AKKADIAN EMPIRE

A History from Beginning to End

Copyright © 2018 by Hourly History.

All rights reserved.

The cover photo is a derivative of "Akkadian Cylinder Seal with King or

God and Vanquished Lion" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Akkadian_-
_Cylinder_Seal_with_King_or_God_and_Vanquished_Lion_-
_Walters_42674_-_Side_D.jpg) by Walters Art Museum, used under CC
BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en)
 Table of Contents
Introduction
Origins: The Black Heads and King Sargon
Akkad and the First Empire
Palace Conspiracies and Assassinations
Naram-Sin and the Curse of Akkad
The 4.2 Kiloyear Event
Shar-Kali-Sharri and the Cataclysmic Drought
The Fall of the Akkadian Empire
The Search for Akkad
Conclusion
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 Introduction
Around 5,000 years ago the area which became known as Mesopotamia
saw fundamental changes in human society and behaviors which would
lead to the founding of the first modern civilizations. The fertile land
between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers saw human society transform from
primitive, nomadic bands of hunter-gatherers into farmers and city builders
with complex societies. This area was the location for the emergence of
modern agriculture and inventions such as wheeled vehicles, the smelting of
bronze, and the development of writing, art, science, and medicine.
The city-states which emerged at this time were particularly notable for
their independence from one another. Each had its own king as well as its
own laws, religion, and culture which were fiercely protected against
incursion from the outside. Each controlled a relatively small area in the
immediate vicinity of the city, and none was powerful enough to dominate
its neighbors.
Then, during the twenty-fourth century BCE, a humble gardener in one
of these city-states somehow managed to overthrow the king and take the
throne himself. This man had ambitions that reached far beyond his own
city—he envisaged taking control of all of Mesopotamia and having
dominion over all the other city-states. He succeeded in this ambition and
so was born the first human empire—the Akkadian Empire, which became
the most powerful force in the world at that time. While it existed, this
empire introduced much that was new including a complete system of
writing, laws, written treaties between nations, and even the very first postal
service. This is the story of the Akkadian Empire.
 Chapter One

Origins: The Black Heads and

King Sargon
“Life is largely better than death.”

—Sumerian proverb

The earliest human societies were tribes of nomadic hunter-gatherers. They

moved from place to place, following game and picking fruits and berries
when they could be found. Their houses were temporary affairs built of
skins and wooden poles so that they could be easily dismantled and
transported to another location. These people left almost no trace of
themselves—no buildings, no writing, and very few artifacts. Almost every
member of such a society was involved in the acquisition of food from day-
to-day—there simply wasn’t time to allow people to learn how to make new
things or resources to create them even if the knowledge had been there.
Then, around 3300 BCE, a new people arrived in the fertile land
between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. No-one knew where they had
come from (and we still don’t know today), but they brought with them a
different way of life. They used irrigation to make it possible to plant and
cultivate crops. They kept animals which they used for meat, wool, and
milk. This meant that they didn’t have to move around in search of food and
their dwellings became permanent places which grew over time into towns.
The arrival of these people we call the Sumerians (the word comes from
the name they used to describe themselves, sang-ngiga meaning “the black-
heads”) wasn’t a conquest in the conventional sense—they didn’t initially
fight with existing hunter-gatherers on a large scale or use military force to
delineate their territories. However, their ability to farm meant that there
were food surpluses in Sumerian society and not all the members were
forced to spend their time gathering food. Instead, some became priests,
negotiating between the people and the many gods, and others became
artisans, producing tools, weapons, and other items. Over time, the hunter-
gatherers who had previously inhabited southern Mesopotamia were quietly
squeezed out by the more productive, creative, efficient, and settled
Sumerians.
Over time, buildings in Sumerian towns begin to be constructed using
mud-bricks, and these grew into cities protected by walls. These cities—the
first cities in human history—became individual states with their own
rulers, laws, and religious practices. Each city had its own ziggurat (stepped
pyramid) and a temple complex in which priests offered sacrifices and
offerings to the god of the city. By 2500 BCE, there were half a million
Sumerians of which the vast majority lived in cities including Uruk, Kish,
Nippur, Ur, Lagash, Umma, and Ur.
The two largest and most powerful Sumer cities were Umma and
Lagash, and there were frequent conflicts between the two for control of
southern Mesopotamia. The part of Mesopotamia which became Sumer is
very small—it had a total land area of just 14,000 square kilometers which
is around the same size as the American state of Connecticut—and the flat
alluvial plain and the lack of natural features such as mountains meant that
most Sumer cities were within sight of one another.
In the twenty-fifth century BCE, Eannatum, the king of the Sumer city
of Lagash, conquered several other cities in the area. His conquest led to
another landmark in human history—the first organized battle in which the
professional soldiers of two opposing factions faced and killed each other
on behalf of their leaders.
Despite the fighting between cities, life was generally good for
Sumerians. Advances in agriculture and the building of canals and drainage
systems meant that food was plentiful and surpluses were traded with other
areas to ensure that the Sumer people had access to anything they might
