellions were ruthlessly put down—Rimush records the death or capture of around 50,000 people from one city alone.
Naram-Sin's defeat of nine hostile kings in a series of battles won him the gratitude not only of the citizens of Agade but even, he claimed, of the gods, who invited him to become the patron deity of Agade. His elevation to divine status then allowed Naram-Sin to lay claim to the temple lands and revenues of the city and thence of the empire it controlled. Traditionalist outrage at this impiety was later rationalized in the story of the Curse of Agade.
According to this tale, Ishtar (Inanna) gained permission from Enlil to take up residence in Agade as the city deity, bringing wealth, prosperity, and joy. Later, however, Enlil took offense at some action of Naram-Sin and withdrew his favor. Naram-Sin attempted unsuccessfully to change the god's mind, and in his anger and despair sacked Enlil's temple, the Ekur ("He set spades against its roots.... He put axes against its top..."—Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature 2002 "The Cursing of Agade"), demolishing the buildings and carrying off the temple treasures to Agade. The gods fled the city; Enlil brought down the savage hordes of the Guti upon it, and it was utterly destroyed.
There is no truth in this story—Naram-Sin made pious offerings at the Ekur, where he was held in honor long after his death; he refurbished the temple, at great expense, a work completed by his successor, Shar-Kali-Sharri, who ruled for quarter of a century before the Guti made a significant impact on Akkadian affairs.
The empire began to fall apart under this king. Amorite and Gutian raiders proved troublesome, and after his death there was a period of three years' anarchy in which four rulers claimed the throne. The last Akkadian kings, Dudu and Shu-durul, controlled a much-reduced realm. The city-states of Sumer broke away from the empire during the period of anarchy: These included Uruk, credited in the Sumerian King List (compiled some centuries later) with the kingship of the land for thirty years after the fall of Agade, followed by 124 (or 91) years when the Guti were supposedly in control.
The chronology of this period is not clear. The Guti, probably hill tribes from the east, had probably menaced the settled lands for a considerable time. Pastoralists without permanent settlements, they would have been hard to defeat outright. However, the period when they ruled in Mesopotamia was probably relatively short, around thirty to seventy years, and they dominated only a part of the region—Lagash, for instance, seems to have been totally unaffected by them.
These years saw a revival in the south. Dynasties were reestablished or reemerged, their ideology consciously recalling earlier days when each city was independent and existed as the estate of its tutelary deity. Best documented is the state of Lagash, with its capital at Girsu. Its pious king, Gudea, is well known from the many fine diorite statues that he dedicated in its temples, of which he rebuilt fifteen. On the temple of the city's god, Ningirsu, Gudea lavished foreign imported materials such as cedarwood, silver, and car-nelian—an indication that trade still flourished after the fall of the Akkadian dynasty. Complete reversion to the status quo of more than a century earlier, with numerous independent city-states, is unlikely to have occurred. Gudea is recorded as having campaigned against Elam, where a native dynasty had replaced the Akkadian governors, and Lagash may also have influenced Ur,
One of the many diorite statues dedicated by Gudea, King of Lagash 2142-2122 B. C.E. (Zev Radovan/Land of the Bible Picture Archive)
Where King Ur-Bau installed an entu-priestess. Utu-hegal of Uruk, Gudea's partial contemporary, appointed Ur-Nammu, probably his son or brother, as governor of Ur, which must therefore have been under Uruk's control—and around 2112 b. c.e., seven years after Utu-hegal drove out the Guti, Ur-Nammu succeeded him and began to forge a new empire, that of the Third Dynasty of Ur (Ur III).
The Third Dynasty of Ur
Soon after his accession as king of Uruk, Ur-Nammu defeated Lagash, taking the title "King of Sumer and Akkad," and within a few years he had gained full control of the south. He devoted much time and effort to reestablishing stability, particularly by restoring and building canals for irrigation. In the eighteenth year of his reign he died in battle against the Guti. His son Shulgi led several campaigns to avenge his father but for the first twenty years of his reign devoted himself largely to domestic matters, consolidating the empire and establishing its bureaucracy. He then instituted major reforms, creating a standing army and reorganizing the economic system, greatly increasing royal power, and decreasing the role of the priesthood. Thereafter he embarked on a series of campaigns that continued throughout the rest of his long reign, mostly in the east and northeast where groups like the Hurrians threatened important trade routes. He extended the lands under Sumerian control as far as Assur and Susa. International diplomacy and dynastic marriages also consolidated his dominions.
The result was an empire smaller in extent than that earlier under Akkadian control or influence but far more close-knit. The Ur III rulers expressed their authority in traditional terms, the king controlling city-states on behalf of the gods and standing between them and the people of the land—the accepted role of the city-state's ruler writ large, the whole empire being the estate administered by the king. The relationship between the ruler and the gods became closer when Shulgi proclaimed himself a god. Temples to his cult were maintained in every city. The Ur III dynasty traced a family relationship to the First Dynasty of Uruk, whose deeds they glorified by committing to writing the traditional stories of Gilgamesh and his forebears. Uruk was the spiritual home of the dynasty, and Ur was their capital. Their close involvement with the goddess Inanna, patron of Uruk, was particularly emphasized by Shulgi, who performed the traditional sacred marriage with the goddess.
