Akkad, capital of the Akkadian empire, has never been identified (suggestions on its location vary from the area of Baghdad to the one of Samarra). It therefore remains unexcavated. This fact makes the study of the culture and organisation of the Akkadian empire very difficult. The unavailability of its archives forces us to rely on other archives found elsewhere (Umma, the Diyala region and Gasur in Assyria). Additionally, there are the few buildings attributed with certainty to the kings of Akkad, such as Naram-Sin’s palace in Teh Brak. Compared to the Early Dynastic III period, the distribution of Lower Mesopotamian settlements did not undergo significant changes (Figure 8.3). Consequently, the political changes characterising the rise of this new dynasty did not correspond to significant demographic and economic changes in the area. The latter would experience more significant changes with the crisis of the empire.
In the past, Sargon of Akkad’s rise was believed to have been the result of the affirmation of Semitic culture over Sumerian culture. Some scholars even suggested an invasion of Semitic people, coming from their ‘primitive seat’ in the middle of the Syro-Arabian desert, as the reason for Sargon’s success. However, these interpretations have now been replaced by our increased knowledge of the period and a more reliable methodology. We know now that Semitic people were already present in Mesopotamia in the Early Dynastic period. Therefore, they did not settle in the region after a mass immigration. Regarding conflicts between cities, it has also been convincingly argued that ethnic differences did not play a significant role. Consequently, there were no ethnic conflicts in Mesopotamia and Sargon was not an advocate of Semitic people fighting against the Sumerians.
It is true, however, that the rise to power of the northern city of Akkad, the centre of a predominantly Semitic population, radically changed the overall situation in the area. Royal inscriptions and administrative texts were now written in Akkadian, rather than (or alongside) Sumerian. The north had its own scribal traditions (the so-called ‘Kish tradition’). Therefore, the use of its own language in the imperial administration contributed to the diffusion of its practices, and maybe even its scribes. Moreover, each political change was closely linked to wider trends of the period. The first one was an environmental one. The shift of the political centre to the north was linked to the desire to control water resources. As Upper Mesopotamia became more densely populated and exploited, so the areas further south experienced considerable difficulties. The second tendency was ethno-linguistic. Sumerian, which had been the most influential language for over a millennium, was an isolated linguistic group. On the contrary, Akkadian belonged to the same linguistic group as the languages spoken from Upper Mesopotamia to Syria, not to mention the Arabian Peninsula (for which, however, we do not have any written evidence for this phase). These processes of integration and diffusion, as well as the movement of people, gradually benefited those cultures that could more easily assimilate new immigrating groups. This was the case of the Akkadians, who managed to include those groups coming from the west.
In this regard, then, the rise of Akkad had a cumulative effect. Sargon’s conquest of the south was followed by a process of colonisation. This led to the appointment of Akkadian officials to rule several cities and to the movement of farmers and potential tenants to Sumerian territories. The use of another language was only one aspect of the problem. There were also a wide range of customs and legal traditions brought from Akkad, especially regarding property and land management. For this reason, there are more attestations concerning family and royal properties in this period and fewer concerning temple properties (Figure 8.4). As already attested in the Early Dynastic period (also in the south, at Fara), family property was probably more established in the north. In fact, in the north, social structures were more centred on kinship and less subject to the overpowering influence of temples, whose authority was closely linked to the first urbanisation.
Regarding royal land, the Akkadian kings tried to accumulate territories to place them under direct Akkadian control. An important document in this regard is the so-called Obelisk of Manishtusu. The text was written like a typical contract of the period, with a long list of sellers, witnesses and other
Figure 8.3 Occupation of Lower Mesopotamia in the third millennium bc. Above, left: Jemdet Nasr period; Above, right: Early Dynastic I; Below, left: Early Dynastic II and III; Below, right: Akkadian period.
Figure 8.4 Agriculture in the Akkadian period: tablet recording the measurements of a field and its reconstruction.
People involved in the transaction. The Obelisk records the king’s purchase of a large number of lands. These amounted to more than 2,300 hectares (an incredible amount for that period) in the Mesopotamian region of Marad. On top of these lands bought through private transactions, there were further lands acquired militarily, allowing the royal family to own a large amount of land outside the control of temples. However, despite being politically subordinate to the palace, the latter managed to remain autonomous.
Due to the spread of northern practices, various aspects of the administration — from the various functions within the system to the types of documents and their bureaucratic terminology — underwent considerable changes. Despite the fact that Sumerian and Semitic features coexisted, local varieties in writing and in the shape of the tablets continued to exist. However, an ‘imperial’ kind of writing gradually became more widespread, due to its homogeneity, elegance and accuracy. This marked the beginning of a Lower Mesopotamian scribal and administrative tradition, which would peak in the Neo-Sumerian period, as a result of another political unification of the area (the Third Dynasty of Ur).
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