Sargon of Akkad

Summary

Summary of "The Ancients" Episode: Sargon of Akkad

Hosted by Tristan Hughes and Featuring Dr. Paul Collins

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Introduction

In the January 12, 2025 episode of "The Ancients", host Tristan Hughes delves into the enigmatic life and enduring legacy of Sargon of Akkad, often hailed as the world's first empire builder. Joined by Dr. Paul Collins, Assistant Keeper of Later Mesopotamia at the British Museum, the episode explores the rise, reign, and aftermath of one of history's earliest recognizable rulers.

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Historical Context and Background

Sargon of Akkad emerged in the second half of the third millennium B.C. (approximately 2330 B.C.) within the fertile plains of southern Mesopotamia, present-day Iraq. This region, crisscrossed by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, was part of the Fertile Crescent, a cradle for early civilizations and significant urban development.

Enheduanna (04:18): "Sargon of Akkad belongs to a period when the vast alluvial plains of southern Mesopotamia... were divided between city-states."

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Sources and Evidence

Our understanding of Sargon primarily stems from fragmentary archaeological evidence, including cuneiform inscriptions on clay tablets and a handful of stone monuments bearing his name. Much of his story is reconstructed from later texts, which often blur the lines between historical fact and legend.

Dr. Paul Collins (07:46): "Sargon is known to us really from very, very fragmentary evidence from early on."

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Rise to Power

Sargon's ascent began in the influential city-state of Kish, a major political center near modern-day Baghdad. Although details about his early life remain obscure, evidence suggests that Sargon may have been a commoner who seized power, rather than being born into royalty.

Enheduanna (12:25): "He probably was a commoner... adopts the throne name... suggesting that perhaps he wasn't [from the royal family]."

Utilizing strategic alliances and military prowess, Sargon amassed enough support to challenge and overthrow the existing ruler of Kish, establishing his authority and laying the foundation for his burgeoning empire.

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Military Conquests and Empire Building

Sargon's military campaigns were extensive, extending north to modern-day Syria and south to the Persian Gulf. His conquests unified the fragmented city-states of southern Mesopotamia, effectively creating the Akkadian Empire. This unification was unprecedented, bringing together diverse regions under a centralized rule for the first time.

Enheduanna (16:05): "He marches both north up the Euphrates to places like Mari... and south to the Persian Gulf."

Despite these achievements, Sargon's empire faced continuous rebellions, indicating underlying instability within this vast political structure.

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Administration and Governance

At the heart of Sargon's administration was his new capital, Agade (Akkad). Although its exact location remains archaeologically elusive, Agade served as the central hub from which Sargon governed his extensive empire. The administration heavily relied on scribes and administrative officials to manage resources, taxation, and military logistics.

Enheduanna (23:01): "The empire is held together by brute strength."

Sargon also introduced the use of Akkadian, a Semitic language, for administrative purposes, shifting away from the traditional Sumerian and laying the groundwork for future bureaucratic practices in the region.

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Cultural and Religious Influence

Religion played a pivotal role in legitimizing Sargon's rule. Temples dedicated to deities like Ishtar, the goddess of battle and sexuality, were integral to maintaining divine support for the monarchy. Sargon's daughter, Enheduanna, served as the high priestess of the moon god Nanna at Ur, underscoring the intertwining of political power and religious authority.

Enheduanna (31:26): "Ishtar... was one of the most important goddesses for the Agade dynasty."

Art and architecture flourished under Sargon's reign, with the Akkadian period being marked by refined and sophisticated artistic achievements. Iconic pieces, such as the bronze head from antiquity, exemplify the era's artistic legacy, although most of these works were commissioned by his successors.

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Succession and Decline

Sargon's succession passed to his sons, Rimush and Manishtushu, and later to his grandson, Naram Sin, who was eventually deified. Each successor continued to expand the empire but also faced persistent rebellions from rival city-states, highlighting the empire's inherent fragility.

Dr. Paul Collins (42:16): "Under Naram Sin, perhaps the greatest of these Agade rulers... a great rebellion occurred."

The collapse of the Akkadian Empire is often attributed to these internal conflicts and possibly to overextension, leading to its eventual fragmentation back into city-states.

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Legacy and Historical Significance

Sargon's legacy as an early empire builder is both significant and debated. While some argue that true centralized empires emerged later with the Assyrians, Sargon's efforts in unifying Mesopotamia laid foundational principles for future empires, including administrative centralization and standardized taxation systems.

