Having kept Mesopotamia united for almost two centuries, the Akkadian dynasty collapsed at the hands of the Gutians, who came from the Zagros Mountains. The Mesopotamian texts describe them as stereotypically barbarian: ‘dragons of the mountains’, ‘enemies of the gods’, ‘the uncontrolled people’, who ‘damage land like locusts’, ‘have no fear of the gods and do not know how to correctly follow the cultic protocol’. The kings of Akkad, from Naram-Sin to Shar-kali-sharri, had conducted various expeditions against Simurrum and Arame (in the Zagros foothills), reaching the land of the Gutians. However, the empire’s interest was more focused on the large and wealthy centres in the east (Elam) and west (Mari and Ebla).
Taking advantage of the crisis due to the depletion of resources and the disorganisation of the last Akkadian kings, the Gutians descended the Zagros and ultimately managed to take control over Mesopotamia. The Sumerian King List provides a long list of Gutian rulers. Unfortunately, most of them remain unknown to us, except for one, attested in various inscriptions, but not on the Sumerian King List. This king was Erridu-wizir, ‘king of Gutium and of the four quarters’. He dedicated several statues in the Ekur of Nippur and his inscriptions were collected by a scribe of the Old Babylonian period. The scarcity of evidence on the Gutian rule in Mesopotamia probably indicates that their presence did not leave a visible impact on the political and administrative organisation of the region.
It is possible that the Gutians were mainly located in Central Mesopotamia and stayed relatively close to the Zagros Mountains, where they were constantly fighting (Madga, Simurrum, Urbilum). Despite their subordination to the Gutians, however, the Sumerian cities in the south swiftly managed to regain their autonomy. The Gutians actually appointed some local ensi, but their control was less political, less oppressive and less efficient than the one of the Akkadian period. Gutian control had less impact on the agricultural activities of the countryside and on the cultic and administrative practices of the cities. Later on, we will see how the southern cities, from Lagash to Uruk, managed to regain their autonomy and initiative, eventually leading to their political rise.
The heartland of the Gutians remained in the mountains. Utu-hegal of Uruk, who would later on defeat them, would accuse them of bringing ‘the kingship of Sumer in a foreign land’. We can get an idea of the Gutian ideology of kingship from a relief with a victory scene and inscription of clear Akkadian influence. It was found at Sar-i Pul, on the Zagros Mountains, and belongs to Anu-banini, king of the Lullubeans. Although the Lullubeans and the Gutians were two different populations, they came from the same area. In his inscription, Anu-banini followed the Akkadian model, claiming his control of the territories from the ‘Lower Sea to the Upper Sea’. However, his actual dominion was centred on the area around the Zagros Mountains, rather than in the Mesopotamian alluvial plain. Admittedly, empires often influence the regions around them. Consequently, just like the Akkadian empire (and the Ur III dynasty later on) tried to unify Mesopotamia, so the periphery attempted a temporary expansion around Mesopotamia. However, these expansions were structurally fragile and lasted only as long as the military interventions and tribal alliances that created them.
The ethno-linguistic realm of the Hurrians was another example of a political entity with expansionistic ambitions located in the periphery, between the Mesopotamian alluvial plain and the mountains surrounding it. Two late or post-Akkadian inscriptions have been found in this region: the first one belonged to Tish-atal and was found at Teh Mozan (in the Upper Khabur region); the second one belonged to Atal-shenni and was found at Samarra (in the Middle Tigris). Both these kings had Hurrian names, but only the first inscription was written in Hurrian. These kings declared that they controlled the area from Urkish to Nawar. The first city was Tell Mozan itself, while the second one could have been either Nagar (Tell Brak), or a region in the Samarrian hinterland. These early Hurrian states occupied the areas left behind after the fall of the Akkadian empire and not yet occupied by the Third Dynasty of Ur, and therefore surrounded the Gutian territories in the north.
World History
