Akkad Books
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Harper (01 April 2008)Price: $7.99 -
University Of Chicago Press (15 February 1971)Price: $17.68 -
Baker Academic (01 September 2002)Price: $19.49 -
Harper Perennial (03 September 1983)Price: $11.66 -
Wiley-Blackwell (13 October 2006)Price: $33.65
Definition
Sargon and his sons were a powerful and dominant dynasty in Mesopotamia, ruling an empire based on political domination, taxation, and literacy. The Akkadian language became the predominant language for commerce and politics throughout the Middle Eastern region. The Akkadian economy depended greatly on the agriculture of the region, and during the “off season” – August through October – farmers were required to work for the city-state, maintaining irrigation and drainage systems.
In terms of technology, Akkad was responsible for much advancement in the region. This included a postal system, a property-surveying system, the first system of astronomical observations, as well as many fine examples of advancements in art and literature.
The rise of the Akkadian empire was hot and fast, and in the grand scheme of ancient Near Eastern history its dominance in Mesopotamia did not last long. Its collapse caused the Mesopotamian Dark Ages, a time of little progress in technology and culture.
Articles
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The cuneiform script proper emerges out of pictographic proto-writing in the later 4th millennium BC. Mesopotamia's "proto-literate" period spans the 35th to 32nd centuries BC. The first documents unequivocally written in the Sumerian language date to the 31st century, found at Jemdet Nasr.
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The story of Sargon's birth and childhood is given in the "Sargon legend", a Sumerian text purporting to be Sargon's biography. The extant versions are incomplete, but the surviving fragments name Sargon's father as La'ibum. After a lacuna, the text skips to Ur-Zababa, king of Kish, who awakens after a dream, the contents of which are not revealed on the surviving portion of the tablet. For unknown reasons, Ur-Zababa appoints Sargon as his cupbearer. Soon after this, Ur-Zababa invites Sargon to his chambers to discuss a dream of Sargon's, involving the favor of the goddess Inanna and the drowning of Ur-Zababa by the goddess. Deeply frightened, Ur-Zababa orders Sargon murdered by the hands of Beliš-tikal, the chief smith, but Inanna prevents it, demanding that Sargon stop at the gates because of his being "polluted with blood." When Sargon returns to Ur-Zababa, the king becomes frightened again, and decides to send Sargon to king Lugal-zage-si of Uruk with a message on a clay tablet asking him to slay Sargon. The legend breaks off at this point; presumably, the missing sections described how Sargon becomes king.
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Writing is undeniably one of humanity's most important inventions. The earliest forms of storing information on objects were numerical inscriptions on clay tablets, used for administration, accounting and trade. The first writing system dates back to around 3000 BC, when the Sumerians developed the first type script: hundreds of abbreviated pictograms that could be pressed into clay.
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Illustrations
