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A history of ancient Akkad (Akkadians) from its rise to fall including its kings, cities, laws and contributions to civilization Care to express an opinion on a current or past historical event? Need to ask a question from our many visitors? Just visit our Forum and leave your message. The Akkadians were a Semitic people living on the Arabic peninsula during the great flourishing period of the Sumerian city-states. Although we don't know much about early Akkadian history and culture, we do know that as the Akkadians migrated north, they came in increasing conflict with the Sumerian city-states, and in 2340 BC, the great Akkadian military leader, Sargon, conquered Sumer and built an Akkadian empire stretching over most of the Sumerian city-states and extending as far away as Lebanon. Sargon based his empire in the city of Akkad, which became the basis of the name of his people. This great capital of the largest empire humans had ever seen up until that point later became the city of Babylon, which was the commercial and cultural center of the middle east for almost two thousand years. |
The Akkadians Portions of this work contributed by Robert A. Guisepi and F. Roy Williams, University of California
Akkad and the Arts Akkadian period Sargon of Akkad's (reigned
c. 2334-c. 2279 BC) unification of the Sumerian city-states and creation of a
first Mesopotamian empire profoundly affected the art of his people, as well as
their language and political thought. The increasingly large proportion of
Semitic elements in the population were in the ascendancy, and their personal
loyalty to Sargon and his successors replaced the regional patriotism of the old
cities. The new conception of kingship thus engendered is reflected in artworks
of secular grandeur, unprecedented in the god-fearing world of the Sumerians. Architecture One would indeed expect a
similar change to be apparent in the character of contemporary architecture, and
the fact that this is not so may be due to the paucity of excavated examples. It
is known that the Sargonid dynasty had a hand in the reconstruction and
extension of many Sumerian temples (for example, at Nippur) and that they built
palaces with practical amenities (Tall al-Asmar) and powerful fortresses on
their lines of imperial communication (Tell Brak, or Tall Birak at-Tahtani,
Syria). The ruins of their buildings, however, are insufficient to suggest
either changes in architectural style or structural innovations. Sculpture Two notable heads of
Akkadian statues have survived: one in bronze and the other of stone. The bronze
head of a king, wearing the wig-helmet of the old Sumerian rulers, is probably
Sargon himself (Iraqi Museum). Though lacking its inlaid eyes and slightly
damaged elsewhere, this head is rightly considered one of the great masterpieces
of ancient art. The Akkadian head (Iraqi Museum) in stone, from Bismayah, Iraq
(ancient Adab), suggests that portraiture in materials other than bronze had
also progressed. Where relief sculpture is
concerned, an even greater accomplishment is evident in the famous Naram-Sin
(Sargon's grandson) stela (Louvre), on which a pattern of figures is ingeniously
designed to express the abstract idea of conquest. Other stelae and the rock
reliefs (which by their geographic situation bear witness to the extent of
Akkadian conquest) show the carving of the period to be in the hands of less
competent artists. Yet two striking fragments in the Iraqi Museum, which were
found in the region of An-Nasiriyah, Iraq, once more provide evidence of the
improvement in design and craftsmanship that had taken place since the days of
the Sumerian dynasties. One of the fragments shows a procession of naked war
prisoners, in which the anatomic details are well observed but skillfully
subordinated to the rhythmical pattern required by the subject. Some compensation for the
paucity of surviving Akkadian sculptures is to be found in the varied and
plentiful repertoire of contemporary cylinder seals. The Akkadian seal cutter's
craft reached a standard of perfection virtually unrivaled in later times. Where
the aim of his Sumerian predecessor had been to produce an uninterrupted,
closely woven design, the Akkadian seal cutter's own preference was for clarity
in the arrangement of a number of carefully spaced figures. The Akkadian dynasty ended
in disaster when the river valley was overrun by the mountain tribes of northern
Iran. Of all the Mesopotamian cities, only Lagash appears somehow to have
remained aloof from the conflict and, under its famous governor Gudea, to have
successfully maintained the continuity of the Mesopotamian cultural tradition.
In particular, the sculpture dating from this short interregnum (c. 2100 BC)
seems to represent some sort of posthumous flowering of Sumerian genius. The
well-known group of statues of the governor and other notables, discovered at
the end of the 19th century, long remained the only criterion by which Sumerian
art could be judged, and examples in the Louvre and British Museum are still
greatly admired. The hard stone, usually diorite, is carved with obvious mastery
and brought to a fine finish. Details are cleverly stylized, but the musculature
is carefully studied, and the high quality of the carving makes the use of inlay
unnecessary. The powerful impression of serene authority that these statues
convey justifies their inclusion among the finest products of ancient Middle
Eastern art. Main Page |