want. This also meant that there was time to develop writing (and even
literature) and advances in science including astronomy and medicine.
A few decades after the death of Eannatum, the king of the Sumer city
of Umma named Lugal-Zage-Si came to power and continued Eannatum’s
work in unifying the people of Mesopotamia. He established himself as the
ruler of all the major Sumer cities as well as parts of the neighboring lands
of Elam. Under the rule of Lugal-Zage-Si, Sumer was unified for the first
time, and fighting between the city-states ended. But just as it seemed that
Sumer was headed for an extended time of peace and prosperity, it faced a
new threat from the north of Mesopotamia.
We know a great deal about Sumerian society and the Sumer city-states
because the Sumerians developed writing and used clay as the medium on
which they wrote. Many of these cuneiform tablets have been recovered,
and there is now a good general understanding of the Sumer language.
However, there is less reliable information about the Semitic-speaking
people from the north. Very few artifacts or tablets have been recovered
which relate directly to these people, so most of the information we have
comes from Sumerian sources such as the King List, a cuneiform tablet
discovered by archeologists which lists and gives brief biographical
information about all the kings of Sumer.
The northern part of Mesopotamia contained several towns and city-
states, but these were occupied by Semitic-speaking people who were
ethnically quite separate from the Sumerians. In terms of appearance, these
northern people were also different in that Sumerian men shaved their heads
and their faces whereas the men from the north retained their hair and
typically grew long beards. However, these people shared many religious
beliefs with the Sumerians, and their cities and societies were organized in a
similar way, with priests at the top and slaves at the bottom.
In the Sumerian city of Kish, there was a young cupbearer who was
employed by King Ur-Zababa. Kish was an important and powerful city-
state at this time, and one of the few which remained at least nominally
independent. The role of cupbearer to the king was one that carried a great
deal of kudos. This young man had an odd background—he was said to be
the illegitimate son of a priestess of the temple of Innana and an unknown
father. Priestesses were not allowed to have children, and the baby was said
to have been set adrift in a reed basket on the Euphrates River. He was
found by a gardener in the royal household of Kish who took him in and
raised the boy as his own son. The gardener, named Akki, is believed to
have been of Semitic origin and raised the boy as a Semite.
Somehow the boy was able to overcome his humble and rather strange
origins and became cupbearer to the king. Cupbearers (rabshakeh) were
responsible for organizing all royal dining, looking after the gold and silver
royal plates, goblets, and cutlery, and for tasting all the king’s food and
drink to ensure that it was safe. Cupbearers were also sometimes
responsible for carrying secret and confidential messages to and from the
king and often had more personal duties—the young cupbearer to King Ur-
Zababa, for example, also analyzed and interpreted the king’s dreams.
Then, King Lugal-Zage-Si decided that he would complete his conquest
of Sumer by occupying the city of Kish. When King Ur-Zababa heard that
the warlord was approaching with his army, he was so terrified that he is
said to have “sprinkled his legs.” He decided to send his young cupbearer as
an envoy with a message for Lugal-Zage-Si. We don’t know what the
message said, but apparently it concluded with a request for Lugal-Zage-Si
to execute the cupbearer who brought it. Instead, Lugal-Zage-Si invited the
young man to join him, and the two descended on Kish.
The city was quickly taken, and Ur-Zababa fled into exile. It is difficult
to know precisely what happened next. Most of the information we have
comes from Babylonian and Sumerian legends, but it seems that the young
cupbearer was given some form of military command on behalf of Lugal-
Zage-Si. He was so successful in this that the king soon came to see him as
a rival (some accounts claim that the young man also prompted the enmity
of the king by having an affair with his wife) and soon the two were at war.
The young cupbearer took the Sumer city of Uruk and made it his base of
operations. Lugal-Zage-Si marched out of Kish with his army, and the two
met in a battle in which the forces of Lugal-Zage-Si were utterly defeated.
Lugal-Zage-Si was captured and taken to the city of Nippur (the city
dedicated to Enlil, Lugal-Zage-Si’s patron god) in chains. The young man
then conquered the city of Kish and circa 2334 BCE proclaimed himself
king of Kish. At that time he also took a new name for himself, the name by
which he is remembered in history—he called himself King Sargon (the
name approximates in English to “legitimate king”) and took as his divine
protector the goddess Inanna, symbol of love, sensuality, fertility, and war.
Most of the pieces of the early story of Sargon’s rise to power are
recollected in the form of legends handed down to subsequent generations.
For example, a seventh-century BCE Assyrian text has been discovered
which supposedly has Sargon recounting his own history: “My mother was
a high priestess, my father I knew not. My high priestess mother conceived
me, in secret she bore me. She set me in a basket of rushes, with bitumen
she sealed my lid. She cast me into the river which rose over me. The river
bore me up and carried me to Akki, the drawer of water. Akki, the drawer
of water, took me as his son and reared me.”
 This story pre-dates the similar Biblical story of Moses (as do other
Sumerian legends, including the story of a great flood), and we do not know
how accurate it is. What we do know is that the story of Sargon’s humble
beginnings gave him great appeal to the common people of Sumer. He
quickly began to expand his power to the other city-states in the area, but it
was clear that his ambition went far beyond the conquest of southern
Mesopotamia.
 Chapter Two