Enheduanna (45:02): "The idea of a centralized single political center... are the messages that are carried into the future."

Although his name faded over millennia, modern archaeological endeavors continue to seek more evidence about his reign, with potential discoveries poised to further illuminate his contributions to ancient history.

Enheduanna (47:25): "It's almost certain we'll be finding more material about Sargon from excavations in Mesopotamia."

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Notable Quotes

• Dr. Paul Collins (07:46): "Sargon is known to us really from very, very fragmentary evidence from early on."

• Enheduanna (12:25): "He probably was a commoner... adopts the throne name... suggesting that perhaps he wasn't [from the royal family]."

• Enheduanna (23:01): "The empire is held together by brute strength."

• Dr. Paul Collins (42:16): "Under Naram Sin, perhaps the greatest of these Agade rulers... a great rebellion occurred."

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Conclusion

The episode of "The Ancients" offers a comprehensive exploration of Sargon of Akkad, painting a vivid picture of his rise, governance, and the eventual decline of his empire. Through expert insights and engaging discussions, listeners gain a nuanced understanding of how Sargon's actions set precedents for future empires and left an indelible mark on the tapestry of ancient history.

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Transcript

[Tristan Hughes]

Hi, I'm Tristan Hughes and if you would like the Ancients ad free, get early access and bonus episodes. Sign up to History Hit with the History Hit subscription. You can also watch hundreds of hours of original documentaries, including my recent documentary.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

All About Petra and the Nabateans, and enjoy a new release every week.

[Tristan Hughes]

Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com subscribe.

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That's S L E E P in all caps.

[Tristan Hughes]

Sleep well, my friends. He's one of the earliest recognizable names from history, a warlord who lived more than 4,000 years ago and forged what some have argued was the world's first empire. He was a king who became revered by later generations in ancient Mesopotamia in the area of modern day Iraq, with his story becoming mythologized with great legends for almost every aspect of his life. And yet the real story of Sargon of Akkad remains steeped in mystery down to the present day.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

It's the ancients on History hit.

[Tristan Hughes]

I'm Tristan Hughes, your host, and in today's episode where we're exploring the story of Sargon of Akkadian, the founder and first ruler of the Akkadian Empire, back in the third millennium B.C. to talk through his life and the.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

Evidence we have surviving for him, I.

[Tristan Hughes]

Was delighted to interview a good friend of mine and an esteemed Assyriologist who has been on the podcast several times over the past few years, covering everything from the Sumerians to Uruk to Nineveh. I am of course talking about Dr. Paul Collins, Assistant Keeper of later Mesopotamia in the Department of Middle east at the British Museum. My producer Joseph and I, we headed to Paul's office at the British Museum just before Christmas to record this episode.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

And I really do hope you enjoy. Paul, welcome back. It is always a pleasure to have you on the podcast.

[Enheduanna]

Thank you very much. Thrilled to be back.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

And we're doing it once again in your lovely office in the British Museum. And Sargon of Akkad, this feels like one of the first big names we have from written history.

[Enheduanna]

Well, it is a big name and it's a big name in antiquity that was certainly considered. He was considered to be someone very special in ancient Mesopotamia itself. And in a way, his legacy continues. The rediscovery of Sargon through the texts and some monuments have transported him into sort of superstar status in this period as well.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

Just get a bit of a superstar status and we'll kind of explore that, especially when we get to the sources very quickly. But I mean, first of all, context, how far back are we going with the story of Sargon?

[Enheduanna]

So Sargon can be dated to the second half of the third millennium BC so approximately 2330.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

So over 4000 years ago. From the surviving archaeology, can we date it quite precisely when he's about in that millennium?

[Enheduanna]

Yes, we can date him based on king lists to approximately 2330 B.C. thereabouts.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

And whereabouts are we talking with Sargon's story? I mean, the whole region of Mesopotamia, it feels such a vast region.

[Enheduanna]

So Mesopotamia, of course, is modern day Iraq, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates river. And Sargon's power base was in the center of Mesopotamia, effectively where the modern capital of Iraq, Baghdad, is located. That's where he has his origins.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

And this is geographically. So with those two rivers there, I'm guessing very fertile lands, you know, kind of known as part of the, like that Fertile Crescent, early farming and so on. This feels it's an ideal place where you see these extraordinary early civilizations from thousands of years ago, and then these extraordinary figures emerging too, like Sargon.

