A History of Sumer and Akkad / An account of the early races of Babylonia from prehistoric times to the foundation of the Babylonian monarchy

by L. W. King

It has been claimed on behalf of Shar-Gani-sharri that he did not stop at the coast, but crossed the Mediterranean to Cyprus, which he is said to have included within the limits of his empire. It would seem, however, that while the island may have been subject indirectly to Babylonian influence at an early period, there is no indication of any direct or vigorous Semitic influence upon the native Cypriote culture at this time.[53] But traces of such an influence we should expect to find, if the island had been politically subject to Shar-Gani-sharri, and had shared the elaborate system of communication which he established between the distant parts of his empire. In itself the archaeological evidence would scarcely have been cited to prove a definite occupation of the island, had not a statement occurred upon Sargon's Omen-tablet to the effect that "he crossed the Sea of the West." But the newly discovered chronicle proves that the true reading should be "the Sea in the East," which without doubt indicates the Persian Gulf.

From the Chronicle we gather that in the original composition this passage was not cast in the form of a consecutive narrative. It is a poetical summary of Sargon's might, elaborating in greater detail the preceding phrase that "he poured out his glory over the world." In it the clauses are balanced in antithesis, and the Western Land and the Eastern Sea, that is Syria and the Persian Gulf, are mentioned together as having formed the extreme limits of Sargon's empire. On the Omen-tablet the original text has been cut up into sections and applied piecemeal to different augural phenomena. In its new setting as a consecutive narrative of events the mention of the Persian Gulf was obviously inconsistent with the conquest of Amurru, and hence it was natural for a copyist to amend the text to the form in which it has reached us on the Omen-tablet.[54] The Omens still retained the reference to the despoiling of the Country of the Sea, i.e. the littoral of the Persian Gulf, which Shar-Gani-sharri doubtless included within the southern border of his empire. With this record we may connect the tradition, reproduced in the Legend of Sargon, that he conquered Dilmun, an island in the Persian Gulf, and with his maritime enterprise in this region we may compare that of Sennacherib at a later date who crossed the Gulf in the course of his conquest of Elam. From the earliest periods we know that the rivers and canals of Babylonia were navigated,[55] and the Persian Gulf was a natural outlet for the trade of the Sumerian cities in the south. In organizing a naval expedition for the conquest of the coast and the islands, Shar-Gani-sharri would have had native ships and sailors at his disposal, whose knowledge of the Gulf had been acquired in the course of their regular coastal trading.

In the internal administration of his empire Shar-Gani-sharri appears to have inaugurated, or at any rate to have organized, a regular system of communication between the principal cities and the capital. The references to separate cities, which occur in the contemporary inscriptions of his reign, are not numerous. From the texts found at Nippur, we know that he rebuilt E-kur, the great temple of Enlil, and many of the bricks which formed his temple-platform and that of Narâm-Sin have been found in place.[56] The mace-head from Abû Habba[57] is an indication that, like his predecessors on the throne of Kish, he devoted himself to enriching the great temple of the Sun-god in Northern Babylonia; while one of his date-formulæ supports the tradition of his building activity in Babylon.[58] But such votive texts and records throw no light upon his methods of government, or upon the means he took to retain his hold upon the more outlying districts of his empire. Some striking evidence upon this point has, however, been recovered at Tello, and this is furnished, not by any formal record or carefully inscribed monument, but by some rough lumps of clay, which had been broken and thrown on one side as useless débris during the reigns of Shar-Gani-sharri himself and his successor.

Along with the dated tablets of this period there were found at Tello, in a mound to the S.S.E. of the "Tell of Tablets," a number of sun-dried lumps of clay, most of them broken in pieces, but bearing traces of seal-impressions upon their upper surface.[59] A careful comparison and examination of them showed that on their under sides impressions of cords and knots were still visible, and it was evident that the clay had been used for sealing bales or bundles of objects, which had been tied up and secured with cords. Some of the seal-impressions bear short inscriptions, consisting of the name of the king and that of some high functionary or officer of state, such as "Shar-Gani-sharri, the mighty, the king of Akkad: Lugal-ushumgal, patesi of Lagash, thy servant"; here the king is addressed in the second person by the officer whose name and title were engraved upon the seal. Similar inscriptions occur upon impressions from the seals of the shakkanakku or grand vizir, the magician of the royal household, and the king's cup-bearer. The seals were obviously employed by the officials whose names occur in the second part of each inscription, the name of the king being also included to give them the royal authority. The right to use the royal name was evidently a privilege enjoyed only by the higher officials of the court.

From the fact that the broken lumps of clay were found at Tello, it is clear that the sealed bundles had been despatched thither from Akkad, and we have in them incontestable evidence of a service of convoys between Akkad and Lagash, under the direct control of the king's officers. We may note that in addition to the seal-impressions several of the clay fragments were inscribed in a cursive hand with the name of an official, or private person, for whom the sealed packet was intended. Thus a sealed bundle from the grand vizir was addressed "To Alla," that from Dada, the magician, "To Lugal-ushumgal," whose name occurs in the seal on other fragments; while one sent in Narâm-Sin's reign appears to have been addressed simply "To Lagash," indicating the packet's place of destination. Apart from the fact that, with the exception of Lugal-ushumgal, the high court-officials mentioned on the seals would naturally be living in Akkad, not in Lagash, the addresses on the different fragments, particularly the one last referred to, definitely prove that the sealings were employed on bundles actually despatched from city to city and not stored in any archive or repository. It is therefore certain that, during the reigns of Shar-Gani-sharri and Narâm-Sin, a regular system of communication was kept up between Lagash and the court, and it may legitimately be inferred that the capital was linked up in a similar way to the other great cities of the empire.