Akkad and the First Empire

“She stirs confusion and chaos against those who are disobedient to her,
speeding carnage and inciting the devastating flood, clothed in terrifying
radiance.”

—Enheduanna, King Sargon’s daughter

After he became king of Kish in 2334 BCE, Sargon finally emerges from
legend and enters the historical record; after this period there are a number
of contemporary and later texts which specifically mention King Sargon.
He was clearly a bold and skilled military leader, and it didn’t take long for
him to bring all the neighboring city-states of Sumer under his control. In
each, he put in place a new leader and new administrators, Semitic-speaking
people who were loyal to him only. From this time, the official language of
Sumer cities changed to become Semitic though in most other ways they
continued as before with few changes to religious practices or the social
order.
Although the ruling elite of the Sumerian cities were understandably
unhappy at the imposition of new rulers and administrators from outside, it
seems that many of the working class in these cities viewed Sargon as a
liberator—the distinction between rich and poor in Sumer cities was
extreme, and poor people had almost no way to influence those who ruled.
Many may have seen Sargon, because of his beginnings as a working man,
as someone who was likely to be more sympathetic to their plight. Many of
the stories about Sargon which have been found certainly stress his sense of
fairness to all of his people. It is said that under his reign, the poor did not
have to beg, and widows and orphans were protected. Taxes were set and
collected in an equitable way, and Sargon had his daughter, Enheduanna,
installed as the high priestess in the temple of Inanna in the Sumer city of
Ur. This was an important and influential position, and Enheduanna proved
to be a significant ally, supporting the actions of her father and ensuring that
the temple of his patron god was always behind him in everything he did.
Sargon also spent time improving and building roads and canals,
ensuring that the lands of Sumer became one of the most important trade
centers in Mesopotamia, bringing wealth and employment. He even set up
an official postal system, using special clay envelopes so that the tablets
inside could not be read until they arrived at their destination—the first
such system seen anywhere in the world. Sargon was also notable in that he
destroyed the outer defensive walls of almost all the cities he captured,
ensuring that it would be difficult for the inhabitants to rise against him.
Most conquerors who took city-states in this period would have then
selected one as a capital, but this is not what Sargon did. Instead, he
established his capital at Akkad (also known as Agade), possibly on the
western bank of the Euphrates River between the cities of Kish and Sippar.
Despite a number of searches, no archeologist has thus far been able to
locate the site of Akkad, which some scholars claim is more likely to have
been located on the Tigris River. We don’t even know whether this was an
existing city which Sargon chose to improve and enlarge or a completely
new city built on the location of a small town on his instructions. It is
possible that Agade was the name given to a town already in this location
when Sargon ordered the building of his new capital. What we do know is
that Sargon and his descendants would become inextricably linked with this
city—the empire which Sargon went on to found is generally known as the
Akkadian Empire, and the Semitic language spoken by Sargon and his
followers has become known as Akkadian.
The other thing which is generally said about Sargon is that he was an
efficient administrator who learned early the benefits of placing trusted
people in charge of the cities over which he had control and of delegating
many duties to them. It has been said that the rule of Sargon was the first to
establish what we would now call a bureaucracy—a cadre of people
employed by the king to ensure that his laws were enforced and that taxes
were collected efficiently. These things alone would have made Sargon a
notable leader, but it seems that he also excelled at military matters.
The subjugation of the Sumer cities was carried out with little conflict
after the death of Lugal-Zage-Si; it seems that Sargon simply replaced the
previous king and assumed control of his cities with relatively little
resistance. However, it quickly became clear that Sargon’s ambitions
extended well beyond southern Mesopotamia. Sargon was said to have
“shared his table” with over 5,000 men. This is presumed to reference not
just the royal retinue, but a standing army maintained by Sargon.
During this period, the notion of professional soldiers was relatively
new—most armies comprised a small number of trained leaders followed
by large numbers of volunteers who brought with them whatever armor and
weapons they owned. Having an army of trained men, specially equipped
with the latest in advanced weapons technology (including copper war-axes,
two-handed pikes, and bronze-tipped arrows) who were also trained to
move and fight in formation would have given Sargon a great advantage in
military engagements. These troops also had the advantage of using one of
the most powerful hand-held weapons of the period—the composite bow.
This type of bow is typically made from wood, horn, and animal sinew, all
laminated together. The result is a bow that is much smaller than one made
from a single piece of wood (making it ideal, for example, for use by
mounted archers) but has greater range and power. This, combined with the
use of bronze-tipped arrows which were capable of piercing light armor,
made a volley of arrows from Akkadian troops devastating in battle.
With this army, Sargon first advanced to the east, to Elam, a state
comprising a number of kingdoms in what is now the south and southwest
of Iran. Sargon quickly defeated the army of King Luhi-Ishan and occupied
the principal cities of Susa and Barhashe. Then he did what he had done to
the cities of Sumer—he installed family members and trusted allies as
kings, governors, envoys, and administrators of the captured cities and
made Akkadian the official language of Elam. The capture of Elam was
important because it gave Sargon control over several important trade
routes and access to the rich resources of the Iranian plateau including
timber, something that was always in short supply in the flat plains of
Mesopotamia.
Having secured Elam and pacified the captured cities there, Sargon
turned his attention to the city-state of Mari in northern Mesopotamia, one
of the most important trading centers situated on the west bank of the
Euphrates River. Mari was one of the oldest cities in the area and a center of
bronze smelting and the production of iron goods. Sargon attacked and took
the city, partially burning and destroying it in the process. An Akkadian
named Ididish was appointed as shakkanakku (military governor) to oversee
the reconstruction of the city and its rule on behalf of the Akkadians. With
Mari secure, Sargon shifted his attention to the next large trading center in
the area, the city of Ebla, to the north of Mari. This city was also quickly
pacified and brought under Akkadian control.
The capture of Mari and Ebla gave Sargon almost complete control over
the vital Euphrates River. He ensured that Akkad became the main trade
hub in the area. Trading vessels from as far away as Meluhha in north-west
India, Magan in the Persian Gulf, and Tilmun in modern-day Bahrain all
regularly called there, and wealth and resources poured into Sargon’s
growing empire. At around this time, Sargon began to be known as “Sargon
the Great” (at least one later Babylonian text refers to him as “Sargon who
ruled the world”).
In the following years, Sargon continued his conquests, taking his forces
into what is now Palestine on the Mediterranean coast (this area was a good
source of cedar wood, one of the most prized construction materials in the
ancient world) and into the Taurus Mountains of Anatolia, famed for their
rich deposits of silver. It is believed that Sargon’s troops may even have
reached the island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean. By the twenty-third
century BCE, Sargon controlled the greatest empire the world had ever seen
and the first to use central government control to oversee multi-ethnic
conquered lands.
Within Akkad and the other cities under Akkadian control, there was
peace, and improved trading opportunities brought wealth and employment.
Under Sargon’s rule, art, science, and medicine also made huge advances.
Sargon’s daughter Enheduanna, high priestess of Inanna in Ur, became the
first poet, and some of her hymns are still remembered today. The first
literature appeared, and painting, sculpture, and fine metalwork became
widespread. Set against this, Sargon’s reaction to any hint of insurrection in
the lands he controlled was instant and brutal. Anyone who tried to stand
against him or to encourage revolt against his rule was executed, and any
official who was not willing to do his bidding was quickly replaced. Life in
the Akkadian Empire was good for those who supported Sargon. For those
who dared to oppose him, life tended to be very short indeed.
 Chapter Three

Palace Conspiracies and

Assassinations
“The palace is a slippery place which catches those who do not know it.”

