Empire: The Rise and Fall

[Trollheart]

For almost as long as he's been around, man has had the desire to conquer, take and control territory. This thirst for power and land resulted in cities, then kingdoms, but eventually even a kingdom wasn't enough, and a ruler stretched out his hand to gather other kingdoms, states or cities - or even countries - into his orbit, creating the first empires. Empires by their very nature are of course fated to fall, and all pretty much did, though some lasted longer than others. I suppose, without researching too far, this can be due to a number of factors, but surely included in those is the possibility, even probability of subject kingdoms/peoples rising in rebellion, tired of being held in thrall to the empire, and longing for the freedom they once had. Creating, and holding an empire means constant war of course: nobody ever rode across country and asked if a kingdom was interested in joining theirs, to make it an empire. Land, people, resources were all seized by force of arms and superior military strategy, and there's no doubt that the original leaders of the greatest empires history has known were all clever, intelligent men, who knew not only how to take territory but how to hold it.

The word itself conjures up images of vast kingdoms stretching over many countries, crossing borders, sometimes seas and oceans, and some of the greatest empires known to man have indeed done so. The names known to us - Persian, Byzantine, Ottoman, British and of course the most legendary and famous, or infamous, the Roman - numbered many different countries in their empire, and probably millions of subjects. But they weren't the only ones, and if you thought the Roman Empire was the oldest, well, let's just say you're a few thousand years out there, dude. A rough count gives me about three hundred empires, large and small, stretching back as far as 2,500 BC right up to the 1970s. Of course, not all of these lasted that long in historical terms, and many of them I certainly have never heard of, but they all contributed to the rise of larger empires, if only by their fall, possibly being absorbed into the new empire that built itself on their bones.

In this journal I'll be looking at some of the empires that have risen and fallen down through history, asking who created them, who ran them, what battles did they win? What was life like under their occupation? How long did they last, and more importantly, why did they fall? Did the empires that came after them learn from their mistakes? It's probably unlikely I'll get to look at every empire, but I will try to do as many as I can, and of course I will be researching the larger and more important ones, as well as some which may have somewhat sunk into the mists of history.

I will be sticking absolutely rigidly this time to a timeline, as while some empires have no links with others, many fell because of their rival empire, many were perhaps absorbed into another, and even if they had nothing to do with each other, the social and military and political times all bore on why an empire rose, and eventually fell, so I won't be hopping up and down the timeline.

Which means, of course, that we begin at the beginning, two and half thousand years before some guy went around telling people to love each other, and ended up hammered to a cross for his trouble.

[Trollheart]

Empire: Akkadian
Nationality: Mesopotamian
Home Continent: West Asia
Capital: Akkad
Dominant religion: Sumerian
Arose: 2,334 BC
First leader: Sargon of Akkad
Territories conquered: Syria, Oman, Cyprus, Canaan, Sumer city-states, Elam, Anatolia, Armenia
Famous battles during its time: None recorded
Peoples conquered: Sumerians, Lullubi
Achievements (if any): Rebuilt the city of Babylon, rebuilt the Temple of Inanna at Nineveh, introduced crop rationing, proper administration of cities, public works projects, taxation (at least on an imperial scale)
Famous blunders, if any: None
Famous figures: Sargon of Akkad, Rimush, Manishtushu, Naram-Sin, Enheduanna
Opposed by: Gutians
Fell: 2154 BC
Reason for fall: Climate change which resulted in drought and famine, as well as outside attack, notably from the Gutians of Adab
Fate: More or less divided into the Assyrian Empire and the Babylonian Empire.

One of the most ancient recorded civilisations, the Akkadian Empire rose from the great city-states of Sumer, which flourished around 4,500 BC - 1,900 BC, and which was split into states such as Eridu, Ur, Nippar, Uruk and Akkad, which was the first of the city-states to break away and bring most of the city-states of Sumer under its control. It reached its peak around the 24th to 23rd centuries BC, and though details are sketchy, given how far back we're going here, there does seem to be a kind of local-boy-makes-good story attached to its founder.

Sargon of Akkad

Sargon retains the important honour of being the first person in recorded history to rule over an empire, but he is recorded as springing from humble beginnings. Sources mention him being no more than the adopted son of a gardener and indeed the bastard of a priestess, who rose to the important position of cup-bearer to the Sumerian King, Ur-Zababa. When the King of Uruk, Lugal-Zage-Si, began pushing through the city-states, taking Laghash, Ur, Nippur and Larsa, Sargon was sent by his king, ostensibly with a message containing terms. In fact, legends tell us that Ur-Zababa had become - whether rightly so or not - worried that Sargon was plotting to overthrow him, and had put a message in his cup-bearer's hand that, unbeknownst to Sargon, requested King Lugal-Zage-Si to kill him. The Uruk king however decided instead that Sargon would be a useful ally, and the two then marched on Kish.

Fleeing in panic, Ur-Zababa left his throne vacant, and Sargon tried it out for size, thought "that'll do for me", and then, possibly due to porking Lurgal-Zage-Si's missus, turned against him and marched on Uruk. Which he destroyed, taking his former ally prisoner. He then went on to attack Ur, E-Nimnar, Lagash and Umma, ranging into Upper Mesopotamia and as far as the Mediterranean Sea. At one point he - perhaps deservedly at the time - styled himself "King of the World".