[Enheduanna]

So Sargon belongs to a period when the vast alluvial plains of southern Mesopotamia, southern Iraq, immensely fertile region crisscrossed by rivers and then modern canals as a word, dug to increase that fertility. Sargon is king in a period when that region is divided between city states. So this huge area split up between capital cities and surrounding villages and towns dominated by individual kings. So you've got a fragmented political world.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

That's interesting. So population wise, do we think the majority of the population would be in those great cities or are they spread around the countryside? And those cities, they're just the nodes of power almost.

[Enheduanna]

The cities clearly become the main place for residence I think in the third millennium B.C. so the first great cities in the world emerging a thousand years earlier, the fourth millennium BC in southern Mesopotamia, and urbanization, living in cities becomes the main way in which people live their lives.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

These are cities like we've actually covered in a previous episode with you. These are cities like the fabled Uruk, aren't they?

[Enheduanna]

Uruk, Ur. Yes. Famous names. So these are some of the world's earliest urban centers.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

Extraordinary. Before we delve more into that world that Sagan is born into, I'd like to take a step back and ask about the source material that we have for learning about this figure, this ruler from some 4,000 years ago. What types of sources does an assyriologist like yourself have to learn more about this figure and the world he's living in?

[Enheduanna]

Sargon is known to us really from very, very fragmentary evidence from early on. So from his own time. There are a few inscriptions, a few clay documents inscribed in cuneiform in the wedge shaped writing of Mesopotamia.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

That's the writing to the cuneiform, isn't it?

[Enheduanna]

Yeah, that's the writing, the script. So written on clay tablets. And we have a few references to Sargon from his own time. There are also a few stone monuments, carved sculptures dating to the time of Sargon, a few of which are inscribed with his name, but they really tell us very little about the man himself. And his achievements. So what we're really reliant on are later texts, texts that claim to be copies of inscriptions on monuments that simply no longer survive, or increasingly fables and tales, myths and legends about this man. And our challenge is to tease out historical information from these later accounts, because that's so interesting.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

That's also the case you get sometimes, let's say with Arthurian legends, later emerged like romances of the achievements. So it sounds like with Sargon something similar later. They create these great myths, these extraordinary feats that feel unbelievable, that surround this figure. And then looking at those later accounts, but also seeing like, is there a basis of truth at least for some of the information that survives?

[Enheduanna]

That's it. I mean, the challenge is of course, working out in between all those exciting adventures what reflects reality a thousand or more years earlier.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

And in regards to that, archaeology. So not as much from his own time. So is it, as you say, so inscriptions, are they a key source of information for people to have figured out that this figure of Sargon, he's not just this, this legendary person, that there was actually a ruler called Sargon?

[Enheduanna]

Well, we certainly know there was a ruler called Sargon. As I say, we have documents which are economic in nature. They're records of transactions. And many of them are dated by a so called year name, a classic way in which Mesopotamian rulers determine that change of time. So each year was given a name based on a spectacular event that had happened either the year before or earlier in the year in question. And it tells us a lot about what they thought was important in terms of events. And very often it's about conquests, it's about building, it's about great achievements of individual kings.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

Someone like Sargan, does he name certain years after certain military conquests or something like that? Is that what he does?

[Enheduanna]

Completely. And that becomes the standard, standard way in which Mesopotamian kings order their world order time up until around 1500 BC and then some new.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

So let's move on from the source material and go back to the world of Sargon. So do we know much about his background or his rise to power and what the Mesopotamian world looks like as he is rising to prominence?

[Enheduanna]

So teasing out from these very different types of sources, we get a sense that Sargon emerges in this world of city states. And the most important city state, it seems, in the middle of the third millennium BC is the city of Kish, located quite close to the modern city of Baghdad in the northern half of this rich alluvial plain of Mesopotamia. Kish had come to dominate large areas, it seems, of the region. And Sargon, so the texts seem to imply, emerges out of this important political center and establishes his own base. So however he does it, he gathers together followers in sufficient numbers that he can rival the king of Kish in power and establish his own authority. And it is from that authority he marches out and conquers the other city states of southern Mesopotamia.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

That's interesting. So for his own power base, he seems. He's almost a usurper. So he's not an original prince of Kish or anything like that. He gathers support, and I said presumably it's unclear, but seems to overthrow the ruler of Kishan and becomes the leader potentially of that city.