—Sumerian proverb

Sargon reigned over the empire he had created for more than 50 years.
Towards the end of his reign there were significant rebellions within the
empire, but these were quickly crushed. When Sargon was in his seventies,
he led his army against a coalition of forces centered in Elam. The outcome
was recorded in a later Babylonian text: “In his old age, all the lands
revolted against him, and they besieged him in Akkad. He went forth to
battle and defeated them, he knocked them over and destroyed their vast
army.” The same text notes his response to yet another revolt late in his
reign: “The Subartu of the upper country in their turn attacked, but they
submitted to his arms, and Sargon settled their habitations, and he smote
them grievously.”
However, even Sargon could not live forever, and circa 2278 BCE he
died, apparently of natural causes. Sargon had been a charismatic and
inspirational leader, and his death might have destabilized the empire had it
not also been for his genius in administration and organization. Even after
his death, the bureaucracy and infrastructure he had created continued to
run smoothly, helping his successors to continue to rule.
The first king of Akkad after Sargon was his younger son, Rimush, who
took the throne when Sargon died. Almost immediately, the new king faced
a revolt from some of the cities of Sumer. Records for this period are
scarce, but it is believed that these were led by wealthy Sumerian families
who had been forced to accept the imposition of Akkadian governors under
Sargon—one of the leaders was Meskigala of the city of Adab, who had
served as a governor under Lugal-Zage-Si. Perhaps believing that the death
of Sargon offered a chance for independence for Sumer, the cities of Adab,
Lagash, Zabala, Ur, Umma, and Kidingira rose in a united uprising against
Akkadian rule. Unfortunately for the rebels, King Rimush proved no less
able than his father as a military leader. During the battles that followed,
tens of thousands of Sumerian troops were killed or captured and deported
into slavery. Some historians have estimated that the revolt may have taken
anything up to 20,000 men, one-third of all men of fighting age from the
rebelling Sumerian cities. Having defeated this revolt, Rimush then
destroyed any defensive structures in the rebel cities and gave trusted
friends and family members positions of power in these cites as well as
large estates in the surrounding area.
Just when the Sumer rebellion had been successfully crushed, Rimush
was faced with another insurrection, this time in the Akkadian city of
Kazallu on the Euphrates River. He marched north and in the battle which
followed, more than 12,000 rebel soldiers were killed and more than 5,000
taken as slaves. Rimush also had the city’s walls destroyed to prevent any
further rebellion there.
One year later, Rimush was forced to deal with rebellions in Akkadian-
controlled Elam and the nearby kingdom of Parahsum. Both were
successfully suppressed. Rimush continued to rule and to suppress
rebellions for only another six years, until his death circa 2270 BCE. There
are various accounts of his death, though most agree that he was
assassinated by members of the royal court. The fact that he was
immediately followed as king of Akkad by his elder brother Manishtushu
has led some historians to speculate that his murder was part of a plot to
bring his brother to the throne. It was certainly odd that Sargon passed the
throne to the younger brother—tradition and precedent would make it much
more likely that the older brother would have inherited the crown, so
perhaps this was an attempt by Manishtushu to claim what he saw as being
rightfully his. Some historians have suggested that Rimush and
Manishtushu may have been twins, in which case the identification of
Rimush as the younger is entirely nominal.
Surviving records which discuss the reign of Manishtushu are rare, so
we don’t know a great deal about this king or his period in power. We do
know that there were yet more rebellions during this period, including in the
cities of Anshan and Shirikhum, but these seem to have been relatively
small compared to the insurrections which faced the previous king, and
Manishtushu focused instead on strengthening and expanding the empire.
He established trade routes with Egypt and led a large-scale maritime
operation in the Persian Gulf, possibly reaching and occupying territory as
far as what is now the United Arab Emirates and Oman. He is also said to
have sailed down the Tigris River with a mighty fleet with which he
plundered silver mines and set up new trading routes.
We know that during this period, the Akkadians began using diorite to
produce sculpture and obelisks. Diorite is a hard, black rock which is
extremely difficult to work, but which can be polished to retain a shiny
finish. This type of rock is also very durable indeed, and some of the scarce
information about Manishtushu comes from recovered inscriptions on
diorite—one famous example is displayed in the Louvre in Paris. One of
these stones bears an inscription which explains how Manishtushu crossed
“to the other side of the Lower Sea” (i.e., the Persian Gulf), “quarried their
black stones, loaded them on ships, and moored them at the quay at
Akkad.”
In 2260 BCE, the massive temple to the Goddess Ishtar in the city of
Nineveh (one of the most ancient cities in upper Mesopotamia) was
destroyed by an earthquake. Manishtushu stepped in and ordered the temple
complex rebuilt. Nineveh was the center of the cult of Ishtar, and the temple
built by Manishtushu became the center of one of the most religious sites in
this area when this city later became the capital of the Neo-Assyrian
Empire.
The only other thing that we know about King Manishtushu was that,
despite his quelling of rebellions and new conquests, he too was
assassinated after just 15 years as king in 2255 BCE. It is thought that, like
his brother before him, he may have been murdered by members of the
royal entourage, though there no information has been found to suggest
why or by who this may have been done.
Manishtushu was succeeded as king of Akkad by his son, Naram-Sin
(sometimes written as Naram-Suen). Naram-Sin would go on to raise the
Akkadian Empire to even greater heights and, according to some historians,
to eclipse even the achievements of his famous grandfather.
 Chapter Four

Naram-Sin and the Curse of Akkad

“Akkad, instead of its sweet-flowing water, there flowed bitter water,
Who said ‘I would dwell in that city’ found not a good dwelling place,
Who said ‘I would lie down in Akkad’ found not a good sleeping place.”

—Poem entitled “The curse of Akkad: the Ekur avenged”