The state created by Ur-Nammu and Shulgi was highly bureaucratic. Sumer and Akkad formed its core, divided into around twenty provinces, centered on the traditional city-states. These were often ruled by members of each city's original royal house or elite—now governors (ensis) instead of independent rulers, charged with supervising the running of the temple establishments and personnel, still the state's main source of revenue. To ensure their loyalty and cooperation, each province also had a military governor (shagina) appointed by the king and coming from outside—either from the royal extended family or from a foreign land. His role was not only to keep an eye on the civil gover-
The ziggurat of Inanna erected at Uruk by the founder of the Ur III dynasty, Ur-Nammu. (Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)
Nor but also to oversee both the army and crown land with its dependents and employees.
The conquered lands east of the core region were also formally included within the state. These were ruled by military governors who reported to the sukkalmah (grand chancellor), the most powerful individual after the king. Among these was a province governed from Assur. Outside the empire were other smaller states that retained their independence but enjoyed a close relationship with the Ur III state—these included Mari, Ebla, Tuttul, and Byblos.
Tributes of livestock, grain, and manufactured goods were accumulated at Puzrish-Dagan (Drehem) near Nippur and at Dusabara; from these major depots they were distributed to the temples in Nippur, Ur, and Uruk, or issued as supplies to officials and members of the royal household and sent to the capital, Ur.
Ur-Nammu and his successors undertook extensive restoration and new building in the fradifional religious centers. Ur received particular attention. The buildings constructed in its sacred precinct included a magnificent royal mausoleum, the E-nun-mah (probably the sacred treasury), and the giparu, a palatial structure that incorporated the residence of the entu-priestess of Nanna (a position still held by a royal daughter) and the parallel residence of Nanna's consort,
Ningal. But the chief glory of the temenos was the ziggurat to Nanna erected by Ur-Nammu (see photo p. 201). He also built ziggurats at other major centers—to Enlil in the hallowed city of Nippur, to Inanna at the dynastic capital Uruk, and to Enki in the ancient city of Eridu, now abandoned except as a holy place. At Eridu, the Ur III kings refurbished and restored the sacred buildings.
The Ur III state was theological in principle, giving the king control over all of the temple estates, their revenues, produce, industries, and personnel. But it was also secular in its reach, controlling many aspects of citizens' lives with a bureaucracy that probably became increasingly stifling. Shulgi promulgated one of the first law codes, laying down rules of conduct and punishments for crime: Apart from a few very serious crimes like murder, which were capital offences, crimes generally attracted financial penalties, a more civilized approach than the many "eye-for-an-eye"-style punishments laid down in the later and more famous code of Hammurabi.
Labor gangs organized by the state undertook public works, constructing and maintaining roads and canals for irrigation and communications. The state also regularized many aspects of life, from the calendar and the use of Sumerian as the language of officialdom to the standardization of weights and measures. Foreign trade, which expanded, was state controlled, merchants being issued with goods for exchange and returning appropriate quantities of foreign goods at the end of their expeditions, although they were also allowed to trade on their own account. Industry was generally in the hands of the authorities, particularly the all-important production of textiles, in which thousands of women and young people were employed. Shulgi founded a number of huge industrial establishments producing particular commodities under government supervision.
Such a bureaucratic state required many scribes to deal with its administra-tion—which was so meticulous that the death of a single sheep was recorded in three separate places in the archives. To ensure an adequate number of literate individuals Shulgi founded schools at Ur and Nippur where scribes were trained in all necessary skills, including reading, writing, and mathematics, along with more specific knowledge such as accounting procedures and the new format devised by Shulgi for archival documents. Excellent communications were also essential to the smooth running of the state. Shulgi built and maintained roads with regular caravanserais, in which official travelers might stay, and employed a network of messengers.
Shulgi's sons, Amar-Sin and Shu-Sin, continued his military activities, but already the tide was turning. Outsiders were proving troublesome in border regions, particularly in the west where the pastoral and seminomadic Amorites raided settled areas. Even as early as year 35 of Shulgi, the problem was becoming so grave that Shulgi constructed a wall to keep them out, and Shu-Sin built another, called "Fender-off of Tidnum," 200 kilometers long, stretching between the Tigris and Euphrates across the northern edge of the alluvial plain. Shu-Sin also campaigned against the Amorites, action that by now was more defensive than offensive. The situation deteriorated further under his son, Ibbi-Sin. As central control weakened and defenses became less effective, some regions broke away. The decline of Ur III control of even the core provinces can be traced in the administrative documents issued under Ibbi-Sin, which failed to appear in cities as they seceded—Eshnunna in Ibbi-Sin's year 2, Susa in year 3, Lagash in year 5, Umma in year 6, and Nippur in year 7. Natural disasters may have played an important part in the decline of the empire, including major floods and drought, reducing pasturage and therefore putting pressure on the pastoral peoples of the west, notably the Amorites. Amorite attacks disrupted communications and the movement of goods, especially food. Ur was completely dependent upon the efficient maintenance of bureaucracy and communications for essential supplies: Soaring inflation and attendant famine are painfully chronicled in the last days of the city. Ur's plight was exacerbated by Ishbi-erra, governor of Isin, who failed to deliver essential supplies, pleading a problem with transport shipping. When the Ur III dynasty fell in 2004 b. c.e. to an attack by the combined forces of Guti and Elamites (who had thrown off the Ur III yoke after years of hostilities), it was Ishbi-erra who was the first to reap the benefit, soon creating his own state centered on Isin: This was to become one of the key players in the following period.
"The very foundation of Sumer was torn out" (Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature 2002 "Sumerian King List," lines ca. 353-354).
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