Akkad (city)

Akkad (/ˈækæd/; also spelt Accad, Akkade, or Agade, Akkadian: 𒀀𒂵𒉈𒆠 akkadê, also 𒌵𒆠 URIKI in Sumerian during the Ur III period) was the capital of the Akkadian Empire, which was the dominant political force in Mesopotamia during a period of about 150 years in the last third of the 3rd millennium BC.

Map of the Near East showing the extent of the Akkadian Empire and the general area in which Akkad was located

Its location is unknown. In the early days of research various unidentified mounds were considered as the location of Akkade.[1] In modern times most of the attention has focused on an area roughly defined by 1) near Eshnunna, 2) near Sippar, 3) not far from Kish and Babylon, 4) near the Tigris River, and 5) not far from the Diyala River - all within roughly 30 kilometers of modern Baghdad in central Iraq. There are also location proposals as far afield as the Mosul area in northern Iraq.[2][3][4]

The main goddess of Akkad was Ishtar-Annunitum, who was called ‘Aštar-annunîtum or "Warlike Ishtar".[5] It has also been suggested that a different aspect, Istar-Ulmašītum, was the patron goddess of the city of Akkad.[6] Her husband Ilaba was also revered in Akkad. Ishtar and Ilaba were later worshipped at Girsu and possibly Sippar in the Old Babylonian period.[2]

The city is possibly mentioned in the Hebrew Bible in the Genesis 10:10 where it is written אַכַּד‎ (ʾĂkăḏ), rendered in the Bible as Accad. The name appears in a list of the cities of Nimrod in Sumer (Shinar).

In the early days of Assyriology, it was suggested that the name of Agade is not of Akkadian language origin. Proposals include Sumerian language, Hurrian language or the Lullubian (though that is unattested). The non-Akkadian origin of the city's name suggests that the site may have already been occupied in pre-Sargonic times.[7]

Sources

A year name of En-šakušuana (c. 2350 BC) , king of Uruk and a contemporary of Lugal-zage-si of Umma, was "Year in which En-šakušuana defeated Akkad". This would have been shortly before the rise of the Akkadian Empire and part of his northern campaign that also defeated Kish and Akshak.[8][9]

A number of fragments of royal statues of Manishtushu (c. 2270–2255 BC), second Akkadian ruler, all bearing portions of a "standard inscription". It mentions Agade[10] An excerpt:

"Man-istusu, king of the world: when he conquered Ansan and Sirihum, had ... ships cross the Lower Sea. ... He quarried the black stone of the mountains across the Lower Sea, loaded (it) on ships, and moored (the ships) at the quay of Agade"[11]

Black-and-white photograph of a statue consisting of an inscribed, round pedestal on top of which sits a seated nude male figure of which only the legs and lower torso are preserved.
The Bassetki Statue, found in Dohuk Governorate, Iraqi Kurdistan, dated to the reign of Naram-Sin (c. 2254–2218 BC) with an inscription mentioning the construction of a temple in Akkad

The inscription on the Bassetki Statue records that the inhabitants of Akkad built a temple for Naram-Sin after he had crushed a revolt against his rule.[12]

"Naram-Sin, the mighty, king of Agade, when the four quarters together revolted against him, ... In view of the fact that he protected the foundations of his city from danger, (the citizens of his city requested from Astar in Eanna, Enlil in Nippur, Dagan in Tuttul, Ninhursag in Kes, Ea in Eridu, Sin in Ur, Samas in Sippar, (and) Nergal in Kutha, that (Naram-Sin) be (made) the god of their city, and they built within Agade a temple (dedicated) to him. ... "[11]

It is known from textual sources that the late 19th century BC rulers of Eshnunna performed cultic activities at Akkad.[13]

Based on texts found at Mari, the Amorite king Shamshi-Adad (1808–1776 BC), in the final years of his reign, went to the cities of "Rapiqum and Akkad" (they having been captured earlier by his son Yasmah-Adad) as part of one of his military campaigns, in this case against Eshnunna.[14][15]

