The Sumerians were the first known people to settle in Mesopotamia over 7,000 years
ago. Located in the southernmost part of Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (modern
day Iraq), Sumer was often called the cradle of civilization. By the 4th millennium BC,
it had established an advanced system writing, spectacular arts and architecture, astronomy,
and mathematics. The Akkadians would follow the Sumerians, borrowing from their culture,
producing a new language of their own, and creating the world’s first empire.
Who Were the Sumerians? The origin of the Sumerians remains a mystery
till this day. They called themselves Saggiga (the "black-headed" or "bald-headed ones")
and their country, Kengi ("civilized land"). Some believe they came from around Anatolia
or modern day Turkey. Others suggest they might have come from India and were Caucasian
in origin. They were established in southern Babylonia, in what is now Iraq, by at least
3500 BC.
Located in what the ancient Greeks called Mesopotamia, meaning "the land between the
rivers," Sumer was a collection of city-states or cities that were also independent nations,
some of which endured for 3,000 years. Beginning around 3500 BC, the Sumerians began to build
walled cities, including Ur, the capital of the civilization. Each of these cities contained
public buildings, markets, workshops, and advanced water systems, and were surrounded
by villages and land for agriculture. Political power originally belonged to the citizens,
but as rivalry between the various city-states increased, each adopted the institution of
kingship.
Where is Akkad? The Sumerians may have been one of the first
known civilizations, but it was the Akkadians that formed one of the first known empires.
A Semitic group, they moved into southern Mesopotamia during the early part of the third
millennium and gained political control of the area.
The civilization was founded by Sargon the Great , and was a collection of city states
under the control of Sargon’s city, Akkad. Sargon reigned from approximately 2334-2279
BC and conquered all of southern Mesopotamia as well as parts of Syria, Anatolia, and Elam
(now western Iran) establishing the region's first Semitic dynasty.
Sargon is known almost entirely from the legends that followed his reputation through 2,000
years of Mesopotamian history, but not from documents written during his lifetime. This
lack of contemporary record is explained by the fact that the capital city of Akkad, which
he commissioned, has never been located and excavated. It was destroyed at the end of
the dynasty that Sargon founded and was never inhabited again, at least under the name of
Akkad.
The Rise and Fall of a Mesopotamian Empire In 2350 BC, Sargon conquered all the Sumerian
city-states, uniting them under his rule, creating the first Mesopotamian Empire. He
defeated the armies of Sumer in two battles and captured Lugalzagesi, the Sumerian king
who had united (or conquered) all of Sumer and earned the title of “King of Kish”.
For the next two centuries the Akkadians would rule Sumer, during which time the cities carried
out many revolts against them. Around 2,100 BC, as Akkad declined, the city of Ur took
its place rising to prominence a century after its fall, and the city-states once again became
independent.
The Akkadian empire collapsed sometime after 2,200 BC. Historians blame its downfall on
tribes of mountain people called Gutians who conquered many parts of Sumer, or possibly
point at administrative incompetence, a poor harvest, provincial revolt, or perhaps even
a giant meteor. Climate change has of course been thrown into the mix as well and evidence
of a long drought, and changing winds and ocean currents have been provided to support
that idea.
In a 2019 study , fossil coral records from Oman were given as new evidence that frequent
winter shamals, or dust storms, and a prolonged cold winter season also contributed to the
collapse of the ancient empire . Assyria and Babylon would grow to dominate the area afterwards.
From 2112 to 2004 BC, a dynasty based at the city of Ur revived Sumerian culture to its
greatest height, even though the Sumerian language had begun to fall out of use. By
2,000 BC, it was no longer being used and was replaced as a spoken language by Semitic
Akkadian.
Although Sargon’s dynasty only lasted around 150 years, it created a model of government
that influenced all of Middle Eastern civilization and left a permanent imprint on Mesopotamian
civilization for the millennia that followed.