[Enheduanna]

Well, it's thought that he probably was a commoner in the sense that he's not a member of the royal family, although it's very hard to be certain about that. It's very difficult to be certain that he wasn't in some way related to a royal family. He, however, adopts the throne name on coming to power of Sharukain, what we describe as Sargon. And that means the king is established or the king is legitimate, which suggests that perhaps he wasn't.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

Yes, it's more kind of affirming his status, isn't it? And he's now come to power. But presumably, if he's got these ambitions of expansion with his soldiers, who are the other big players in the region, surely they're not going to be lying down when this happens.

[Enheduanna]

No. So the king of Kish, of course, is a primary source of power in the north of the alluvial plain of Mesopotamia. But to the south are the great cities of Ur and principally Uruk. Uruk. And it is those cities that represent, as it were, the opposition to Sargon's authority over the entire region. And earlier on, a powerful ruler of Uruk called Lugalzagesi had gone out with his own armies and conquered neighbouring city states. So you end up with this picture of the alluvial plain divided between two great powers, Kish, or with Sargon in the north of the region, and then Lugalzagesi and his power base to the south, the old heartland of Sumer. And it is when Sargon defeats Lou Galzagesi that he can claim to be the supreme ruler over the entire alluvial plain. And it's the first time politically that the region is unified.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

Well, because it seems almost a bit of a silly question from me, but of course, was the first empire builder sometimes get associated with Sargon had there been much of that there before the time of Sargon and the king of Uruk, who he faces?

[Enheduanna]

There certainly had been lots of conflict. So city states were often in conflict with each other. Battles over access to water, over access to trade routes, over access to farmland. So this was a common feature, it seems, as far as the evidence we have suggests. But no one had managed to conquer the entire region before. So that vast plains across southern Mesopotamia brought together politically for the first time.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

And how does Sagan react to this achievement of defeating Luga Sagesil and said, uniting the plain in one political entity?

[Enheduanna]

He doesn't stop there. That's what's remarkable is that he marches both north up the river Euphrates to places like Mari in modern day Syria, another major city, trading center, but also a powerful political center. And he marches south to the Persian Gulf, where he conquers, so he tells us, the region of Elam in southwest Iran. Again, a very powerful state, wealthy access to metals and stones. Quite how far his claims to conquest actually were, we of course, don't know. And it may well be that his armies are simply controlling the trade routes and access to them. But nonetheless, he becomes immensely wealthy and his power reaches right the way across much of the Middle East.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

And does he boast of his military achievements, much like in the surviving archaeology, do we see him as like the victorious king over and almost towering above his defeated enemies?

[Enheduanna]

So that's a vision of kingship, which, of course, later compilers of accounts in Mesopotamia imagine they saw Sargon emerging as this great conquering hero. Whether he was as powerful as later stories tell us is unclear. But certainly his inscriptions point to widespread conquests, but also widespread and rebellions that followed.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

We'll get to that in a second. I must also ask, I mean, you've mentioned how he gathers this large army, this powerful army. I said we don't know the extent, but certainly seems that he had a sizable army with him for the conquest. That he did do. Do we know much about the arm?

[Enheduanna]

We have some images of the soldiers of Sargon. They are shown with battle axes over their shoulders, marching in regiments with Sargon leading the way. One very fragmentary stele now in the Louvre museums, inscribed with the name of Sargon, shows the king leading his forces. He's marching forward, dressed in sort of typical Sumerian fashion and protected by a parasol or umbrella, marking him out as a major ruler and his soldiers marching behind him.

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[Dr. Paul Collins]

Forgive my ignorance, but this is a time when bronze working is being discovered. So is it bronze weapons or is it still stone? Do we know much about that?

[Enheduanna]

Oh, bronze had been in use for tools and weapons for many hundreds of years by the time Sargon comes to the throne, but certainly prestige weapons in metal were being used by his soldiers.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

Okay, so how far and wide? I know it's debated and it's unclear, but at least for boasts of Sargon that emerge, how far do his conquests supposedly stretch?

[Enheduanna]

If one interprets his own inscriptions as copied by later scribes in Mesopotamia, then they reach north as far as modern day Syria and south down the Persian.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

Gulf because I see words like upper sea to lower sea. Is that in reference to the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf?

[Enheduanna]

They would certainly later would describe these two areas, the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf, as the two ends, as it were of any Mesopotamian empire worth its existence. And Sargon is Credited very often with establishing that as a model that future kings should follow. Whether he actually achieved it himself, of course, is debatable.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

And Paul, this all feels, you know, regardless of the extent of his conquests, this all feels unprecedented, the extent that he's undertaken that he's achieved so far. But if it is unprecedented, and you hinted at it earlier, is it also quite unstable? He's conquered these lands, but is it very quick before rebellions break out?

