[Music]
in the previous video in our series
detailing the history of ancient
Mesopotamia we discussed the first true
Sumerian city at Europe and its
influence on the wider Near East the
first city eventually lost its hegemony
over the region and the resulting growth
of other Sumerian polities such as Earth
and the gash began the early dynastic
period of 2900 to around 2,350 BC as the
3rd millennium BC went on intermittent
border conflicts between the many
Sumerian city-states gave way to
centralization efforts which eventually
led to King logos at gessie unifying
southern Mesopotamia in this video we
will move on and cover the Ascension of
the Akkadian Empire and its subsequent
fall this video was sponsored by raid
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program courtesy of the dev team by 2350
BC the realm of King lugol's Agassi had
reached its peak he had many vassal
kings or governors known as NC under his
whose Rena T one of these vassals was
Ozzy Baba the king of Kish who would be
a central character in the epic that was
to come
around the same period it is said that a
high priestess placed her illegitimate
son in a basket and floated it down the
Euphrates River eventually the young
child washed up on the shore and was
retrieved by a key
the chief governor to Ursa Baba king of
Kish this man took the young boy as his
own son and appointed him as one of the
gardener's responsible for the cleaning
and clearing of irrigation canals he
reports that during one day of world the
goddess in Ana came to him and granted
him her favour meanwhile guru Baba had a
dream and because of this appointed the
young man the future Sargon of Akkad his
cup bearer one of their responsibilities
was to pour drinks for the king and
therefore appointees had to be
trustworthy so as not to poison the king
cupbearers also generally had great
influence due to their intimate position
near the ruler what happened next is
unclear but it is said that Uzi Baba had
a dream of himself being drowned by a
naina in a river of blood while Sargon
gained favor with her consequently he
first attempted to have Sargon killed by
his chief Smith fearing his increasing
favor from in Anna then he sent the
young man to lugol's Agassi so that he
might kill Sargon the next portion of
the inscription is missing but Sargon is
king of Kish when its next becomes
legible presumably having deposed zubaba
the legitimacy of this origin story is
questionable but his humble beginnings
in the tale were likely an attempt to
ingratiate himself with the common
people of Sumer and Akkad in contrast to
the wealthy elite who had ruled the
cities previously
from his new base of power in Kish
Sargon otherwise known as Shahrukh in
the legitimate King began to forge the
first true Empire that the world had yet
seen his first conquests were to the
south where he won 34 battles conquering
the Sumerian cities of ur Lagash boomer
and others supposedly defeating 50 MC
lesser rulers on the way he finally
marched upon the city that lagarza jesse
had taken as his capital the ancient
first city of Uruk and vanquished it in
battle capturing locales Agassi as he
did so after pressing further south and
reaching the modern Persian Gulf then
known as the lower sea he performed the
symbolic act of washing his weapons in
that body of water an act symbolizing
the conquest of the farthest point south
in Samaria the victorious Sargon then
marched north once again and led to
locales Agassi to the gates of an Lil's
temple in Knipper where he was probably
executed at this point the upstart King
performed an action which once again
highlights the role of the gods in
ancient Mesopotamia in return for the
dedication of celebratory monuments in
the city of Knipper Enlil and the
religiously significant nipper granted
their blessing to the new Sargon ik
dynasty continuing the traditions of the
early dynastic period the burgeoning
Akkadian Empire now controlled Sumer and
Akkad from the lower sea to the area
just north of the narrowest point
between the Tigris and Euphrates the new
nation bordered Elam to the east with
its capital at Sousa and Mary to the
northwest further up the Euphrates
to the north and west of this new
Akkadian Empire the realms of Epler and
Mari had been involved in intermittent
conflicts with each other for decades
these powerful and established states
blocked a caddy and expansion northward
for the moment and instead their
attention turned to the east and to
trade after returning back to his new
capital at Akkad Sargon prepared another
expedition in around 23 30 BC during
this campaign he subjugated and
incorporated the eland capital of souza
briefly into his realm though it's our
and dynasty continued to be a threat
moving to the more distant city of an
shan from which it menaced lower
Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf region
the Empire now directly controlled areas
from the Persian Gulf to the
Mediterranean and the flourishing trade
it attracted included plentiful goods
from faraway lands ships from Dillman
modern-day Bahrain brought copper tin
ivory and timber all of which were
lacked in southern Mesopotamia from
Magan modern-day oh man came copper and
died right an igneous rock used for
sculpture most exotic were the traders
of Meluha
who brought pearls carnelian and silver
as well as animals such as elephants
monkeys and buffalo many Mesopotamian
kings for centuries after wood used
goods from exotic trade to show their
power likely influenced by Sargon in
order to legitimize his reign further
the upstart Sargon used religion in a
wise and prominent way he consistently
reiterated that rather than gaining the
Empire himself the gods had instead
given him the Empire moreover he
installed his daughter and hey Juwanna
to the position of High Priestess at the
temple of Nana in earth
she offered several beautiful hymns to
the gods packed with emotion and imagery
her occupying this position would have
had several benefits her was one of the
wealthiest Sumerian cities with much of
this wealth like
being tied up in the temples Holdings
now under the control of the Emperor's
daughter this would have also been
effective at preventing rebellions in
the proud old city due to the desire of
the residents not to upset their God by
