Akkadian Empire

Legacy

Akkad set the model of a multi-ethnic empire run from one capital, and Akkadian became the diplomatic language of the Near East for over a thousand years.

Timeline of Akkadian Empire

1. 2334 BCE
   Sargon comes to power and founds a dynasty ruling from Akkad (site still unknown)

   Sargon emerged as ruler of Akkad, a small city in central Mesopotamia whose exact site is still unknown; it probably lay near where the Tigris meets the Adhem or Diyala rivers. Almost nothing reliable is known about his rise. Legends written long afterwards call him a usurper who began as cupbearer to King Ur-Zababa of Kish, and some historians suspect he was a vassal of Kish who rebelled. His reign is usually dated c. 2334–2279 BCE, though other estimates run 2316–2277. For perhaps 18 years or more his power seems to have been limited to the north.

2. 2300 BCE
   Sargon defeats Lugalzagesi in three battles, razes Uruk's walls and takes Sumer

   The turning point of Sargon's career was his clash with Lugalzagesi, who ruled a united Sumer from Uruk. According to Sargon's inscriptions, three battles were needed to defeat Lugalzagesi and his allies; Sargon 'conquered fifty governors', razed Uruk's walls and led the captured king in a neck-stock to Enlil's temple at Nippur. The date is debated but is usually put around 2300 BCE. Sumer's cities became provinces under governors, some of them 'sons of Akkad', and for the first time the whole of southern Mesopotamia answered to a single king.

3. 2290 BCE
   Sargon takes Mari and claims the 'Upper Country' to the Cedar Forest

   With Sumer secured, Sargon turned to Syria, then dominated by Mari on the middle Euphrates, Nagar and Ebla. One of his year-names records the destruction of Mari, and an inscription says the god Dagan at Tuttul gave him 'the Upper Land: Mari, Yarmuti and Ebla as far as the Cedar Forest and the Silver Mountains'. Sargon also boasted of 34 victorious battles and of ships from Dilmun, Magan and Meluhha docking at Akkad. These campaigns stretched Akkad's reach towards the Mediterranean and the Taurus, though how firmly the west was held is uncertain, and the date here is approximate.

4. 2279 BCE
   Sargon dies; Rimush reconquers rebel cities including Ur, Umma and Lagash

   Sargon died c. 2279 BCE (other estimates are 2284 or 2277), and his son Rimush inherited an empire whose conquered cities still remembered independence. Rimush's inscriptions describe widespread revolts and the reconquest of Ur, Umma, Adab, Lagash, Der and Kazallu, claiming tens of thousands of enemies killed or captured. He also campaigned east against Elam and Marhashi. His reign was short, about nine years according to the Sumerian King List, and a later tradition says his own courtiers killed him. Still, he held Sargon's empire together and kept Sumer within its borders.

5. 2270 BCE
   Manishtushu leads a fleet down the Gulf against 32 kings; takes Anshan

   Rimush's brother Manishtushu became king c. 2270 BCE and, free of the revolts that had troubled his brother, looked outward. According to his inscription, he sent ships across the 'Lower Sea' (the Persian Gulf), defeated an alliance of 32 cities on the far shore, plundered as far as the silver mines, and brought back black stone for a statue of himself. He also conquered Anshan in Elam, and Akkadian governors came to rule Elam and Pashime on the Iranian coast. He died c. 2255 BCE after about fifteen years, possibly murdered by his courtiers, with Akkad's grip on south-western Iran tightened.

6. 2255 BCE
   Naram-Sin succeeds; under him the empire reaches its greatest extent

   Naram-Sin, Manishtushu's son and Sargon's grandson, ruled c. 2255–2218 BCE, and under him the Akkadian state reached its greatest extent. He defeated the ruler of Magan, fought hill peoples of the Zagros, Taurus and Amanus mountains, and destroyed Armanum and Ebla in Syria, claiming the Amanus, the 'Cedar Mountain' and the Upper Sea. He was the first king to call himself 'King of the Four Quarters', meaning ruler of the whole world. On the map, Akkad's power now stretched from the Gulf and western Iran to northern Syria and the Mediterranean coast.