The prologue of the Laws of Hammurabi (circa 1750 BC) includes the phrase "the one who installs Ištar in the temple Eulmaš inside Akkade city". It also holds a list of cities in order along their watercourse ie "... Tutub, Eshnunna, Agade, Ashur, ..." which would place Akkade off the Tigris between Eshnunna and Ashur.[16][17]

In a centuries later Old Babylonian text purportedly a copy of an original statue inscription Sargon of Akkad (2334–2279 BC) refers to ships being docked at the quay of Agade ie. "Sargon) moo[red] the ships of Meluhha Magan, and Tilmun] a[t the quay of] Ag[ade].".[11][18]

Agade-ki ("Country of Akkad"), on a cylinder seal of Shar-Kali-Sharri.

List of slaves from the Old Babylonian city of Sippar include two female slave who, based on the standard naming scheme, are either from Akkad or were owned by someone from Akkad, ie "Taram-Agade and Taram-Akkadi". The former was also the name of a daughter of Akkadian ruler Naram-Sin several centuries beforehand.[19]

According to a purported brick inscription copy made during the reign of the Neo-Babylonian ruler Nabonidus (556 - 539 BC) many centuries later, the Kassite ruler Kurigalzu I (circa 1375 BC) reported rebuilding the Akitu house of Ishtar at Akkade.[20][21] Another Nabonidus period copy indicates Kurigalzu (unclear if first of second of that name) left an inscription at Akkade recording his fruitless search for the E.ul.mas (temple of Istar-Annunitum).[22] Nabonidus claimed that the Assyrian ruler Esarhaddon (681–669 BC) had rebuilt the E.ul.mas temple of Istar-Annunitum at Agade.[23]

The Elamite ruler Shutruk-Nakhunte (1184 to 1155 BC) conquered part of Mesopotamia, noting that he defeated Sippar. As part of the spoils some millennium old royal Akkadian statues were taken back to Susa including the Victory Stele of Naram-Sin and a statue of the Akkadian ruler Manishtushu. It is unknown if the statues were taken from Akkad or had been moved to Sippar.[10][24]

The Achaemenid Empire ruler Cyrus the Great (c. 600–530 BC), after conquering Mesopotamia, wrote

"... all of them (kings from the entire world) brought their heavy tribute and kissed my feet in Babylon. From (a region) as far as the city of Assur and the city of Susa, the city of Agade, the land of Esnunna, the town Zamban, the town Me-Turnu, the city of Der, as far as the land of the Gutis, (these) sacred cities across the Tigris ..."[25]

Location
Map showing locations of Sippar, Eshnunna, Kish, and Babylon – cities suggested as close to Akkad

It has been proposed, based on a kudurru dating to the time of Kassite ruler Marduk-nadin-ahhe (1095–1078 BC), with an earlier one dated to the reign of Nebuchadnezzar I (1121–1100 BC), that Akkad had been renamed sometime in the 2nd millennium. The suggestion from the kuduru is that the name would be Dur-Sharru-Kin, which is not to be confused with the Dur-Sharukin built by the Neo-Assyrians in the 8th century BC. The location would be "on the bank of the river Nish-Gatti in the district of Milikku". The most likely site would be Dur-Rimush, lying nine kilometers north of the site of Dur-Sharukin (Tell el-Mjelaat).[26]

The area of the Little Zab river, which originates in Iran and joins the Tigris just south of Al Zab in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, has also been suggested.[27]

A proposed location of Agade is Ishan Mizyad (Tell Mizyad), a large (1,000 meters by 600 meters) low site 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) northwest from Kish and northeast of Babylon.[4] Excavations have shown that the remains at Ishan Mizyad date to the Akkadian period (about 200 Old Akkadian administrative texts found, mainly lists of workers), Ur III period, Isin-Larsa period, and Neo-Babylonian period.[28][2][29][30][31] Until Neo-Babylonian times a canal ran from Kish to Mizyad.[32][33]