[Enheduanna]

That is true. I mean, the whole story of Sargon is one of sort of origins. He begins it all. He's the individual who establishes a dynasty that does conquer much of Mesopotamia. And he does so, of course, from his own power base, which is also new, establishing his own capital city of Agade.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

Oh, Kish goes out the window.

[Enheduanna]

Kish is sidelined in favor of a new royal centre. We call it either Agade or Akkad, hence Sargon of Akkad. And that becomes the base from which he then marches out and conquers the region. So that is all new. And he tells us in his own inscriptions that he had at least 5,000 men eating before him on a daily basis. So this is perhaps an indication of some sort of standing army. And yes, that power is then a threat, of course, to other city states. They're conquered, but they never actually disappear. And lying behind the Agadei empire is always the city state structure with dynasties attempting to rival and return to their authority.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

So do we know much about Sargon? If he's got these, you know, these troublesome families in other city states, how does he go about kind of deciding to consolidate his control, his rule over this empire that he has created?

[Enheduanna]

It seems as if Sargon establishes his control by using the old city state structure. So some rulers are left in place. As long as they submit to his authority and that authority is one based on force. The empire is held together by brute strength. Later, his successors will introduce new forms to hold the empire together. New forms of administration, weights and measures, standardization and the introduction of, increasingly, texts written not in Sumerian, the traditional royal language of inscriptions in Mesopotamia, but in the language that he's speaking, a Semitic language which we call Akkadian, after his capital.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

And is that a game changer for the time, kind of changing? I guess it's not the lingua franca, is it? But making that the main language of his empire. You know, these are all things you see later on with empires established and then making a new language that the main administrative language of an empire. But of course, is this the first time this is done. So this also feels really significant if he's also just implanting on these other places, right, the main bureaucratic figures. You've now got to learn this language and do writing this way kind of thing.

[Enheduanna]

I think the challenge, again, as always, is finding ways in which we can understand how much this was a novelty with Sargon, or actually a development of the empire under his successors. And certainly he's succeeded by two of his sons, Rimush and Manishtushu. And under those rulers, you start to get consolidation and centralization of the empire much, much more effectively and the development of some of the most incredible art from the ancient Near East, a court art of incredible refinement. But that comes later.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

Well, we'll get to that in a moment, but let's then keep on Sargon for a bit and not jump the gun. My apologies there for kickstarting that, but I'd like to ask a bit more about Sargon's new capital, Accad or Agade. I mean, do we know much about this new capital?

[Enheduanna]

We know really very little about Agadei. It was clearly a magnificent place. It is referenced in later inscriptions by later Mesopotamian kings, but we have no idea exactly where it is. It's never been located archaeologically. It's likely that it lies under a suburb or indeed under the centre of modern day Baghdad. And so as a result, it may never be discovered. But if it is, then it will no doubt have some of the most magnificent palaces and temples to have survived.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

This is a bit of a tangent, but I still think it's very interesting for myself, Paul, like coming into Mesopotamia from the outside, originally I would have heard names like Nineveh, Babylon, maybe Susa as well. But you've mentioned names like Kish, also Lagash, Uruk. I didn't realize just the sheer quantity of extraordinary cities that there were in ancient Mesopotamia. And is Agade, is it an anomaly? Do we know. Do archaeologists know where most of the cities mentioned from Mesopotamia are today? Or are there still quite a lot of cities that we don't know where they are quite yet in Iraq?

[Enheduanna]

We know where most of the great cities were located. Many of them have had excavations. So we can actually know from spades in the ground, literally, that these cities existed and they weren't just described in texts. But there are certainly many cities names recorded in political, economic documents which have.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

Yet to be located economically with Sargon's new empire. You mentioned earlier the Euphrates river, the Tigris river, and he's covering a Huge amount of land and fertile land as well. What are the economic benefits that that brings? Sargon? Does his new empire quickly become very rich?

[Enheduanna]

We imagine he was immensely rich because, of course, he was controlling not just the rich agricultural land now brought together under his control, which could be taxed centrally. And so the whole system is based on siphoning off from each of the old city states an element of taxation to the center, again, part of this centralizing policy. But of course, the conquests also allow him to dominate the rivers and the roads. And that means that those exotic materials which Mesopotamia doesn't have, like metal and stone, can also be funneled towards the center. So, again, Agadei may well have been the most extraordinary place with this great wealth pouring in.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

And this is shipping, like copper in and stuff from the Mediterranean, but I guess maybe also the great steppe as well. Are these all kind of areas or lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, should we be imagining? You know, that is the extent of trade that Sargon and his empire has, is that they have these great connections far beyond the empire's supposed borders.