7. 2250 BCE
   Victory Stele: Naram-Sin defeats the Lullubi of the Zagros

   The Lullubi were a mountain people of the Zagros, astride routes between Mesopotamia and the Iranian plateau. Naram-Sin's army defeated them and their chief Satuni, a victory celebrated on a 2-metre stele of pinkish limestone dated only to his reign. Breaking with older art, it shows the battle climbing diagonally up a mountain, with Naram-Sin at the top wearing a horned helmet, a sign of divinity. Victories like this carried Akkad's power into the Zagros on the empire's eastern edge. Over a thousand years later the Elamite king Shutruk-Nakhunte carried the stele off to Susa; it is now in the Louvre.

8. 2240 BCE
   Naram-Sin crushes the Great Revolt and is proclaimed a god

   At an uncertain point in Naram-Sin's reign, a huge coalition rose against Akkad, led by Iphur-Kish of Kish and Amar-Girid of Uruk and joined by Nippur, Sippar, Kutha, Borsippa and other cities, as well as Amorite highlanders. Naram-Sin claimed that he won nine battles in a single year and captured the kings the rebels had raised. Afterwards, his inscription says, the people of Akkad asked the great gods to make him the god of their city. He became the first Mesopotamian king to claim divinity, and the empire came through intact.

9. 2218 BCE
   Shar-kali-sharri succeeds; wars with Gutians, Amorites and Elam

   Naram-Sin's son Shar-kali-sharri reigned for about 25 years (c. 2218–2193 BCE). His year-names suggest a fairly peaceful reign with recurring clashes: a victory over the Amorites (MAR.TU) at Jebel Bishri in Syria, the capture of a Gutian king, and a battle against Elam and Zahara near Akshak. Economic texts suggest reasonable prosperity. Yet the Gutians were growing stronger and at some point made Adab, in Sumer, their capital. Later tradition held that the empire began to unravel during his reign, as outsiders and restless provinces tested Akkad's strength.

10. 2193 BCE
    Shar-kali-sharri dies; anarchy: 'Who was king? Who was not the king?'

    When Shar-kali-sharri died c. 2193 BCE, no successor could hold the empire together. The Sumerian King List sums up the chaos with a famous question, 'Then who was king? Who was not the king?', naming four rivals, Igigi, Imi, Nanum and Ilulu, who together ruled only three years. Southern cities such as Lagash and Uruk began to reassert their independence, while Gutians, Amorites and Elamites pressed in. Many historians also link the collapse to a severe drought, the '4.2-kiloyear event', that struck Upper Mesopotamia, as Akkad's territory shrank back towards its northern core.

11. 2154 BCE
    Reign of Shu-turul ends; Akkad's empire is gone as Gutians dominate

    After the anarchy, Dudu and then his son Shu-turul ruled a much-reduced kingdom of Akkad in northern Babylonia, including Kish, Tutub, Nippur and Eshnunna. Shu-turul, said to have reigned 15 years, is known only from a few seals and votive objects. With his death c. 2154 BCE the Sumerian King List says kingship passed to Uruk, while the Gutians, based at Adab, became the main regional power and southern cities such as Ur and Lagash ruled themselves. The first empire in Mesopotamian history disappeared from the map, but Sargon and Naram-Sin remained models for later kings.

Periods and reigns

• Sargon 2334–2279 BCE
• Rimush 2279–2270 BCE
• Manishtushu 2270–2255 BCE
• Naram-Sin 2255–2218 BCE
• Shar-kali-sharri 2218–2193 BCE
• Anarchy (Igigi, Imi, Nanum, Ilulu) 2193–2189 BCE
• Dudu 2189–2168 BCE
• Shu-turul 2168–2154 BCE

Rulers

• Sargon of Akkad c. 2334 – 2279 BCE

  Founder; conquered the Sumerian city-states

• Rimush c. 2278 – 2270 BCE

  Crushed widespread revolts

• Manishtushu c. 2269 – 2255 BCE

  Campaigned across the Persian Gulf

• Naram-Sin c. 2254 – 2218 BCE

  Called himself king of the four quarters and a god

• Shar-kali-sharri c. 2217 – 2193 BCE

  Last strong king before the collapse

Realms on the map

• Akkadian Empire 2300–2154 BCE