Akkadian Dynasty
The first king of the Akkadian Dynasty (Sargon I) united the whole of Mesopotamia under one ruler. Sargon and his descendants ruled from 2334 BC until around 2190 BC when the empire collapsed owing to invasion and rebellion.
Description:
The Akkadian Empire was centered in the city of Akkad and the surrounding region, uniting Semites and Sumerian speakers under one rule. During the 3rd millennium BCE, Akkadian gradually replaced Sumerian as the spoken language. The empire reached its political peak following the conquest of its ruler, Sargon of Akkad. It reached from the Levant to Elam. It was preceeded by the Early Dynastic Period and succeeded by the Guti Period. The main rulers were Sargon, Rimush, Manishtushu, and Naram-Sin. It has been suggested that the decline of the empire was due in part to climate change, with rapidly increasing aridity, which led to drought and the collapse of trade networks.
Ultra Low Chronology
Short/Low Chronology: 2230-2050
Middle Chronology: 2340-2154 BCE
Long/High Chronology:
Objects: Akkadian Dynasty Export: JSON - XML - CSV
Object | U Number | Museum Number (UPM Date Reg Number) | Museum Number (BM Registration Number) | Museum Number (UPM B-number) | Description (Catalog Card) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
206 | (none) | (none) | B14933 | Mace-head, Alabaster half of Decorated with rope moulding in relief & inscribed: [Annotated] "To Sin, Rimush king of the world, when he had overthrown Elam and Barahse dedicated this from the Elamite booty" Duplicate of an inscription found at Nippur on a vase. See SAKI p. 162 (c) Vase C. [Annotated] Phil Photo 15 [Annotated] Duplicates - 206 [Crossed out] U.236 | |
![]() | 221 | (none) | (none) | B14936 | Mace. Head. Fr. of, in green crystal, jade color. Inscribed. [Annotated] Dedication by a king, name broken, who smashed the head of Warka and Ur [Annotated] Copied and trans-literated. Placed in P.R. [Annotated] UR R1 6 |
![]() | 284 | (none) | (none) | B14937, B14937 | Broken mace head. Alabaster. Inscription. Only first line showing, reads "Naram"-(Sin?). Placed in IN/No. 1. |
![]() | 282 | (none) | (none) | B14951 | Fragment of stone vase. On side, decoration of concentric circles. On base, inscription, "(Na)ram-S(in)" |
![]() | 283 | (none) | (none) | B14952, B14952 | Fragment of stone vase. One side, decoration of concentric circles. On base ends of lines of a column of inscription. |
![]() | 6332 | (none) | (none) | B16208, B16208 | Alabaster cup with inscription. Fragment. To the god A-Si(g) (who pours/gives water) |
![]() | 6737 | (none) | (none) | B16210, B16210 | Fragment of steatite stamp for bricks. (E)-gu-bu?. About BC 2700. E. |
![]() | 6333 | (none) | (none) | B16518, B16518 | Fragment of alabaster vase of Rimush after plundering of (Bara)-ah-sumki and Elam. Cf. SAKI p. 162 (c) H.C. E. |
6612 | (none) | (none) | B16665 | Alabaster stela. Fragment: broken but complete. Lunar disk. Religious? Scene. Three figures only remain in relief on the left - shaven male figure, right arm extended, upper arm only remains. Lower part of body fragmentary. Figure is apparently in profile. Middle figure head lost: left arm mutilated and lower portion of dress lost: arms and apparently head in profile but body full face. Figure is clothed in flounced kaunakas skirt, 6 tiers of flounces showing. Dress covered upper arm but left forearm exposed. Left hand rests on chest, right arm held upright and hand lost. Behind, a clean shaven bald-headed male figure, 3/4 face, left arm held below breast; right arm bent at elbow and held upright carrying an object which may be a torch. Left hand holds a sword which runs diagonally across left side. Figure is apparently draped in a thin waist cloth, mutilated below waist. Typical Sumerian head. At back fragment of an inscription. | |
![]() | 6691 | (none) | (none) | B16682 | Stela. Blue grey. Fragment. Above: 3 male fig[ure]s in relief, body full face, head arms and legs in profile, clothed in flounced kaukanes sheep skin coats. Right hands over breast, heads turned to the left but faces are lost. Traces of finely cut hair on back of head of middle figure. Dress typically Sumerian. Below waist consists of 2 tiers of wide flounces, 6 pleats covering front of body. Above waist garment rendered by fine and numerous parallel wavy lines. Below the male figs is a second tier of female figures of which only 2 remain. Primitive inscription above heads. Female figs are in the same attitude as male; head in profile, body full face. Figs badly mutilated and lost below breast. Heads look to left, hands of first female crossed over breast, fingers pointing up to shoulders. Both shoulders covered by garment represented by fine wavy lines as on upper portion of male figs. Hair tucked up in a bunch round right ear and flowing down side. Traces of unsmoothed edges & holes indicate that outline of figs was made by a drill. cf. Stela of the Vultures Pre-Sargonid. Broken inscription: ...ka, he has filled abundantly, the Eanaka, he has replenished. H.C. Linear writing of Ur Nina of Lagash. (Found out of position). E. [A note appears on the back of the catalog card, writing largely illegible] |
10755 | (none) | (none) | B16922 | Gold Ribbon Coiled round forehead from ear to ear. Perforated at each end Narrower than usual | |
10743 | (none) | (none) | B16939 | Copper Bowl Hemispherical Type__ | |
9118 | (none) | (none) | B17010 | Copper tumbler Type XXVI. | |
9725 | (none) | (none) | B17018 | Copper Bowl Hemispherical Badly smashed, but in good condition; complete Type III | |
9560 | (none) | (none) | B17322 | Copper Spout? Shaped like a truncated cone Solid casting | |
11116 | (none) | (none) | B17339 | Copper Cauldron. Part of rim missing. Reed matting adheres in places to base and sides. Type II. | |
11121 | (none) | (none) | B17359 | Copper bowl. Hemispherical. [Type] III | |
8903 | (none) | (none) | B17404 | Copper bowl. Oval and once provided with a (wire?) handle: no base ring or flattening. Type LXIII. | |
![]() | 8987 | (none) | (none) | B17440 | Copper bowl Hemispherical Type III |
![]() | 8841 | (none) | (none) | B17441 | Copper bowl. Hemispherical. Small portion of body missing. Fairly thick copper. [drawing] |
9312 | (none) | (none) | B17450 | Copper tumbler Type XLIX. | |
10163 | (none) | (none) | B17531 | Copper Bowl Type LXXXIV | |
9662 | (none) | (none) | B17532 | Copper Bowl. Hemispherical. Type III | |
10761 | (none) | (none) | B17540 | Copper Bucket With copper ring handle XXIII New 46 | |
![]() | (none) | (none) | (none) | B17545 | (none) |
Related Terms
Ubaid - Uruk - Jemdat Nasr - Early Dynastic / Sumerian - Guti/Post Akkadian - Ur III - Old Babylonian - Middle Assyrian - Kassite - Neo-Assyrian - Neo-Babylonian - Achaemenid Empire (Persian) - Seleucid - Parthian