[Enheduanna]

Yes. And of course, trade had been a major factor in Mesopotamian civilization for hundreds of years before that. Those trade routes, copper actually coming at this time from up the Gulf, some places like Oman and Iran, and that was the main source. And Sargon in his own inscription tells us that he had the boats of Magan, Dilmun and Melucha dock at the keys of Agade. And that refers to Bahrain, the island we know today. Of course, Magan was the shoreline of Iran and Melukha, the Indus Valley civilization.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

Wow.

[Enheduanna]

So all the way across the Indian sea, boats would have brought resources like carnelian, lapis lazuli, but of course also copper to Agade, and it's to his capital that he brings them.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

I'd like to ask now about some of the figures surrounding Sargon and his administration. And first of all, before we focus on particular figures, given the administration and recording all the stuff and controlling an empire, how important are scribes for Sargon and for the running of his empire in his court?

[Enheduanna]

Let's say every city state was dependent on scribes and scribes at all level of society. From your basic accountant, who had a little bit of skill in writing to manage estates privately. But at the state level, scribes were fundamental in recording and managing the flow of goods, people, resources, in a doubt.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

And what other types of professions, what other people would have been very close to Sargon in his court? Let's say at Egade, I Mean, do we know much about the other, the job roles that were available and that were important in an early Mesopotamian empire like Sargon's?

[Enheduanna]

You had administrators, of course, of the palace and the treasury. But the other key part of any Mesopotamian city were the temples. And the temples, of course, were the homes of the gods. And it was the gods who supported the kings. And so you devoted huge resources into constructing their homes, but also, of course, furnishing them and offering them gifts. So much of the wealth that was coming, coming into places like Agade would have been deposited in the temple. You achieved the support of your gods, and therefore you could achieve even greater conquests and stability. But the gods and their worship were key. So members of the royal family would have been closely associated with the temple complexes.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

Do we know which gods he worshipped?

[Enheduanna]

So we know that Ishtar, the goddess of battle and sexuality, was one of the most important goddesses for the Agade dynasty. And she's constantly referenced as a source of power and authority.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

Right. So you see in the inscriptions once again that understandably, that close connection between the rulers and the gods, do they. Is there a sense of him portraying himself as a God king or his successors portraying themselves as God kings, or is that a step too far?

[Enheduanna]

Sargon doesn't appear to present himself in any other way other than a typical, what we describe as an early dynastic king, a king like those of other city states. It's just that he extends his control over a much broader area. His successors, however, in the dynasty that follows him, do gradually acquire more divine like characteristics. And it's his grandson, Naram Sin, who ultimately is given the title of divine ruler, not a God per se. He's not elevated to a God everywhere, but in his city in Agade, a temple is built for him where he is worshipped as a God. And therefore you have this sense of them achieving the ultimate authority over time.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

Almost as their dynasty has been more consolidated, perhaps. Big question now, Paul. A funny question. I think we might be going back to his successors too with this as well. But I mean, do we have any idea what Sargon looks like?

[Enheduanna]

No idea what Sargon looks like. There wasn't in Mesopotamia the idea of portraiture based on sort of physical characteristics. So most of the monuments that we have depict the ideal kingship. For example, one of the most magnificent monuments from antiquity is a cast bronze head of what was certainly a life.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

Size statue, very recognizable. We got it on the front cover of a book right in front of us.

[Enheduanna]

It's the most one of the most magnificent pieces of art to have survived from antiquity and expresses the power of an Agade king. Probably not, however, Sargon, because the style suggests it belongs to the reign of one of his successors, either his son Manishtushu or his grandson Naram Sin.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

It is a beautiful piece, isn't it? But what strikes me the most is the whole creation. It's bronze statue is it's made out of bronze. It's the whole creation of the beard and the various kind of little flicks in the beard and very pointed beard as well. It conveys a very striking image.

[Enheduanna]

Very striking. And that is the point. It expresses the power of an Agade king rather than an individual and is designed to last for all eternity. And in fact it was such a powerful and important image that it was then targeted for attack. So when the Agade empire fell, it was probably at that point mutilated. Its ears were cut off, its eyes gouged out, its nose flattened by a hammer, and therefore the power of this Agade king, hearing, sight and smell were removed. And you removed the power of these great kings.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

See figures rising and even after their death.