On the Kassite Land grant to Marduk-apla-iddina I by Meli-Shipak II (1186–1172 BC) the recipient is given cultivated land in the communal land of the city of Agade located around the settlement of Tamakku adjacent to the Nar Sarri (Canal of the King) in Bīt-Piri’-Amurru, north of the "land of Istar-Agade" and east of Kibati canal.[34]

Based on an Old Babylonian period itinerary from Mari which places Akkade between the cities of Sippar (Sippar and Sippar-Amnanum) and Khafajah (Tutub) on a route to Eshnunna, Akkad would be on the Tigris just downstream of the current city of Baghdad, near the crossing of the Tigris and Diyala River. Mari documents also indicate that Akkad is sited at a river crossing.[35]

An Old Babylonian prisoner record from the time of Rīm-Anum of Uruk in the 18th century BC implies that Akkad is in the area of Eshnunna, in the Diyala Valley north-west of Sumer proper.[36] It has also been suggested that Akkad was under the control of Eshnunna in that period.[37] It is also known that the rulers of Eshnunna continued cult activities in the city of Akkad.[38]

Tell Muhammad (possibly Diniktum) in the south-eastern suburbs of Baghdad near the confluence of the Diyala River with the Tigris, has been proposed as a candidate for the location of Akkad.[3] No remains datable to the Akkadian Empire period have been found at the site. Excavations found remains dating to the Isin-Larsa, Old Babylonian, and Kassite periods.[39]

A site, locally called El Sanam, near Qādisiyyah (Kudsia), has been suggested based on the base fragment of an Old Akkadian statue (now in the British Museum) found there. The statue is of black stone and was originally three meters high and thought to be of ruler Rimush. The upper portion of the statue was reportedly destroyed by a local imam for idolatry. The site in question has been partially eroded away by the Tigris and is located between Samarra and the confluence of the Tigiris and ʿAdhaim rivers.[40][41] The fragment was first observed and described by Claudius Rich in 1821.[42] This location had been suggested much earlier by Lane.[43]