When Naram-Sin became the new king of Akkad, he was faced with yet
another series of small-scale rebellions in the lands controlled by the
empire. He reacted just as the previous kings had done—by using the
military might of Akkad to repress them quickly and brutally. He took his
armies to the Sinai Peninsula, to the kingdom of Magan (in what is now
Oman), and there he led his army to victory and “personally caught
Mandannu, its king.” The conquest of Magan gave the Akkadians access to
supplies of copper, which was an important resource for the making of
weapons and tools. To protect trade routes between Magan and Akkad,
Naram-Sin established small garrison towns at regular intervals on major
roads. These were occupied by loyal troops whose main function was to
protect traders from marauding bandits. Naram-Sin also ordered the
building of a royal residence with a permanent garrison of troops at Tell
Brak, in what is now the Upper Khabur region of northeastern Syria. This
construction protected a vital crossroads that straddled two of the main
trading routes between Mesopotamia and the east.
Next, Naram-Sin led an expedition comprising a confederation of troops
from nine allied city-states including Sidur and Saluni into the Zagros
Mountains of Iran where they defeated and subdued the rebellious Lullubi,
a warlike pre-Iranian mountain tribe led by their king, Satuni. To celebrate
this victory, Naram-Sin commissioned the building of a large stele (a carved
stone slab) on the site of the main battle (this stele is currently on display in
the Louvre in Paris). The stele depicts the Naram-Sin presiding over an
organized and disciplined Akkadian army while his opponents are in the
form of a chaotic rabble of terrified individuals who are being trampled
underfoot. Even allowing for the heroic and propaganda intention of such a
monument, this is probably an accurate reflection of the unequal forces
involved. In many of the battles they undertook during the reign of Naram-
Sin, the Akkadian armies would have been better equipped, better trained,
and more disciplined than the tribes they faced. In this sense, most of the
battles during this period were unequal, and smaller Akkadian forces were
often able to achieve victory against numerically superior forces. During his
expedition to Syria, Naram-Sin also attacked and re-conquered the
rebellious city of Ebla, an important trading center between Mesopotamia
and countries as remote as Afghanistan, Egypt, and Cyprus. Seemingly in
an attempt to ensure that Akkadian cities became the only trading centers in
the area, Naram-Sin had the conquered city burned and destroyed.
Naram-Sin also led his forces against another warlike mountain tribe,
the Gutians, in the Zagros Mountains. These were defeated but not
completely subdued and would continue to pose a threat to the Akkadian
Empire for many years to come. Naram-Sin also led an expedition to the
Anatolian plateau (modern-day Turkey) where he met forces from an
alliance of 17 local tribes including the largest, the Hittites and the
Hurrians. The Hittites were led by their king Pamba and were completely
defeated by the Akkadians. The Hurrian kingdom stretched from the
Khabur River valley in the west to the foothills of the Zagros Mountains in
the east. These Semitic-speaking people had been allied with the Akkadians
but had seized the opportunity of the death of King Manishtushu to ally
with other tribes in the area to make a bid for independence. Again,
Akkadian military supremacy meant that Naram-Sin was able to defeat the
large armies of this confederation of tribes under the leadership of the
Hurrian king, Zipani of Kanesh.
Naram-Sin undertook many smaller campaigns against rebellious city-
states which were under Akkadian control. Many of these were relatively
small actions about which we know very little—for example, one
inscription relating to Naram-Sin describes how he was “victorious against
Simurrum in Kirasheniwe and took prisoner Baba the governor of
Simurrum, and Dubul the ensi of Arame,” though we know nothing about
these battles or the people he defeated. Late in his reign, Naram-Sin faced
the most significant rebellion when the king of the Sumer city of Kish,
Iphur-Kis, led an alliance of other Sumer city-states against the Akkadians
in what became known as the Great Rebellion.
The Akkadians met the forces of Iphur-Kis in a large battle near the city
of Tiwa. They were victorious and pursued the retreating rebels all the way
back to Kish where a second battle led to the complete defeat of the rebels
and the suppression of the revolt. During Naram-Sin’s 36-year reign, the
suppression of active rebellions in some part of the empire occupied his
attention for at least 20 of those years. Perhaps this wasn’t surprising given
that, under Naram-Sin, the Akkadian Empire reached its greatest extent,
covering the Zagros, Taurus, and Amanus Mountains, reaching the shores
of the Mediterranean Sea and into modern-day Armenia.
It is clear that Naram-Sin was an effective and energetic military leader
and that the armies that he commanded were large, well-trained, and well-
equipped. However, it wasn’t only war and conquest which received
Naram-Sin’s attention. During his reign, he undertook many significant
construction projects. These included the building and improvement of
many roads and canals to facilitate trade and the building of mighty temples
in the cities of Akkad, Nippur, and Zabala.
Like his grandfather Sargon, Naram-Sin placed great importance on the
efficient administration of his empire. He introduced for the first time a
standardized system of weights and measures which was used across the
empire and built large administrative government centers in the cities of
Nagar and Nineveh. The trading empire established by Naram-Sin was truly
huge, extending from Egypt to the Harappan people who lived in the Indus
River Valley in India. Under Naram-Sin’s rule, Akkad became the trading
center of the world.
For the first time in human history, under Naram-Sin there also emerged
what we would now call a “planned economy.” The government supported
agriculture in all parts of the empire, and an efficient road and canal system
meant that surpluses could be distributed to other areas. Grain and oil were
distributed in standardized vessels manufactured by government-approved
potters (throughout the empire, for example, a measure of one gur was
equivalent to 300 liters). A system of unified dates was also introduced
throughout the empire, and each year was named according to notable
events—for example, one year was identified as “the year that Naram-Sin
destroyed the city of Ebla.”
 Taxes were paid either in cash or by the provision of labor to build or
repair city walls, temples, government buildings, irrigation channels, roads,
or transport canals. This centralized planning, combined with fertile lands
and a benign climate, ensured that there were constant and large food
surpluses throughout Naram-Sin’s reign. These, combined with wealth and
resources seized during successful military campaigns ensured that citizens
within the Akkadian Empire rarely went hungry—each citizen received a
government set ration comprising a fixed quantity of oil, barley, etc. This
planned system assured security for the people of the empire and provided
massive wealth for a small number of Akkadian artisans, traders, and
entrepreneurs.
However, there were unsettling undercurrents of hubris. Naram-Sin, not
content with just being the king of Akkad, took a new title, “King of the
Four Quarters,” claiming that he had conquered all the lands surrounding
Akkad—Sumer to the south, Elam to the east, Assyria to the north, and
Martu to the west. This title also effectively meant “King of the World” in
that Naram-Sin ruled over most of the civilized lands known to the
Akkadians. However, it seems even this wasn’t enough to assuage Naram-
Sin’s growing ego. He later gave himself the title “King of the Universe,”
but even this seems not have been enough because Naram-Sin was the first
king to declare that he was also a god. He named himself “Ilu (God) of
Akkad,” and on many of the stele and other monuments he commissioned,
he is shown as wearing a horned helmet, something otherwise only
associated with the gods.
Naram-Sin’s self-deification worried many of his people who were
concerned that such arrogance might anger the gods and bring their wrath
down upon Akkad and the empire. When Naram-Sin died circa 2218 BCE,
there was no sign that the Akkadian Empire was anything but just as
powerful and stable as it had ever been. However, there were already hints
that things were not as they had been. A few hundred years after the death
of Naram-Sin, an epic poem was written in Mesopotamia which told of
something that came to be called the Curse of Akkad. This story, which was
also recounted by Babylonian and Assyrian texts, explained how the gods
had become angered, initially by Naram-Sin calling himself a god, and then
by his pillage of the temple dedicated to the God Enlil in the city of Nippur.
Enlil was the chief of the Sumerian pantheon of gods and, according to the
curse, he then persuaded eight of the most significant gods (namely Enki,
Sin, Ninurta, Inanna, Nusku, Nidaba, Utu, and Ishkur) to join with him to
ensure the destruction of the city of Akkad and the Akkadian Empire.
For thousands of years, scholars and historians regarded the Curse of
Akkad as nothing more than a quaint myth. Only in very recent times has it
been discovered that this may have been an attempt to understand and
explain in allegory a cataclysmic period which was about to overwhelm
Mesopotamia and the Akkadian Empire.
 Chapter Five

The 4.2 Kiloyear Event

“Don’t pick things ahead of time; some bear fruit later.”