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[Dr. Paul Collins]

Now one other key figure which we haven't covered yet, but very close to Sargon, which I'd like to talk about, which is introducing his daughter. And I think a lovely way to bring this in would be if we could now first of all focus on a particular artifact I know you know a lot about and contemporary to the time of Sargon. Please forgive me if I get the pronunciation wrong. Kittushtu's Seal what is this?

[Enheduanna]

Perfectly pronounced. You have the impression made by a cylinder Seal, So a carved cylinder of stone which had belonged to one of Sargon's daughter's officials. This impression in clay has a depiction of a deity, of a God, but also part of a cuneiform inscription which records part of that official's name. This indicates that the inscription tells us that they were an official in the employ of Sargon's daughter, Enheduanna. Enheduanna is perhaps one of the most famous females from ancient Mesopotamia. She was appointed as the high priestess of the moon God of the city at Ur. So Sargon appointed his daughter Enheduanna as the high priestess of the moon God at Ur, stressing again the importance of temples as part of the ways in which these kings controlled their territory. Now, Enheduanna had staff, we know from contemporary inscriptions and impressions of seals, including hairdresser and her own personal scribe. And she devoted her time at Ur to ruling that city on behalf of her father.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

She's incredibly important to Sargon in the whole ruling of the empire. And it seems to say we have a lot of source material surviving for her. Perhaps, could you say more contemporary evidence for Ennaduanna compared to her father?

[Enheduanna]

I would say about the same.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

About the same. Okay.

[Enheduanna]

So we have a very famous little sculpture, a disc carved in relief with an image which almost certainly depicts Enheduanna in a ritual, making a libation before what was certainly a seated figure. It's very badly damaged. The disc is now in the University Museum, Pennsylvania. But the inscription on the back names Enheduanna as the wife of the God Nanna, the moon God, and really situates her as this really individual in this major political center. Enheduanna. However, like Sagan, much of what we know about Enheduanna comes from later inscriptions. And there are tales and hymns and prayers which are attributed to Enheduanna, and they may well have been composed by her, but almost certainly were not and were composed at a later period and then credited to this important, powerful woman of the third millennium.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

So she, just, like Sargon, gets these, you know, kind of extra tales and legends added to them over time. So it is not just Sargon. It's almost like a family tale that kind of the story of these. These figures from the distant past. You know, they get this. This. This legendary afterlife that just adds more to their story. As the hundreds of years go on.

[Enheduanna]

The Agade dynasty as a whole become incredibly famous. And as a result, tales and myths and legends are added to them.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

Well, if we go to. If we end Sargon's particular story and then go on what happens afterwards. But I mean, do we know much about either the length of his rule or what happens to him at the end of his life, how he dies, how it all ends for Sargon of Akkadian?

[Enheduanna]

Later texts, Sumerian so called king lists, list Sargon in the sequence of dynasties that were said to have ruled all of Mesopotamia. And they credit Sargon with a length of reign of about 55 years. Now, it's very difficult to know how reliable those figures are, and it may well be that he ruled for much shorter. But it gives us a sense again of the importance placed on Sargon as a founding figure in the creation of this unified political world.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

And you mentioned earlier how after his conquests there are rebellions from these particular prominent families of other city states by the end of his rule. I mean, from the surviving archaeology, can we tell how stable an empire he left for his sons and his successors?

[Enheduanna]

We have a sense that the empire was never that stable. So he certainly passed his achievements to his successors, two sons, Rimush and Manishtushu, in sequence, and then ultimately to his grandson, Naram Sin. But under each of those rulers there was an attempt to conquer further. But rebellions were always lurking behind the scenes. And under Naram Sin, perhaps the greatest of these Agade rulers, who conquered even further into Syria, as far as the mountains of Lebanon and down the Persian Gulf to Arabia, a great rebellion occurred, according to the inscriptions, under which the city state structure once again emerged to try and rival that unified political structure.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

You know, because I'd heard the name Sargon before, but I never heard the name Naram seem. But it's interesting. So is it almost by that point he said, is that the zenith of the Akkadian dynasty, the grandson of Sargon, almost like following Genghis Khan, you have a few of the khans following him that almost extend the empire further before it rescinds again. Does it seem that actually with the Akkadians, with Sargon's dynasty, it's not with him at the start that it's at its greatest extent, it's actually with his grandson. Naram Scene.

