The ruler of the state of Akkad, the ruler of the Sumerians, the ancestor of the dynasty of Akkadian kings. For a long time it was believed that this ancient ruler was legendary, but irrefutable evidence has emerged that Sargon actually lived. These proofs are the inscriptions of the ruler himself that have survived to this day. The biography of Sargon of Akkad will be presented to your attention in the article.
Childhood and adolescence
Where was Sargon of Akkad born? It is very difficult, if not impossible, to give an exact answer. It is worth trusting such a source as the poem "The Legend of Sargon". According to this poem, the birthplace of the future king is a city with the exotic name Azupiranu (this name is translated in two ways - the town of crocuses or the saffron town). Sargon's mother was a priestess of one of the temples, but absolutely nothing is known about his father, there are only guesses (Sargon himself contributed to this). Having secretly given birth to a child, the priestess placed him in a box of reeds, then threw the box into the turbulent waters of the Euphrates River.
Fortunately, the child was saved - a water carrier named Akkinoticed a reed box floating on the river, decided to find out what was in it. With the help of a hook, the water carrier picked up the box, dragged it to the shore and saw the baby. The water carrier raised the boy as his own son. The legend also says that Sargon served as a gardener and cup-bearer at the court of King Ur-Zababa, the ruler of the city-state of Kish.
Foundation of the Kingdom of Akkad
When the city-state was defeated by the troops of King Lugalzagesi, the grown-up Sargon thought that it was time to create his own kingdom. Thinking about where exactly the capital of the state should be, Sargon concluded that this required not a city with rich traditions like Kish, but the almost unknown city of Akkad. Almost nothing is known about this city, because no ruins have been found (if ruins were found, there would be evidence).
And since there are no ruins, it remains to trust the written sources. According to some sources, the city of Akkad was located near Kish. The literary source claims that Akkad was in the vicinity of Babylon. It is difficult to say which of the sources is more truthful. One can only confidently conclude that the capital of the kingdom of Sargon was located in one of the districts of the nome (that is, the city-state) Sippar. The area adjacent to the city was named Akkad, and the East Semitic language was named Akkadian. The king named the capital of his kingdom in honor of his adoptive father.
The reign of Sargon began in 2316 BC. The reign was very long - 55 years.
If the school beforestudents will be tasked with describing the campaigns of Sargon of Akkad, using the names of historical regions in the story, then this will not be very easy to do. The following information will help them with this.
The first campaigns of Sargon
So the reign has begun. It was necessary to solve two tasks - to defeat dangerous neighbors, and first of all - Lugalzagesi, as well as to seize strategically important lands. First, Sargon organized a military campaign that ended with the capture of two strategically important places. The first of them is the city-state of Mari, as a result of its capture, access to the mines of Asia Minor appeared. The second of the captured places is the city of Tuttul, standing on the Euphrates River, also known as the "Gate to the Upper Kingdom" (today's name of the city is Hit).
The northwest was conquered, strategically important lands fell into the hands of King Sargon. After this success, it was possible to tackle another important task - the elimination of a dangerous southern neighbor. Having gathered a strong army, the king began a military campaign against Lugalzagesi. A battle broke out in the vicinity of the city of Uruk. Sargon was better prepared for the battle, so the battle quickly ended with the defeat of Lugalzagesi and his ensi allies. After the victory, the city of Uruk was ravaged and its walls were destroyed. The fate of the king, who at one time ruined the city-state of Kish, was sad: it is believed that he was executed on the orders of Sargon (revenge for an old insult, not otherwise).
A year later hostilities flared up again, only this time it was not Sargon who went to war against the enemy, but, on the contrary, fought offenemy attack. The southern ensi were unwilling to accept their defeat at the Battle of Uruk and united under the command of the ruler of the city-state of Ur. However, the battle ended with a new defeat for the Ensi. Sargon went on the offensive, captured the city-states of Ur, Umma, Lagash and reached the shores of the Persian Gulf (in those days the bay was called the Lower Sea). The result of two campaigns - in the power of the king from Akkad were all the Sumerian lands lying between the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea (then called the Upper Sea) and the Persian Gulf.