See also

References
  1. Unger, Eckhard (1928), "Akkad", in Ebeling, Erich; Meissner, Bruno (eds.), Reallexikon der Assyriologie (in German), vol. 1, Berlin: W. de Gruyter, p. 62, OCLC 23582617
  2. Westenholz, C. F., "The Old Akkadian Period: History and Culture", in Mesopotamien: Akkade-Zeit und Ur III-Zeit (Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 160/3), Universitätsverlag Freiburg Schweiz, Freiburg, Schweiz, pp. 11-110, 1999
  3. Wall-Romana, Christophe (1990), "An Areal Location of Agade", Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 49 (3): 205–245, doi:10.1086/373442, JSTOR 546244, S2CID 161165836
  4. Harvey Weiss, "Kish, Akkad and Agade", Review of "McGuire Gibson, The city and area of Kish", Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 95, no. 3, pp. 434–53, 1975
  5. Meador, Betty De Shong (2001), Inanna, Lady of the Largest Heart. Poems by the Sumerian High Priestess Enheduanna, Austin: University of Texas Press, ISBN 978-0-292-75242-9
  6. Sharlach, T. M., "Belet-šuhnir and Belet-terraban and Religious Activities of the Queen and the Concubine(s)", in An Ox of One's Own: Royal Wives and Religion at the Court of the Third Dynasty of Ur, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 261-286, 2017
  7. Speiser, Ephraim Avigdor, "Elam And Sumer In The Epigraphical Sources", in Mesopotamian Origins: The Basic Population of the Near East, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, pp. 26-58, 1930
  8. Pomponio, Francesco, "Further Considerations On KišKI In The Ebla Texts", Revue d’Assyriologie et d’archéologie Orientale, vol. 107, pp. 71–83, 2013
  9. A. Westenholz, "Old Sumerian and Old Akkadian Texts in Philadelphia, Chiefly from Nippur", I: Literary and Lexical Texts and the Earliest Administrative Documents from Nippur. Bibliotheca Mesopotamica 1. Malibu: Undena Publications, 1975
  10. Eppihimer, Melissa, "Assembling King and State: The Statues of Manishtushu and the Consolidation of Akkadian Kingship", American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 114, no. 3, pp. 365–80, 2010
  11. Douglas R. Frayne, The Sargonic and Gutian Periods (2334-2113), University of Toronto Press, 1993, ISBN 0-8020-0593-4
  12. A. H. al-Fouadi, "Bassetki Statue with an Old Akkadian Royal Inscription of Naram-Sin of Agade (2291-2255 BC)", Sumer, vol. 32, no. 1-2, pp. 63-76, 1976
  13. Nele Ziegler, "Akkad à l’époque paleo- babylonienne", in Entre les fleuves – II: D’Aššur à Mari et au- delà, ed. N. Ziegler and E. Cancik- Kirschbaum, Gladbeck: PeWe, 2014
  14. Lewy, Hildegard, "The Synchronism Assyria—Ešnunna—Babylon", Die Welt Des Orients, vol. 2, no. 5/6, pp. 438–53, 1959
  15. Dossin, G., "Archives royales de Mari1", Paris: Impr. Nationale, 1950 (in french)
  16. Steinert, Ulrike, "Akkadian Terms for Streets and the Topography of Mesopotamian Cities", Altorientalische Forschungen, vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 309-347, 2011
  17. Composite of Laws of Hammurabi at CDLI - RIME 4.03.06.add21 (P464358)
  18. Cuneiform Inscription Of Defeat Of Oman & Indus Valley - MS-2814 Schoyen Collection
  19. Harris, Rivkah, "Notes on the Slave Names of Old Babylonian Sippar", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 46–51, 1977
  20. Clayden, T., "Kurigalzu I and the restoration of Babylonia", Iraq 58, pp. 109–121, 1996
  21. Frame, G., "Nabonidus and the history of the Eulmas temple at Akkad", Mesopotamia 28, pp. 21-50, 1993
  22. George, A. R., "House Most High. The temples of ancient Mesopotamia", Winona Lake, 1993 ISBN 978-0931464805
  23. S. Langdon, "New Inscriptions of Nabuna'id", American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures 32, 1915-16
  24. Winter, Irene J., "How Tall Was Naram-Sîn’s Victory Stele? Speculation on the Broken Bottom", in Leaving No Stones Unturned: Essays on the Ancient Near East and Egypt in Honor of Donald P. Hansen, edited by Erica Ehrenberg, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 301-312, 2021
  25. Rawlinson, Henry Creswicke, "A selection from the miscellaneous inscriptions of Assyria and Babylonia", in The Cuneiform inscriptions of Western Asia, vol. 5, London, 1884
  26. Khalid al-Admi, "A New Kudurru of Maroduk-Nadin-Ahhe IM. 90585", Sumer, vol. 38, no. 1–2, pp. 121–133, 1982
  27. McGuire Gibson, The city and area of Kish, Field Research Projects, 1972
  28. "Excavations in Iraq, 1979–80." Iraq, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 167–98, 1981
  29. Mahmoud, N. Ahmed, "The Ur III tablets from Ishan Mizyad", Acta Sumerologica, vol. 11, pp. 330–352, 1989
  30. "Excavations in Iraq, 1981–82." Iraq, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 199–224, 1983
  31. al-Mutawali, Nawala A., "Clay Tablets from Tell Mizyad", Sumer 41, pp. 135–136, 1985 (arabic)
  32. Buccellati, Marilyn K., "Orientalists Meet at Berkeley", Archaeology, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 303–304, 1968
  33. Al-Mutawally, N.A.M., "Economical Texts from Išān-Mazyad", in De Meyer, L. and Gasche, H., (eds.), Mésopotamie et Élam, Actes de la XXXVIème Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale Gand, 10-14 juillet 1989, Ghent, pp. 45-46, 1991
  34. W. J. Hinke, "A New Boundary Stone of Nebuchadrezzar I from Nippur (BE IV)", University of Philadelphia, 1907
  35. Andrew George, "Babylonian and Assyrian: a history of Akkadian", In: Postgate, J. N. (ed.), Languages of Iraq, Ancient and Modern, London: British School of Archaeology in Iraq, 2007
  36. Michael Jursa, "A 'Prisoner Text' from Birmingham", in G. Chambon, M. Guichard & A.-I. Langlois (eds), De l’argile au numérique. Mélanges assyriologiques en l’honneur de Dominique Charpin (Leuven), pp. 507-512, 2019 ISBN 978-9042938724
  37. Ziegler N. & A.-I. Langlois, "Les toponymes paléo-babyloniens de la Haute-Mésopotamie", Matériaux pour l’étude de la toponymie et de la topographie I/1, Paris, 2016
  38. Nele Ziegler, "Akkad à l’époque paleo- babylonienne," in Entre les fleuves – II: D’Aššur à Mari et au- delà, ed. N. Ziegler and E. Cancik- Kirschbaum, Gladbeck: PeWe, 2014
  39. Gentili, Paolo, "Wandering Through Time: The Chronology Of Tell Mohammed", Studi Classici e Orientali, vol. 57, pp. 39–55, 2011
  40. Reade, Julian (2002), "Early Monuments in Gulf Stone at the British Museum, with Observations on Some Gudea Statues and the Location of Agade", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie, 92 (2): 258–295, doi:10.1515/zava.2002.92.2.258, S2CID 161326049
  41. Thomas, Ariane, "The Akkadian Royal Image: On a Seated Statue of Manishtushu", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie, vol. 105, no. 1–2, pp. 86–117, 2015
  42. Rich, C. J., "Narrative of a Residence in Koordistan &c, edited by his widow", London, 1836
  43. Lane, W. H., Babylonian Problems, John Murray, London, 1923

