The Akkadian Period

The Akkadian Period, roughly 2334 to 2154 BCE, began when Sargon of Akkad conquered the independent Sumerian city-states of southern Mesopotamia and united them into what is generally regarded as the world's first true multi-ethnic empire, extending Akkadian control from the Persian Gulf into Syria and Anatolia. Sargon and his successors, including his grandson Naram-Sin, who claimed divine status for himself during his reign, developed new imperial administrative techniques, including appointed governors answerable directly to the king rather than local hereditary rulers, standardized weights and measures, and an official language, Akkadian, that spread alongside cuneiform writing and would remain the diplomatic lingua franca of the Near East for well over a thousand years afterward. Akkadian royal inscriptions and the striking victory stele of Naram-Sin represent some of the earliest surviving state-sponsored royal propaganda art. The empire collapsed around 2154 BCE amid a combination of internal rebellion, invasion by the Gutians from the Zagros mountains, and, according to some modern climate research, a severe prolonged drought, plunging southern Mesopotamia into a period of fragmentation before Sumerian city-states, led by Ur, reasserted regional dominance.