For everyone to see who became the ruler of Sumer, Sargon of Akkad washed his weapons in the Persian Gulf. It was the washing of weapons in the waters of the so-called Lower Sea that became the tradition of all Sumerian monarchs who ruled after Sargon.
What happened to the rulers of the three city-states? The fate of those who ruled Ur and Lagash remains unknown - whether they were executed or went missing. With the ruler of Ummu, Sargon acted normally - this emsi became a prisoner (it's good that he was not executed, he was lucky). The cities are clear: their walls have been removed.
The cuneiform records of King Sargon say that there were 34 battles during the campaigns to the south and northwest. The restoration of the city of Kish is also mentioned.
New trip to the northwest
After strengthening positions in Southern Mesopotamia, in the state of Sumer, the restoration of the city of Kish (it was there that the king spent his childhood and youth), it's time to go on a campaign to Asia Minor again. Results of the previous tripturned out to be fragile, and the state needed high-quality wood and metal. The major city of Mari was captured and then destroyed.
The tsar's troops managed to capture two important sources of raw materials - the Lebanese mountains, famous for their magnificent cedar wood, and the highlands of Taurus Minor, famous for silver mines. The result of the campaign: both metal and wood were freely delivered to Akkad and Sumer.
Cuneiform tablets with the records of the king himself are the only reliable source of information. In later times, numerous legends began to form around the military campaigns of Sargon. Distinguishing fictitious details from real ones is very difficult, only archeological research can refute, for example, the legend of the conquest of the island of Cyprus and the island of Crete.
Trips to Elam and Mesopotamia
As the story tells us, Sargon of Akkad, having become the ruler of the north, west and south, decided to continue successful campaigns. This time, the powerful king organizes a military campaign to the east, to northern Mesopotamia and the state of Elam. The military campaign ended in another triumph - part of the lands lying in the vicinity of the Tigris River became the regions of the Akkadian kingdom, while part of the states, including Elam, recognized the authority of Sargon and became vassal lands.
Is there any evidence that King Sargon of Akkad during his reign was able to subjugate Northern Mesopotamia? There is. First, the Akkadian cuneiform tablets testify to this, for they appeared during the reign of Sargon. Secondproof - in the same period, a bronze image of the head of Sargon of Akkad appears in the Nineveh region.
After the conquest of Northern Mesopotamia and Elam, Sargon of Akkad became the king of the four cardinal directions.
Secrets of Sargon's military success
Why did the founder of the Akkadian kingdom manage to conquer the lands to the north, west, south and east of his state? How did Sargon of Akkad manage to become the king of the four corners of the world? After all, his opponents were no less sophisticated in military affairs.
To answer these questions, you need to look at the differences in the military tactics of opponents. On whom could the Sumerian rulers of the city-states (these rulers were also called lugals) rely? For a mercenary army. But that's not all. A mercenary army can be numerous, well trained, but what weapons it uses is another matter.
Interestingly, in Sumer there was simply no suitable wood for making excellent combat bows. Because of this, the Lugals decided that small arms were simply not needed, and decided to rely on hand-to-hand combat. Detachments of warriors with shields and detachments of soldiers armed with spears moved in close formation. The speed of their movement was not very high, agility is not very high. These shortcomings were revealed precisely in a collision with the army of the king from Akkad.
And what army did Sargon recruit? On the one hand, the king Sargon of Akkad had a standing army, quite numerous - there were 5400 soldiers in the army, and the army was fed at the expense ofthe ruler himself. On the other hand, the king had an additional trump card - volunteer militias. Numerous detachments were obtained, but how did you manage to use these trump cards? All the s alt is in arms. It was not for nothing that the king headed northwest before going to Sumer: having captured strategically important places, he gained access to yew trees or thickets of wild hazel. From this wood magnificent bows were obtained. It is also possible that the so-called glued bow could have been invented.
