Akkadian Empire (2350–2100 bc)

The Old Akkadian Empire, or Agade (2340–2100 bc), was the first centralized power in history. The first Akkadian king, Sargon (2340–2284 bc), founded the empire in the city of Agade/Akkade (location unknown). Snell describes that through military campaigns, Sargon “chipped away at city-state independence” until he had established control of almost all of Mesopotamia (Snell, Life in the Ancient Near East, 33).

The account of Sargon’s history closely resembles that of Moses:

Sargon

Moses

” … [my mother] set me in a basket of rushes, with bitumen she sealed my lid. She cast me into the river which rose not (over) me. The river bore me up and carried me to Akki, the drawer of water. Akki, the drawer of water lifted me out as he dipped his e[w]er. Akki, the drawer of water, [took me] as his son (and) reared me. Akki, the drawer of water, appointed me as his gardener. While I was a gardener, Ishtar granted me (her) love. And for four and […] years I exercised kingship” (Pritchard, ANET, 119).

“When she could hide [Moses] no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river … The daughter of Pharaoh … opened it, she saw the child … she took him as her son. She named him Moses” (Exod 2:3–10 NRSV).

Very little information is available about the following two kings, Rimush (2239–2230 bc) and Manishtushu (2230–2214 bc), but it appears that they were able to maintain the conquests of their father and keep the empire under the control of the dynasty. The reign of Naram-Sin, the fourth king of Agade, is the first to produce significant literary material. Rock reliefs and inscriptions declare the glories of Naram-Sin’s campaigns to the east and to the west. The stability of the dynasty held intact through the reign of Naram-Sin’s successor, Shar-Kali-Sharri (2223–2198 bc), but by the time of the last two rulers of Agade, Dudu (2195–2174 bc) and Shu-Durul (2174–2159 bc), the empire was no larger than the size of the city of Agade and its immediate surroundings.