Sargon and the Dawn of Empire
For a millennium after the dawn of civilization, Mesopotamia was a land fragmented among nearly three dozen independent city-states, each with its own king, or ensi, who typically ruled over a territory only some 20 mile…
Sargon and the Dawn of Empire
For a millennium after the dawn of civilization, Mesopotamia was a land fragmented among nearly three dozen independent city-states, each with its own king, or ensi, who typically ruled over a territory only some 20 miles across. In such conditions, warfare was a regular part of life that exhausted the city-states, leaving them vulnerable. By about 2350 B.C., a slow process of consolidation had resulted in Lugalzaggesi of Umma acquiring hegemony over lower Mesopotamia. At that point, the figure known as Sargon appeared on the scene. Of humble origins, he made himself master of Kish and then crushed Lugalzaggesi. After founding a new capital at Akkad, during his 56- year reign he created history’s first empire, encompassing all of the Fertile Crescent as far west as the Mediterranean. His grandson, Naram-Sin, pushed the empire’s frontiers down the Persian Gulf and into eastern Anatolia. Though short-lived, the Akkadian empire left a memory of imperial glory that Mesopotamian rulers would long seek to emulate.
The Third Dynasty of Ur
After the collapse of the Akkadian empire, the Third Dynasty of Ur rose to power. Emerging at the end of the 3rd millennium B.C., it was the only imperial dynasty ever to arise in Sumeria. While the details of life in Ur III are abundantly documented, thanks to the recovery of hundreds of thousands of cuneiform texts, its historical narrative is less than clear. Its founder appears to have been Ur-Nammu, who, together with his son and successor, Shulgi, created an empire that was more compact than the Akkadian empire had been, comprising central and lower Mesopotamia. But it was far more centralized, with most aspects of economic activity planned and run by the state and managed by an
elaborate bureaucracy. Imperial administration was also centralized, with the empire divided into provinces run by royal governors. Intense centralization made the system fragile, though, and in the face of economic shocks, it collapsed after barely a century.
Robert L. Dise Jr. has taught at the University of Northern Iowa since 1992; prior to joining its faculty, he taught at Clinch Valley College (now the University of Virginia’s College at Wise). He received his B.A. in History from the University of Virginia (at Charlottesville), concentrating on the history of the ancient world, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, specializing in the history of Rome.
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