[Enheduanna]

If you're interested in conquests and extent of control, then it is certainly under Naram Scene that it reaches its highest point. But later legends credit the collapse of the Agade empire to Naram Sin. So it's seen as reaching its greatest extent, but as also in a way hubris presses, it takes it too far. And Naram Sin is cursed by the gods and the empire collapses.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

And of course, I mean, as you kind of hinted at there, it's not all about military conquests and all of that. With this, with this empire, with Sargon having established this empire and the generations that follow with the capital at Agade, culturally, how big of a shift is this period marked by, let's say, in regards art styles and things like that? How much of a change can you see in the archaeology when we get to this period of Sargon and post Sargon artistically?

[Enheduanna]

It's one of the high points of Mesopotamian civilization. I mean, extraordinary works of art are produced under this centralized regime and that has a legacy that lives on. So when the Agadei empire collapses, the Mesopotamian world fragments once again back to a city state structure. But kings now attempt to emulate the achievements of the Agade kings. So they become a model that later kings pursue and that produces new kingdoms and finally empires. And so in the first millennium bc, when the Assyrian empire is dominating the region from Egypt to Iran, a king takes the throne name of Sargon in emulation of this early third millennium ruler.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

What would you think is almost the most significant part of Sargon's legacy? Is it the fact that later rulers see him as a role model for those who want military conquest and want to build an empire? Or is it, you know, that wider idea of that artistic change and that great age of art that this period introduced juices or something else?

[Enheduanna]

I think the art is very specific to the Agade period. I mean, it impacts later time, but new traditions emerge, new styles emerge. But certainly that idea of a centralized single political center which dominates the region with administrative, strong centralized control, taxation, those are the messages that are carried into the future and future kings want to emulate.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

Does he deserve the title as the world's first known empire builder?

[Enheduanna]

That always depends how you define empire. And many people will say the first true empire in Mesopotamia doesn't appear until the Assyrian conquests of the first millennium bc, when there is strong centralized control. But with provincial governors, Sargon and his dynasty never quite achieve that. It's held together by brute force. And as a result, when the Agadei empire collapses, brute force is taken out on their monuments. That's probably why so few of them survive.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

And what happens with the legacy of Sargon, so of course important in Mesopotamia for hundreds, thousands of years outside of Mesopotamia, does his legacy endure? Let's say when the Greeks take over that part of the world, is it the Greeks and the Romans? Do we know much about Sargon's later history as the Centuries and millennia go on.

[Enheduanna]

So unlike many other Assyrian kings. Sorry, unlike many other Mesopotamian kings, Sargon's name doesn't reverberate down through time and was really only rediscovered in the 19th century with the excavations at places like Nineveh, where tablets, cuneiform tablets, recorded some of this early history or the myths associated with the Agade dynasty. And then in the 19th century, scholars began to identify Sargon as a key figure that marked a transition in Mesopotamian history.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

Do you think there will be more archaeology uncovered, particularly about Sagan, or let's say, discovered in an archive of a museum somewhere, more cuneiform tablets that will mention his name? Do you think it's only a matter of time before more information comes to light about this figure?

[Enheduanna]

Almost certainly we'll be finding more material about Sagan contemporary evidence from excavations in Mesopotamia itself. In Iraq, there are excavations happening at the moment that are in third millennium levels. So at any moment it's possible a tablet will be found which will provide additional illumination to this extraordinary period.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

Well, Paul, this has been absolutely brilliant and we're talking about an actual figure. We're not talking about the Pyram or Stonehenge. This is an actual ruler and seems very important in the whole story of Mesopotamia. Are there any key messages you would like us to take away from this chat today?

[Enheduanna]

I would say go and find translations of these incredible stories about Sargon because they are some of the most impressive creations from the ancient world of Mesopotamia.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

Paul, thank you so much as always.

[Tristan Hughes]

Well, there you go. There was Dr. Paul Collins returning to the podcast to talk through the life.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

And legacy of Sargon of Akkad.

[Tristan Hughes]

Thank you for listening to this episode of the Ancients. Please follow this show on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. It really helps us and you'll be doing us a big favour. Don't forget you can also listen to us and all of history hits podcasts ad free and watch hundreds of TV documentaries. When you subscribe, [e-mail] subscribe.

[Dr. Paul Collins]

That's enough from me and I'll see you in the next episode.

[Soundcore]

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[Dr. Paul Collins]

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