—Sumerian proverb

In 1978, a group of archeologists from Yale University began excavating

the site of the ancient city of Shekhna (known today as Tell Leilan). Over
the next ten years, this team, under the leadership of Harvey Weiss, a
lecturer from Yale, uncovered the remains of a large city. This city had
started as a small village around 5000 BCE before growing into a city-state
by 2500 BCE. In 2300 BCE, it was incorporated into the Akkadian Empire,
and the archeologists found many remnants of Akkadian presence.
However, they also discovered something entirely unexpected and very
strange.
In approximately 2200 BCE (around 20 years after the death of Naram-
Sin), the city of Shekhna was suddenly abandoned, and all traces of human
habitation seemed to cease for roughly 2-300 years. It wasn’t just humans
who abandoned this place—from around 2200 to 1900 BCE, the very earth
in this place became lifeless. Digging revealed that for almost 200 years,
there wasn’t even evidence of the presence of earthworms in the soil. Weiss
published his findings in 1993, and a number of scientists began to look at
what might have caused the complete abandonment of a once thriving city.
Subsequent investigations have shown that the events in Shekhna
weren’t unique. In the early years of the twenty-second century BCE, many
cities in northern Mesopotamia were also abandoned and all traces of
farming and agriculture vanished. There were also accounts of a large-scale
influx of people from northern Mesopotamia fleeing into southern regions.
These changes weren’t confined to Mesopotamia.
In China, at around the same time, the advanced and sophisticated
Longshan culture in the Yishu River Basin suddenly entered a decline and
disappeared, being replaced by the Yueshi culture which was simpler and
produced far fewer advanced artifacts. In Egypt, the Old Kingdom, which
had lasted for more than 500 years and produced many of the pyramids and
other structures of this area, was suddenly swept away in a wave of famine
and social breakdown which led to the fragmentation of the kingdom. In
south-central Asia, fixed, sedentary societies were suddenly replaced by a
nomadic lifestyle where tribes moved from place to place with herds of
domestic animals. In India, large urban centers created by the Indus Valley
civilization were suddenly abandoned. On the Arabian Peninsula, the Umm
al-Nar culture which had been in existence for hundreds of years suddenly
vanished. Even in Europe, living patterns changed dramatically with a
decline in agriculture in what had previously been fertile and productive
lands.
For some time, historians puzzled over what could have led to the
almost simultaneous collapse of several advanced civilizations. Recent
research suggests that these things were caused by something now referred
to as the 4.2-kiloyear BP aridification event, a period of sudden climate
change associated with a decrease in the temperature of the North Atlantic
which occurs approximately every 1,500 years. The causes of these
fluctuations (known as Bond events) are not understood, but their effect on
the world’s climate is extreme and violent. The headwaters of the Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers (the most important rivers in Mesopotamia) are fed by
elevation-induced wintertime Mediterranean rainfall. When the surface sea
temperature in the northwest Atlantic cools below a certain level, the
rainfall that feeds these rivers can be decreased by 50 percent or more. A
period of the cooling of the sea in the North Atlantic seems to have begun
in around 2200 BCE. This meant that the flooding and inundation of the
Tigris and Euphrates, upon which much of the agriculture in Mesopotamia
relied, suddenly failed to happen, causing widespread drought and crop
failures. There was also a large volcanic eruption in Anatolia during this
period, though it is not certain that this was related to the drought or the
change in the temperature of the North Atlantic.
A drought which lasts for a whole growing season is serious and can
lead to food shortages and famine. A drought that lasts for three or four
years can be enough to lead to the abandonment of a whole area. A drought
that lasts for six years is sufficient to lead to the complete abandonment of
cities. It is believed that the drought in Mesopotamia caused by reductions
in the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers which began around 2200 BCE may
have lasted 100 years or more (some historians believe that the drought may
have lasted for up to 300 years). It is easy to understand why ancient people
might have associated this unprecedented and seemingly permanent change
in the climate with a curse from the gods.
The previous trading partners from which the Akkadian Empire had
imported food and other goods were unable to help when drought in
Mesopotamia led to food shortages—the Nile was similarly affected which
caused massive famine in Egypt. In India, the continuing and consistent
failure of the monsoon in the Indus River Valley meant that there was
famine there too.
During Naram-Sin’s reign, food had been plentiful in the Akkadian
Empire, and an efficient infrastructure and transport system meant that
surpluses could be sent wherever they were needed. Within a few years of
his death, his successors would be forced to deal with a very different
situation where ongoing drought meant famine and the retreat of agriculture
to areas where water was available. In general, it seems that the southern
part of Mesopotamia fared better than the north during the century-long
drought, causing many people to migrate from the north to the south.
Everything that the Sumerians had created and developed was based on
the ability to farm the fertile land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
When the Akkadians took over, they continued to base their way of life on
the regular inundation of these rivers. This had happened every year for as
long as there had been settlements in this area, and no-one had any reason
to believe that it might stop. Then, when one year it did stop, nothing would
ever be the same for the Akkadian Empire.
 Chapter Six

Shar-Kali-Sharri and the

Cataclysmic Drought
“In the city with no dogs, the fox is boss.”