harming their high priestess to assert
control in a more secular manner
Sargon either introduced native Akkadian
governors into conquered cities or
maintained the local native rulers in
order to ensure their loyalty and their
contribution of taxes which were either
siphoned away to the capital or funded
the local bureaucracy in around 20 to 80
BC after 56 years of rule Sargon
perished and his son Ramesh took the
throne in a card in the ancient world's
the period between the death of one
ruler and the consolidation of power by
their successor was a good time for
rebellion and this was true even in the
very first Empire upon the death of
Sargon the great the cities of Samaria
including earth Lagash Burma and cazilou
rebelled under mutinous and sea Ramesh
put the revolts down but then another
wave of rebellion broke out a few years
later this later series of uprisings
were probably initiated and supported by
Elam as revenge for the repeated
Akkadian invasions and victories over
them after Ramesh successfully gained
control of Sumer once again he attacked
Elam and its allies winning a decisive
battle between Sousa and Irwin after
nine years of rule from 2279 to 20 to 70
BC Ramesh passed away and was succeeded
by his brother
Manish to sue instead of attacking
inland this new warrior King led an
expedition beyond the lower sea along
the coast of the Persian Gulf attacking
the Elamites it E is a banshee and Shera
home
he successfully gained access to the
rich silver mines and diorite quarries
in the region beyond Sousa on the
Iranian plateau bringing much of the
plunder back to a card after 15 years of
rule Manish tusu died and was succeeded
as Emperor by his son na Ramson unlike
his father and uncle the grandson of
Sargon the great was a great and
powerful ruler in his own right bringing
the first Empire to its territorial
height this warrior king like his two
predecessors had to brutally put down
rebellions against his unpopular
dynasty's rule before he could begin to
govern effectively this done he marched
into the region of Elam and consolidated
Akkadian control of the region up to the
barrace border Souza's are one dynasty
was subjugated by treaty to now ram
sinned at this point but they
disappeared from the sources soon after
replaced by the Emperor's own officials
it is possible that the king deemed it
simpler to just eliminate the native
dynasty in order to maintain control of
this established realm na Ramson next
embarked on a naval expedition against
the lands of Magan modern oh man he did
not set out to conquer the land which
returned with significant war loot and
the glory of his victory also noted is
the task of securing valuable trade
routes to this region in which he was
successful with affairs to his south and
east relatively stable and although
rebellions would continuously occur in
the Sumerian cities Narim Sen marshaled
his forces and thrust north and west up
the Euphrates after conquering the
kingdoms of Ebla Mary and Ariminum in
modern-day Syria the Akkadian Empire now
controlled lands from the lower sea to
the upper sea whilst also subduing many
nomadic step tribes on the Imperial
periphery to its will at this time the
Emperor's daughter Tara Magadh I was
married to a ruler in the
Tirion region likely for diplomatic
purposes after these glorious victories
and the attainment of his empires
pinnacle of power nah Ram Singh claimed
divinity for himself this is shown in
one of the oldest remaining monuments of
the period now located in the Louvre in
Paris the victory stele II of nehrim sin
in this representation the eponymous
Emperor stands broad compared to the
rest of the soldiers also portrayed and
wears a horned helmet which were usually
reserved for deities from this Steely it
is clear that the victory is primarily
due to the fact that the Emperor is a
God himself despite these achievements
the Akkadian Empire would begin to
suffer a series of problems at which
soon collapse under its own weight
after nerim sins death in 20 to 18 BC
the last true ruler of the first Empire
in history was nerim sins son shark
alley Chery problems which had
originated in his father's reign quickly
mounted and eventually shattered the
empire which had only begun a century
earlier culminating in the over running
of Sumer and Akkad by the Guti ins to
the east the poem known as the curse of
a card written centuries after the
events had occurred attempted to provide
a religious explanation for the Empire's
fall it stated that nerim sin had
angered the chief god and Lil by
plundering his temple at the sacred city
of nipper in punishment for this Enlil
had repaid the destruction of his echo
or mountain temple by destroying the
Akkadian capital city and sending GU
Tian's from the Zagros Mountains to
invade many of these events did indeed
occur but this explanation is not nearly
enough to explain the fall of the First
Empire the world had yet seen instead
many scholars argue that a drought of
apocalyptic scale was responsible for
the fall of a card and many other
civilizations of the time such as the
enigmatic Indus Valley Civilisation and
kingdom of egypt the core of the theory
states that outside the region of Sumer
and Akkad many of the Imperial subjects
relied on regular rainfall for their
agricultural production rather than
irrigation a severe decline in
production led refugees south into the
Akkadian core in hopes of greener
pastures which put massive strains on a
system which was already creaking under
the weight of constant rebellion and
increasing duty in raids moreover it is
possible that the increase in Bucheon
attacks was a result of displacement
from their homeland as a result of the
drought by around 2150 BC the GU Tian's
swept down from the mountains in force
defeated the army of the Akkadian rump
State and established a dynasty of their
own whether the decline and fall of the
Akkadian Empire was due to God's
invasion or drought it is clear that the
existence of this Empire was a landmark
moment in history it's provided a
benchmark and a blueprint for all
empires to follow and was the first time
that an empire the most popular form of
government in the history of the world
had risen our series on the history of
the Mesopotamian civilizations will
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