In addition to the system of official convoys, the commercial tablets of this period that have been found at Tello bear witness to an active interchange of goods and produce between Lagash, Akkad, and other cities in the empire.[60] Thus in some we read of the despatch of gold to Akkad, or of herds of oxen, or flocks of sheep, lambs and goats. In return we find Akkad sent grain and dates southwards, and probably garments and woven stuffs; the importance of the first two exports is indicated by the frequent occurrence of the expressions "grain of Akkad" and "dates of Akkad" in the commercial texts. Moreover, a study of the proper names occurring on the tablets suggests that, in consequence of these commercial relations, a considerable Semitic immigration now took place from Akkad and the north. Among southern Sumerian cities Erech and Umma, Ninni-esh and Adab had particularly close relations with Lagash, while goods despatched from Kish, Nippur, and Ur are invoiced in the lists. The conquests of Shar-Gani-sharri and Narâm-Sin were also reflected in the articles of commerce that reached the market of Lagash, where contributions from Magan, Melukhkha, and Elam were not infrequently met with, and we even find the sale of slaves from such distant countries as Gutiu and Amurru recorded. To regulate the trade relations between the different cities, and to instruct his local officials on details of their administration, it is probable that the kings of Akkad, like those of the First Dynasty of Babylon, wrote letters and despatches which were delivered by royal messengers. Though no royal letters have been found inscribed with the regular epistolary formulæ, a few tablets of the period contain what are obviously directions from the king.

It was probably due to his encouragement of official and commercial intercourse between the scattered cities over which he ruled, that Shar-Gani-sharri was enabled to establish an efficient control over an empire which was more extensive than that of any earlier ruler. A study of the names upon the Obelisk of Manishtusu makes it clear that, already under the kings of Kish, the barriers which had previously surrounded and isolated each city-state had begun to disappear under the influence of a central administration. This process was accelerated in Shar-Gani-sharri's reign, and, although under the kings of Ur and Isin a conservative reaction appears to have set in, the great cities never returned to their former state of isolation even in the south. Another factor, which may have contributed to this process of centralization, may probably be traced in Manishtusu's text itself, and echoes of it may perhaps be detected in some of the later traditions of Sargon's reign. It will be remembered that the obelisk records the purchase by the king of some large landed estates in the neighbourhood of Kish and three other cities in Northern Babylonia, on which he intended to settle certain citizens of Akkad and their adherents.[61] This wholesale transference of a large section of the population of a city may well have been dictated by political motives, and it is possible that it was part of a general system, inaugurated by the kings of Kish with the object of substituting national feeling in place of the local patriotism of the city-state. According to this theory, Manishtusu's object would have been to weaken Akkad by the deportation of many of her principal citizens to the neighbourhood of Kish.

The high social standing of several of the immigrants, whose names are enumerated on the obelisk, suggests a comparison with the late traditions concerning Sargon's high-handed treatment of "the sons of his palace."[62] The Neo-Babylonian Chronicle relates that Sargon caused "the sons of his palace," that is his relatives and personal attendants, to settle for five kasgid around, and it adds that over the hosts of the world he reigned supreme. The Omen-tablet represents certain nobles, or powerful adherents of the king, as having been dispossessed of their dwellings in consequence of additions made to the royal palace; and they are recorded to have appealed to Sargon to tell them where they should go. It is quite possible that these episodes in the Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian texts had some such historical basis as that suggested in the preceding paragraph. Shar-Gani-sharri may have adopted Manishtusu's policy and carried it out on a more extensive scale. The deportations from Akkad, referred to in the late tradition, may have been intended to strengthen the loyal elements in the provinces. In the course of centuries the motive which prompted the movement would be forgotten or misunderstood, and it would be ascribed to some such material cause as an increase in the size of the royal palace. If this was only part of a settled policy, we may conjecture that similar transfers were effected in the population of other parts of the empire.

The effect of such a policy would undoubtedly have been to weaken the power of resistance formerly possessed by self-contained city-states against the hegemony of any one of their number. In this respect the kings of Kish and Akkad would only have been carrying out, on a less ambitious scale and over a smaller area, the policy which the later Assyrian kings so ruthlessly enforced throughout the whole of Western Asia. But, although successful for a time, no state could be permanently established upon such a basis. The forces of discontent were bound to come to a head, and in Shar-Gani-sharri's own case we may perhaps trace to this cause the revolt of all the lands, which is recorded to have taken place in his old age. It is perhaps significant, too, that Urumush is related to have met his end in a palace revolution.[63]

Tradition does not speak with any certain voice concerning the fate of Shar-Gani-sharri. Both the Omen-tablet and the Chronicle relate that he was besieged in the city of Akkad, and that he sallied forth and signally defeated his enemies. But the latter text ends its account of Sargon's reign with a record of disaster. "Because of the evil which he had committed," the text runs, "the great god Marduk was angry and he destroyed his people by famine. From the rising of the sun unto the setting of the sun they opposed him and gave him no rest." The expedition against Erech and Naksu, recorded in dates upon certain tablets inscribed during the patesiate of Lugal-ushumgal, may perhaps be referred to this period of unrest during the latter part of Sargon's reign.[64] The reference to Sargon's closing years on the Neo-Babylonian tablet is quite in the manner of the Hebrew books of Chronicles. The writer traces Sargon's misfortunes to his own evil deeds, in consequence of which the god Marduk sent troubles upon him as a punishment. It may seem strange that such an ending should follow the account of a brilliant and victorious reign. But it is perhaps permissible to see in the evil deeds ascribed to Sargon a reference to his policy of deportation, which may have raised him bitter enemies among the priesthood and the more conservative elements in the population of the country.