Analysis of The Akkadian Empire Under Sargon Reign

The Akkadian empire was an empire that existed from about 2350 to 2100 BCE. It was controlled and headed by the great Sargon of Akkad. The emperor would go on to create the world’s first empire, his rule, along with achievements for the empire would go on to signify his importance, and why the empire became so successful. In class, we have discussed about Akkad and what made him successful. Looking at history, we see that Akkad was mostly a man of independence, as he was able to unify the citizens of the state under one ideology. But before we dive into his reign as a king, a little background for Sargon.

Sargon was the son of La'ibum, a possible former ruler himself. After being given up by his family, Sargon was then taken in by a King of kish, where he grew up by his side, learning all of the methods on becoming a king and soon after, he was crowned king and immediately set upon his conquest. Sargon first started his campaign by invading Syria and Canaan, he also invaded countries west in Mesopotamia. Following his victories, statues were created in his name on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Cities and palaces were also constructed in his empire. Roads were also built which connected the empire together, named after Sargon of course. The management of the empire is where is gets tricky, as we are not sure yet which style had more influence for the leaders after his reign. The management in Sargon’s empire consisted of four spheres, political, economic, religious and military. Each of these had substantial success in the empire, with military being the most successful. In fact, we have scripts from the kings stating that the reason for their rule was sanctioned by the Mesopotamia gods. There is paintings that depict the Sargonic kings as commanders in chief of the armies. We also have documents showing that when the kings set out expeditions, the local ruler provided them with food and accommodated them. We can assume that Sargon was respected for his ability to rule or maybe the ruler did this in fear that his city might be taken if he was not welcoming to the passing kings. Sargon took great pride in his military, we have many stories detailing the accounts of his soldiers and the expeditions they took. Sargon took great care of his soldiers by ensuring they were well armed. Spears, along with bows and arrows were given to the tactical units Armor was given to the soldiers when necessary. A special weapon was reserved for kings, called the mace. This was a weapon that was made of stone and wood, with the blade being made out of copper, bronze or a combination of both. From this information, we can see that Sargon took his military matters very seriously.

Politics were closely related to military matters. Most city rulers were forced into position, meaning that a lot of them were locals to the empire. As a way of getting citizens to follow his political rule, Sargon ordered the destruction of walls, quartering of soldiers, forcing citizens to supply the crown and the military with goods, payment of tribute and building royal statues in conquered areas, and much more. When land was acquired by a king on his expeditions, it was presumably given to Sargon. As we can see, Sargon had no problem mixing in politics with military practice, it can be argued that Sargon used the military so much because he valued strength and saw it as the primary way to function the empire. The military was not the only achievement of the empire though, agriculture played a big a part in the development of the empire. There records that show people were given control over a certain part of the land or field. The lands were used for cultivation and harvest, providing food for the empire. For the communities, individual families distributed the tasks, risks, labor and food from cultivation. In this view, we see that Sargon operated his field much like a village would do with their farms.

The lands were managed by city rulers, who had owners sign a lease, and had a portion of their harvest, along with some cash paid to the city rulers. There was, of course, lands given specifically to Sargon and his members of the crown. Whether or not Sargon himself paid the workers fairly for their work remains to be a mystery. One of the more striking features of Sargon is even after his death, his policies and rules were still in effect and had huge impact on the way his son, Rimish ruled over the empire. At the Beginning of his rule, Rimish encountered a strong rebellion from the citizens and spent years trying to quell the protests. He was eventually able to quell the protest and began to instill his rule, following in his father’s footsteps, he valued the military as a important piece to the functioning of an empire. Given, that he had to previously quell an uprising, it’s no surprise why he thinks this.

Sadly, his death came too soon. After only nine as ruler, he suffered an unsuspecting death, (the cause of his death remains a mystery). Other rulers came after him, with the only real successful one being Naram-Sin. During his reign, he expanded the empire, increased trade, kept order within the empire and campaigned with his army on expeditions. Naram also had an impressive 36 year reign, being only second to Sargon. Sadly, he too would fall, leaving the empire to Sha-Kali who had trouble from the very beginning, as he lacked the ability to maintain control of the population. His main problem was not being able to protect his empire from the anarchy within. There is still debate on whether or not his expeditions to bring other cities under control had any success. While it is debatable, I would argue that Sargon was a slightly more successful ruler than Naram. Sargon was the original ruler and established the laws of the empire, ones that would inspire other kings. He also ruled for longer than any other king, his reign lasted for 50-60years. He also placed much value on the military and why they were needed in order to maintain order.