Sumerian Renaissance
Mesopotamia was cast into chaos after the fall of the Akkadian dynasty. The sovereignty of lands passed on to the Gutian invaders who were on the frontier to destroy the Akkadian supremacy. Other powerful city-states such as Lagash and Uruk also rivaled for dominance, and more than twenty kings rose and fell during the power struggle.
By the late 22nd century BCE, Utu-Hengal, the Sumerian prince of Uruk, drove foreign invaders out of Sumer and established Uruk among other rivaling city-states. Utu-Hengal ruled for seven years, and Ur-Nammu succeeded him. Ur-Nammu was the son-in-law and the governor of Ur under Utu-Hengal. Utu-Hengal drowned while fishing, and Ur-Nammu effectively exploited his authority as governor of Ur to take over his predecessor’s conquest and occupied further landmass previously reigned by the Akkadian Empire, proclaiming the Third dynasty of Ur (also called “Ur III”).
Ur-Nammu sought to focus on the internal affairs of the empire to solidify his rule. As Urukagina reformed Lagash to stabilize the city, Ur-Nammu created a codex of 57 rules and bound Sumer into order once again. Only the prologue and 30 rules among 57 are translated by now, but it seems clear this legal paper has been somewhat of a template for legislators past Ur-Nammu to look on. Law is written in conditional statements (If –, then-). Unless the crime involved serious violence, the perpetrator compensated the victim with money and underwent imprisonment for most cases.
Ur-Nammu Yasasi
Ur-Nammu is best known as the first legislator, but his feats on conquest and infrastructure are not to be unreckoned with. Ur-Nammu expanded its reach beyond Sumer by conquering Elam and Gutium. Ur-Nammu built roads and boosted the economy by reestablishing commerce with neighboring nations. Ur-Nammu also built numerous temples and other facilities. The period under the Third Dynasty of Ur is called the Sumerian Renaissance, named after the resurgence of Sumerian culture lost by barbarian incursions. The Great Ziggurat of Ur is one of the signature buildings established during the Sumerian Renaissance under Ur-Nammu.
Old Assyria
The Third Dynasty of Ur thrived under Ur-Nammu and his successors, which leads to Shulgi – Amar-Sin – Shu-Sin. Those three kings followed Ur-Nammu in the expansion of territory and investment in culture. Ibbi Sin, son of Shu-Sin, also raised campaigns against the neighboring nation of Elam to follow Ur III’s warlike legacy. The difference was, Ibbi-Sin’s campaign was not as successful as those of his predecessors. Ur failed to defeat Elam and was devastated by a counter strike from the Susa-Elam alliance. Ibbi-Sin himself was captured by an Elamite lord named Kindattu, marking the end of the dynasty as dominance over Sumer passed on from Ur III to Elam and other Semitic foreigners known as the Amorites.
Sometime after the fall of the Ur III, an Amorite prince named Shamshi-Adad I inherited the throne in the city of Ekallatum. Assur was Ekallatum’s threatening neighbor, and since the fall of capital power, Assur has been standing out as a new powerhouse among Sumer, also called the Old (first) Assyrian Empire. The Assyrian Empire conquered Ekallatum, and Shamshi-Adad was exiled to the south of Mesopotamia in the city of Babylon. Shamshi-Adad’s exile lasted until the death of the king of Assur. Shamshi-Adad returned to Ekallatum and regained its throne. His return did not end with Ekallatum as he also conquered Assur and earned the title “Usurper.”
The Usurper from Ekallatum faced inevitable resistance from native Assyrians, so he proclaimed that he is the successor of old Assyrian lineage, as much the same cliché with kings of Ur III who claimed to be the successor and protector of the old Akkadian legacy. While often overused, it did not take long for Assyrians to welcome the usurper as their legitimate king and support his military campaign.
Shamshi-Adad I and his two sons went into battle against neighboring Sumerian city-states, especially in the northern areas. His army terrorized every city against his ways, and some cities feared Shamshi-Adad so much that they surrendered to Shamshi-Adad even before his arrival. Terror was his weapon and his empire grew more fearsome. Every time Shamshi-Adad conquered a new city, he placed his sons to govern the following city. Shamshi-Adad soon annexed the whole northern part of Mesopotamia and Anatolia into his Assyrian Empire. Shamshi-Adad’s Assyrian Empire is also called the Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia.
Shamshi-Adad built temples in the city of Assur. Shamshi-Adad adopted a culture of apotheosis from previous Sumero-Akkadian emperors and gave himself the title, “King of the Universe.” Shamshi-Adad paid tribute to the goddess Ishtar and god Assur (the city Assur derives its name from the god Assur, who embodies the city). Shamshi-Adad wanted deities to support his campaign, so the temples and ziggurats of the Shamshi-Adad’s Assyrian Empire were lavishly decorated.
Shamshi-Adad held absolute power over the northern area, but his influence was overarching through the whole of Mesopotamia. Shamshi-Adad was a cruel leader, and he killed anyone who fought against him. His reign of terror prevented people from disobeying his rules. However, while terror allowed Shamshi-Adad to hold the empire together through absolute power, the empire eroded soon enough. Is terror the best way to control the empire? Perhaps, as terror enabled Shamshi-Adad to rise from a captive in exile and become the emperor, but “the history is the graveyard of aristocracies” (Vilfredo Pareto) and history presents an antithesis of Shamshi-Adad in the far south at the city of Babylon when another Amorite lord named Hammurabi encompass Mesopotamia from Shamshi-Adad with diplomacy and embracement, not terror.