—Sumerian proverb

After Naram-Sin died, apparently of natural causes, he was succeeded as

king of Akkad by his son, Shar-Kali-Sharri, whose name translates to “King
of Kings.” From the beginning of his reign, the new king was beset by
problems. First and most pressing, incursions into Akkadian territory by the
Gutian tribes Naram-Sin had fought were becoming larger and more
frequent.
The Gutians were nomadic hill tribes from the area of the Zagros
Mountains which now marks the border between Iraq and Iran; some
historians believe that these were the ancestors of the modern-day Kurds.
The Gutians had no written language, so we know relatively little about
them other than from accounts from contemporaries such as the Akkadians.
The Akkadians seemed to have disliked and distrusted the Gutians because
of their lack of culture and the fact that they did not have religions which
worshipped the Sumerian gods. One later account notes that the Gutians
were “unhappy people unaware how to revere the gods, ignorant of the right
cultic practices.” Another is even more negative and claimed that the
Gutians had “human faces, dogs’ cunning and the build of a monkey.”
No matter how the sophisticated Akkadians may have despised them,
the Gutians seem to have been well-organized, effective, and warlike. One
account of a war between Akkadian forces under Naram-Sin against the
Gutian King Gula’an notes that the Akkadian army numbered over 350,000
men and that 90,000 of those were killed during a series of battles with the
Gutians. These were obviously not simply small hill-tribes—they
represented a real and continuing threat to the Akkadians and fighting this
threat occupied a great deal of Shar-Kali-Sharri’s time and resources.
According to Sumerian texts, “In Gutium, no king was famous; they were
their own kings and ruled thus for three years.” This suggests that, rather
than having a single king who ruled for life, the Gutians rotated the
leadership of the tribes, perhaps with one tribe providing a leader for an
agreed and fixed length of time.
Although the great drought would not officially begin until 2200 BCE,
it seems likely that gradual warming of the seas in the North Atlantic would
have meant a gradual reduction in rainfall over a number of years before the
drought. This would have meant failing crop yields and a lack of forage for
animals, and it is possible that the increasing levels of Gutian attacks were
also prompted by the climate change as they were forced to move beyond
their traditional areas in search of food. We know that Shar-Kali-Sharri
faced attacks from the Gutians from the very beginning of his reign. One
Akkadian text notes that he defeated and captured Sharlag, king of Gutium.
However, a few years later other texts note that there was once again been
fighting with the Gutians and that the outcome was that “the yoke was
imposed on Gutium.” This seems to have been rather optimistic because
fighting between Akkadian and Gutian forces continued.
It wasn’t just the Gutians that posed a threat to Akkad. Shar-Kali-Sharri
undertook extensive military campaigns against the Amorites (a Semitic-
speaking people from Syria) and the Elamites, who once again rebelled
against Akkadian rule. These campaigns were successful, but the strain of
fighting continual wars against multiple enemies combined with falling
agricultural production placed extreme pressure on the empire. While there
were food surpluses and viable trade routes with large trading partners, it
wasn’t difficult to raise sufficient taxes to maintain, equip, and train large
standing armies. However, as food and resources became increasingly
scarce, the people ruled by Akkad became unwilling or unable to continue
paying high taxes. This led to more rebellion and the need for yet more
expensive military action. The Akkadian Empire gradually entered a spiral
of increasing food prices and declining taxes at a time when it needed more
troops to defend its borders.
Gradually, during the reign of Shar-Kali-Sharri, the Gutian attacks
changed character. Instead of fighting pitched battles against large
Akkadian armies, they began to fight a guerrilla war, mounting small hit-
and-run raids into the plains of Mesopotamia and seizing whatever they
could before retreating into their mountain strongholds. These raids
disrupted travel and the transport of food across Mesopotamia and made
farming even more dangerous and difficult.
In the early part of his reign, Shar-Kali-Sharri was able to undertake
some major building projects—for example, temples in the cities of Nippur
and Babylon were extensively rebuilt and enlarged. However, from around
2200 BCE, as the drought reached its full intensity, the Akkadians became
more and more concerned with survival. After this time, there simply
weren’t resources to spare for grand public buildings or new temples.
Shar-Kali-Sharri continued to reign until his death circa 2193 BCE.
Towards the end of his time as king, it became clear that the Akkadian
Empire was close to disintegration. The drought and subsequent famine
meant that it was impossible to maintain the large armies needed to keep
control of captured territory and to prevent the increasingly bold attacks by
the Gutians from the Zagros Mountains. Famine also meant increased levels
of revolt and insurrection amongst people who could no longer pay the high
taxes required. By the time of his death, the mighty empire that Shar-Kali-
Sharri had inherited was close to total collapse and fragmentation.
 Chapter Seven

The Fall of the Akkadian Empire

“The house built by the upright man is destroyed by the treacherous man.”