Sargon the Ancient of Akkad did not refuse hand-to-hand combat tactics, but at the same time he developed another tactic: a bet on a horde of archers attacking either in a wide chain or in all directions. During the campaign against Lugalzagesi, the Akkadian king used both types of troops: for hand-to-hand combat and for shooting from a distance. Archers bombarded squads of warriors with shields or spears with a cloud of arrows, while not engaging in hand-to-hand combat. As soon as the formation of the enemy troops broke down, fighters from the regular army of Sargon attacked the enemy and smashed him.
It turned out an interesting picture: both warring parties had warriors - masters of hand-to-hand combat, and archers - only the lord of the kingdom of Akkade. The result is devastating victories over the Sumerian troops.
Establishment of the state, religion
The founder of the Akkadian dynasty of kings created a state where the economy of the ruler himself and the economy of the temples were one. Sargon was one of the first rulers to experiment with a centralized type of state. In this kingdom, the organs of self-government were turned intograssroots type of administration, and the place of well-born influential aristocrats was taken by tsarist bureaucrats of humble origin.
For the ruler of a large country, which included the entire territory of Sumer, it was necessary to justify the legitimacy of his power with the help of religion. Sargon relied on several cults: the god Zababa, the ancestral cult of the god Aba, and the cult of the god Enlil (the supreme deity for all of Sumer). It is worth noting a very remarkable fact: the ruler of Akkad founded an unusual tradition, according to which the eldest daughter of the ruler should be a priestess of the moon god.
In later times, the priests of Babylon spread many unreliable rumors related to Sargon's alleged spitting on the gods. One of these myths (in the worst sense of the word) said that in order to build a suburb of Akkad, the king needed to destroy the brick structures of Babylon. This contradicts the facts: in those years, Babylon was a minor, and even a third-rate city of Sumer.
Rebellions against the king
At the end of the reign of the first king of the Akkadian dynasty, serious problems began in the state. The main troublemakers were influential noble aristocrats - and it is not surprising, because they were pushed aside from power, replacing them with inferior bureaucrats.
The real threat to the state was a rebellion led by Kashtambila, the ruler of the city of Kazallu. Sargon managed to defeat the rebels, the city of Kazallu was captured and destroyed.
But this rebellion was only innocent flowers, ahead were those berries - well-born aristocrats of everythingkingdoms conspired against the ruler. To save himself from reprisal, the king was forced to hide. True, a little later, Sargon the Ancient of Akkad managed to gather loyal comrades-in-arms and, with their help, defeat the rebellious nobility.
As if these misfortunes were not enough, so in 2261 BC a new misfortune struck - a famine in the southern part of Mesopotamia, which became a convenient pretext for a new rebellion of the aristocracy. During the suppression of the rebellion, the king died before completing his plan.
Surviving images of Sargon
The photo of Sargon of Akkad, of course, could not be preserved. There are only three images that can be associated with the ruler of Akkad. The stele from Susa, discovered by French archaeologists, has survived in only two parts. Due to severe damage from the figure of the king himself, only fragments of arms and legs remained, and therefore it is very difficult to prove that this is really a stele dedicated to the ruler.
Another stele, again found by the French, has been preserved in a three-tier version. On the middle tier, images of warriors and the lord of Akkade himself are clearly visible. It is this image, according to most experts in archeology, an authentic portrait of Sargon of Akkad.
The most famous image is the head of Sargon of Akkad, this image was found by British archaeologists during excavations of one of the temples of Nineveh. It was these archaeologists who gave the name "Head of Sargon" to the artifact. True, many experts dispute this: in their opinion, the image is associated not with the ancestor of the Akkadian kings, but with one of the rulersthis dynasty.
Sargon of Akkad and Moses
What is the connection between these individuals who lived at different times and did not meet each other? It turns out that all the s alt is in the legends. According to legend, the baby, the future king of Akkad, was placed in a wicker reed basket and launched into the river, and later rescued by a water carrier. So, an extremely similar legend is associated with another real-life celebrity - Moses.