Akkad

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Akkad

Akkad (ăˈkăd, äˈkäd), ancient region of Mesopotamia, occupying the northern part of later Babylonia. The southern part was Sumer. In both regions city-states had begun to appear in the 4th millennium B.C. In Akkad a Semitic language, Akkadian, was spoken. Akkad flourished after Sargon began (c.2340 B.C.) to spread wide his conquests, which ranged from his capital, Agade, also known as Akkad, to the Mediterranean shores. He united city-states into a vast organized empire. Furthermore, he was overlord of all the petty states of Sumer and Akkad, as were his successors, most notably Naramsin. The merit of Sargonic art can be seen in the stele of Naramsin. The naturalistic sculpture, depicting a wide range of mythological scenes, reflected a high achievement in glyptic art. After more than a century the empire declined and was overrun by mountain tribes. When the Akkadian empire had fallen, Mesopotamia was in chaos. Peace was maintained only in the south in the city-state of Lagash under Gudea. Lagash was later absorbed by the 3d dynasty of Ur, which governed both Akkad and Sumer. Toward the end of the 3d millennium Elam took over most of the power as a new wave of Semitic-speaking peoples entered Mesopotamia. It was by defeating the Elamites that Hammurabi was able to create Babylonia. The name Akkad also appears as Accad.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Akkad

(Agade), an ancient city—later also a province—in the north of southern Mesopotamia, near Sippar (present-day Abu Habba, southwest of Baghdad; its exact location is not known. Akkad was one of the oldest centers of the Semitic population of Babylonia. In about 2300 B.C. it became the capital of the huge empire of Sargon the Ancient (of Akkad). The name of the city of Akkad was later extended to the whole northern region of southern Mesopotamia. Because of its location in the narrowest part of Mesopotamia, Akkad became a juncture of river and caravan trade routes leading from north to south (from Armenia to the Persian Gulf) and from east to west (from the Iran Plateau to the Mediterranean and Asia Minor). In about 2200 B.C. it was subjugated by the Guti. Subsequently Akkad lost its importance and Babylon became the main center of southern Mesopotamia. A few works of Akkad art from the 23rd century B.C. have been preserved: stone stelae of the kings Sargon and Naram-Sin with low reliefs representing military scenes, a bronze head of a ruler of Nineveh, and cylindrical seals with hunting scenes. The ruins of the Eshnunna group of palaces (present-day Tell-Asmar) attest to a high level of construction.

L. A. LIPIN

Akkad

, Accad

1. a city on the Euphrates in N Babylonia, the centre of a major empire and civilization (2360--2180 bc)

2. an ancient region lying north of Babylon, from which the Akkadian language and culture is named