—Sumerian proverb

When Shar-Kali-Sharri died in 2193 BCE, the drought was well in place in
Akkadian territory. There were food shortages, and parts of the land which
had previously been productive agricultural areas were being abandoned
because the lack of water meant that they could no longer be used to grow
food. Refugees from the now arid north of Mesopotamia were streaming
into the southern lands where there were more water and food, but their
arrival led to food shortages in the south too.
Just at the moment when the Akkadian Empire needed a strong and
resolute leader, it seems that there was a major internal conflict about the
succession. Of this period the Sumerian King List, a Sumerian text which
describes the various kings in Mesopotamia, notes: “Then who was king?
Who was not the king? Igigi, Imi, Nanum, Ilulu: four of them ruled for only
three years.”
No records from this period of anarchy have survived, so we know
nothing about these four kings and their brief reigns. Historians have even
suggested that one, Ilulu, may have been a Gutian who attempted to capture
the Akkadian throne. What is known is that circa 2190 BCE, a new
Akkadian king, Dudu, became the ruler of an empire in deep trouble. Some
of the Sumerian cities that were nominally under Akkadian control,
including Umma and Girsu, revolted against their rulers. The Elamites rose
once again against the Akkadians. We don’t have any records of what
caused these insurrections, though most likely the growing weakness of
Akkadian military power encouraged these attempts at independence. We
also don’t know if these revolts were successful, though it does seem that
the empire was gradually being reduced in size during this period, so it is
possible that they may have been.
What is known is that the raids by the Gutians were becoming larger
and more frequent to the point where Akkad was unable to effectively
resist. The Gutians were able to conquer many of the Sumerian cities of
Mesopotamia, though they seemed to lack any understanding of the
significance of important aspects of agriculture, such as irrigation, and they
had no experience of keeping animals for food. In the areas which they
occupied, irrigation channels were allowed to become clogged and useless,
and it is said that domestic animals were released to roam across the land.
By the time that the last king of Akkad, Shu-Turul, the son of Dudu,
came to the throne circa 2168 BCE, the kingdom of Akkad consisted of
little more than the cities of Akkad, Kish, Eshnunna, and Tutub. Most of the
other lands previously ruled by Akkad had either achieved independence
(including many Sumerian cities in southern Mesopotamia, of which Uruk
was the most powerful) or had been overrun by the Gutians. Shu-Turul
reigned for 15 years, and when he was deposed circa 2154 BCE, even the
city of Akkad no longer belonged to the Akkadians. Akkad seems to have
been overrun by Gutian invaders who used the city as their main center in
the region. However, it seems (precise contemporary records from this
period are rare, and most of what has been deduced about this time is based
on surmise) that the Gutians eventually destroyed the city of Akkad so
completely that no trace of it has ever been found.
Other city-states in the area, freed from Akkadian domination, reverted
to independence, though most were forced to pay tribute to the Gutians. The
Gutians had no writing and were not interested in maintaining the canals
and irrigation channels that were so essential to agriculture in this area.
Under Gutian rule, there was widespread famine and depopulation caused
by food shortages and enormous rises in the price of grain and many
historians refer to this period in Mesopotamia as a dark age.
The Gutians remained in control before finally being ejected by armies
from the Sumerian city-states, led by the Sumerian King Utu-Hengal from
the city of Uruk who defeated the Gutian King Tirigan. The Gutians were
forced to retreat with to the Zagros Mountains and would never again be a
major threat in Mesopotamia. King Utu-Hengal was defeated and replaced
soon after by Ur-Nammu from the city of Ur who declared himself king of
Sumer circa 2112 BCE. This led to a resurgence of Sumerian art, culture,
and science and a period which has become known as Neo-Sumerian.
The Akkadian language remained in use in Sumer both in written and
spoken form even after the collapse of the empire, and Sumerian was being
used only for ceremonial and religious purposes, much as Latin in Medieval
Europe. The original Akkadian people divided into two main groups—to
the north they congregated near the city of Aššur on the west bank of the
Tigris River. With the fall of Akkad and the Akkadian Empire circa 2154
BCE, Aššur became independent, though it was later subsumed into the
Neo-Sumerian Empire. By around 2030 BCE, this city had once again
become independent, and it would later become the center of another large
Akkadian-speaking empire, the Assyrian Empire, which would remain a
significant political and military force in the area for more than one
millennium.
To the south, the Akkadians gravitated to the city-state of Babylon. This
city too would become the center of another empire, the Babylonian
Empire, though by that time it would be controlled by the Amorites,
Hamitic speaking people from what is now Syria.
 Chapter Eight

The Search for Akkad

“Wealth is hard to come by, but poverty is always at hand.”

—Sumerian proverb

Given that Akkad was the dominant city in the ancient world for more than
150 years, it may seem surprising that we now have no idea of where it was
located. Many cities in Mesopotamia simply disappeared, and it is possible
that the drought that affected this area from 2200 BCE may have made the
area close to the city less productive for farming, and this may have led to
depopulation and finally to complete abandonment.
We do know some things about the city, from a single reference in the
Bible (Genesis 10:10) and from a number of references in cuneiform tablets
which have been recovered and deciphered. The name of the city has been
variously given as Akkad, Akkade, and Agade, though most modern
historians use Akkad. We know that Akkad was a port city, and in the past
historians assumed that it must have been located on the Euphrates River.
However, recently most scholars agree that it is more likely that the city
was located on the east bank of the Tigris River.
Harvey Weiss, the archeologist who excavated Tell Leilan, believed that
Akkad was situated on a site called Ishan Mizyad, around three miles from
the location of Kish, but excavations showed this to be incorrect. Since the
1990s, the search for the remains of Akkad has focused on an area close to
the confluence of the Tigris and Diyala Rivers (many ancient records seem
to suggest that Akkad was located at the junction of two rivers).
Unfortunately this area is in the south-eastern suburbs of the modern city of
Baghdad which makes excavation and survey very difficult.
The main deity of Akkad was Inanna, and the city featured a large
temple complex dedicated to this goddess. After the fall of Akkad, Babylon
became a center of worship for Inanna and other gods when many
Akkadians moved to that city. A statue recovered in the 1960s in Iraq
carried an inscription which noted that the citizens of Akkad also built a
temple to Naram-Sin after his death.
At its height, Akkad must have been a large city, the largest in
Mesopotamia and perhaps the largest in the world. After the fall of the
empire the city was sacked by the Gutians and eventually abandoned. While
the Akkadian Empire grew and prospered, the city was an important center
of trade, government, culture, science, and the arts. After the fall of the
empire, the city returned to the encroaching desert sands.
The Mesopotamian epic poem, “The curse of Akkad: the Ekur
avenged,” written after the fall of the Akkadian Empire graphically
describes the end of the city: “Its canalboat towpaths grew nothing but
weeds, / Its chariot roads grew nothing but the ‘wailing plant,’ / Moreover,
on its canalboat towpaths and landings, / No human being walks because of
the wild goats, vermin, snakes, and mountain scorpions.”
 Conclusion
The Akkadian Empire produced many firsts. It was the first multi-ethnic,
international empire ruled by a central government. At its zenith, in
controlled more territory than anything that had come before, covering not
just Mesopotamia but also the Persian Gulf, parts of Asia Minor, and the
Mediterranean Sea, perhaps as far as Cyprus. It was the first empire to have
a standing army of trained and specially equipped professional soldiers. It
was the first large administration to recognize the importance of long-
distance communication and to support this it instituted the world’s first
postal system. It was the first to establish detailed astronomical observation
and the first to develop a calendar where years were distinguished and
named (generally according to important events which had occurred during
a particular year).
Under the reign of King Naram-Sin, the Akkadian Empire reached its
greatest extent, and there was nothing comparable to oppose it. However, it
seems that the fall of this mighty empire was caused principally not by
attacks from outside but was instead due to sudden, catastrophic climate
change characterized by some as the Curse of Akkad. This led to famine,
revolt, destabilization, and eventually the fragmentation of the empire to the
point that it was incapable of resisting attacks by the Gutians.
The rise of Akkad to fabulous wealth and power and its sudden decline
made it the subject of myths for many of the civilizations which followed.
That such a powerful empire could be so completely destroyed that not
even a trace of its main city remained seemed to the Babylonians and others
as evidence that Akkad had indeed somehow displeased the gods. From
what we now know, it seems more likely that this empire was laid low not
by a pantheon of angry gods but by a sudden change in climate. If the rains
suddenly stop falling, not even the most powerful empires can survive.
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