Further reading
  • Naohiko Kawakami, "Searching for the Location of the Ancient City of Akkade in Relation to the Ancient Course of the Tigris Using Historical Geographical and GIS Analyses", AKKADICA, vol. 143, pp. 101–135, 2022
  • Naohiko Kawakami, "The Location of the Ancient City of Akkade: Review of Past Theories and Identification of Issues for Formulating a Specific Methodology for Searching Akkade", AL-RĀFIDĀN: Journal of Western Asiatic Studies, vol. 45, pp. 45–68, 2023
  • G.J. P. McEwan, "Agade after the Gutian Destruction: The Afterlife of a Mesopotamian City", AfO Beiheft 19, pp. 8–15, 1982
  • Nowicki, Stefan, "Sargon of Akkade and his god: Comments on the worship of the god of the father among the ancient Semites", Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 69.1, pp. 63–82, 2016
  • Pruß, Alexander (2004), "Remarks on the Chronological Periods", in Lebeau, Marc; Sauvage, Martin (eds.), Atlas of Preclassical Upper Mesopotamia, Subartu, vol. 13, pp. 7–21, ISBN 2503991203
  • Sallaberger, W./I. Schrakamp, "Philological data for a historical chronology of Mesopotamia in the 3rd millennium", in: W. Sallaberger/I. Schrakamp (eds.), History & philology, ARCANE 3. Turnhout, pp. 1–13, 2015 ISBN 978-2503534947
  • van de Mieroop, Marc (2007), A History of the Ancient Near East, ca. 3000–323 BC. Second Edition, Blackwell History of the Ancient World, Malden: Blackwell, ISBN 9781405149112
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