Overlords
Lugal Zage Si’s Third Dynasty of Uruk became the first-ever state to unite Sumerian city-states. Lugal Zage Si defeated other Sumerian princes and even the people outside of Sumer known as Semites, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf under one nation. However, Lugal Zage Si’s kingdom, despite its territorial powers in Sumer, is not called an empire because Lugal Zage Si’s dynasty lasted too short of a time to earn the title of an empire. Instead, the glory of the title of the first empire goes to the king of non-Sumer blood, Sargon the Great.
Numerous legends tell of Sargon’s birth. One particular legend tells of Sargon’s mother, who was a high priestess of Azupiranu. She gave birth to Sargon in secret, sealed him in a basket, and threw him to the Euphrates River. He floated down until a royal gardener of Kish named Akki found him. Akki, under the king’s permission, adopted Sargon, and Sargon grew up a strong man. Sargon became a cupbearer of the King. Being a cupbearer meant that The King of Kish trusted Sargon highly. However, Sargon allied with the court’s powerful men, betrayed the King of Kish and made himself the ruler. Sargon claimed that Ishtar, the goddess of love and sky, granted him her love, and therefore he seized the throne.
Sargon was now the King of Kish. After Sargon rose to power, he founded a new capital city, Agade, or Akkad, named after Akkadian People – the descent of the Semites. They shared a similar culture with the Sumerians but used the ancient Semitic language. By this era, Mesopotamia was not only the home of the dominant Sumerian people but also the home of Semitic and Aryan people. Especially the southern Mesopotamia was flooded with Akkadian people that it was later named the “land of Sumer and Akkad”. Many Mesopotamian inhabitants were bilingual, being able to speak both the Sumerian and Akkadian languages.
Building the Empire
Sargon’s enemy was Lugal Zage Si, the overlord of all Sumer. Lugal Zage Si’s capital city of Uruk was the most fortified city, surrounded by the great walls of Uruk. However, Lugal Zage Si faced the same fate he had given to the previous King of Lagash, Urukagina, as Sargon, Akkad king, demolished Uruk and captured Lugal Zage Si. Sargon’s kingdom absorbed the Sumerian territory of Lugal Zage Si, promoting his kingdom to an empire and Sargon as the world’s first emperor.
”Sargon, king of Akkad, overseer of Inanna, king of Kish, anointed of Anu, king of the land, governor of Enlil; he defeated the city of Uruk and tore down its walls, in the battle of Uruk he won, took Lugalzagesi king of Uruk in the course of the battle, and led him in a collar to the gate of Enlil.”
(Old Babylonian copy of Sargon Inscription from Nippur)
Sargon faced numerous rebellions from Sumerian cities who sought freedom and independence rather than to be enslaved by the new overlord. Sargon campaigned against those cities, enforced his new rule, and even expanded the empire by conquering foreign kingdoms outside of Mesopotamia. He invaded the neighboring states of Elam (ancient Persia) and vassalized major Elamite states such as Awan and Susa. Sargon’s campaign defeated 50 cities and expanded the reach of the empire up west to the Mediterranean Sea and down east to the Persian Gulf. Lullubi of Zagros Mountains, Hattian and Hurrian of Anatolia, Mari and Ebla of Syria, Amorite city-states, Dilmun and Canaan were all under Sargon’s sphere of influence.
What differentiated Sargon’s Akkadian Empire from previous Sumerian dynasties is multiethnicity. The dynasty of Lagash, Umma, and other Sumerian city-states was limited to Mesopotamia, and the majority of their population was composed of Sumerian people. However, thanks to extensive foreign conquests by Sargon, the Akkadian Empire became the first true empire composed of various ethnic groups, from Sumerians, Akkadians, Elamites, Levantines, and other Semitic and Aryan descents. Even the people from a distance, such as Meluhha (Indus valley civilization), Magan (ancient state located in the edge of the Arabian Peninsula), and Egypt, visited the empire.
Legacy of Sargon the Great
As the chapter of history moves from the founding of civilizations to the early dynastic period, Sumer was not the only state to develop into an empire. The Old Kingdom of Egypt, as old and as powerful as Sumerian dynasties, occupied Nile Delta in North Africa and extended its reach towards Central Africa following the Nile stream. Many other Semite and Elamite nations rose around Sumerian Mesopotamia, growing in power and prominence. A group of people called the Hurrians also settled right above Mesopotamia and built powerful kingdoms.
The rise of multiple territorial states during the early dynastic period generated chaos around the region. Sargon’s Akkadian Empire was the first-ever empire to overpower all surrounding civilizations and rise as the ancient world’s superpower.
To seize an empire with complete control, Sargon placed his most trustworthy generals in each provinces to look over them. Then, Sargon positioned Enheduana, his daughter, otherwise known as the world’s first female writer, an en (high priest or priestess) of goddess Ishtar in the city of Ur. Sargon stabilized his rule of Mesopotamia by seizing the two most significant values of Sumer: Religion and Military.
Sargon’s unprecedented power and legacy were envied by later kings of Mesopotamia who dreamed of building an empire like Sargon. Many later empires of Mesopotamia modeled themselves after Sargon’s empire. Rulers of Mesopotamia adopted Sargon’s foreign policies and military strategies to conquer nations outside Sumer. Even the two kings of the later Assyrian Empire, Sargon I and II, were named after Sargon the Great. In the Akkadian language, the name “Sargon” meant “legitimate king.” It is very self-explanatory of Sargon’s prestige.