Although of course much of the narrative has been mixed up or coloured with legend and fable, and none of it is really reliable or possible to confirm, a text from the 7th century BC does seem to give this version of his birth: "My mother was a high priestess, my father I knew not. The brothers of my father loved the hills. My city is Azupiranu, which is situated on the banks of the Euphrates. My high priestess mother conceived me, in secret she bore me. She set me in a basket of rushes, with bitumen she sealed my lid. She cast me into the river which rose over me. The river bore me up and carried me to Akki, the drawer of water. 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."

The astute reader (or those not asleep or bored) will have noticed several similarities here with the later Biblical story of Moses, which I suppose just goes to show that Christianity and indeed Judaism was not ever above pinching what they wanted from "pagan" religions and myths, and reshaping it for their own use. Sargon was not, as you would expect, a benevolent or merciful ruler: most of the cities that stood against him ended up burned, ruined or both. "He marched to Kazallu and turned Kazallu into a ruin heap, so that there was not even a perch for a bird left."

Despite this, it's generally accepted that Sargon was not an overly tyrannical ruler (though rebellions all through his shiny new empire near the end of his reign might throw this idea into some doubt) and that he was responsible for more or less creating trade between his empire and the areas of the Mediterranean, including Greece and Lebanon. He established, too, the first real attempts at proper administration and rule of such a large empire; the idea of placing his most trusted people in various cities was something new. He was a brilliant military as well as political leader,  setting down strategies and tactics for armies that were even used by Alexander the Great. I don't, to be entirely fair, seem to be able to come across a single record of a battle he lost.

He built the city of Akkad on the banks of the Euphrates river, and set about imposing what would become known as Akkadian rule and governance over the Sumerian cities. Was this the first instance of a "foreign" power occupying cities of another? Not sure, but I'm pretty certain it was the first time that someone who had been one nationality (Sumerian) literally invented his own (Akkadian) and then went about the business of making all his conquered territories the same nationality. He was also one of the first, if not the first, to place a woman in power; his daughter, Enheduanna, was installed as the High Priestess of Inanna, the moon goddess, which gave her control over all religious activities and institutions, as well as a foot in political and military ones, as religion was so heavily tied in to all other aspects of Sumerian/Akkadian life. Enheduanna would also carve her own name in history, as the first recorded named author in the world.

The Romans may be credited with creating a modern system of roads, but the Akkadians were doing it a thousand years and more before Rome was even built. They also introduced proper irrigation, and were leaders in art, trade and science. I suppose this lends weight to the belief that empires and conquest do most of the time lead to advances in human civilization, fostering art, technology, politics and philosophy. Of course there's also the death, disease, rape, murder, destruction, lack of freedom, repression, and all the other things that go with conquest, but then, if you will have an omelette...

Rimush

On the death (year, of course, unknown) of Sargon, his son Rimush ascended the throne. The empire had been in a bad way when his father died, as noted above, and while Sargon had fought all rebellions and won (or as I say, there are no accounts of any defeats he suffered, though I suppose that could be down to propaganda) these revolts continued under the reign of the empire's second king, and Rimush found it necessary to re-conquer much of the territory his father had secured, with cities like Ur, Lagash, Der, Adab and Umma all having to be reminded who was in charge, no doubt with plenty of slaughter and rape and destruction. In fact, under the reign of Rimush 56,041 people were killed in seven cities, 29,438 captured and enslaved, and another 25,685 expelled and annihilated. How do we have such exact figures? Because the fucker actually kept records!

Seems to me that 25,000-odd people "expelled and annihilated" should really be added to the death count, because it sounds like that means he kicked these people out into the desert to die, so essentially their deaths are on his conscience too. That would make over 80,000 deaths during his relatively short nine-year rule of the Akkadian Empire. I bet his enemies were glad to see the back of him! Mind you, as in most empires it's dynastic, and so it was Sargon's other son who took the reins when Rimush died.

Manishtushu

Whether you could say that he was a better king or that all the rebellions had been crushed under his brother, the reign of Manishtushu was not marred by such revolts, and like any great warrior, he looked further afield for his conquests. He invaded the Persian Gulf where, despite being opposed by 32 kings, he was triumphant. He also sailed down the Tigris river, conquering and trading, and rebuilt the destroyed Temple of Innana at Nineveh. He was perhaps the first of the Akkadian kings, and the first of the Sargon dynasty, to be assassinated, the perpetrators being members of his own court, a situation that would occur throughout many empires down through history.

Naram-Sin

The fourth Sargonic king of Akkad was the first in the third generation, as it were, being the son of Manishtushu, and therefore the grandson of the founder of the empire. Whereas Sargon had given himself the title of "King of the World", Naram-Sin went further, proclaiming himself a god. Sure why not? Who was going to argue with him? Under his administration the Akkadian empire attained its greatest strength, and his rule would be the longest of any Akkadian king since his grandfather, over twice as long as that of his father and his uncle put together. He expanded the empire up the Mediterranean Sea and into Armenia, and I guess had to reconquer some of the Sumerian cities, as ones like Lagash and Uruk are attested to being attacked. If these were already part of the empire then I imagine they must have risen in revolt, which was no doubt quickly put down by the self-styled god emperor (though at this time there's no mention of the word and each of the rulers of the Akkadian empire up to this are described as kings).

He also took Armanum and Ebla (not Elba), one of the oldest cities known in Syria, as related in an inscription: "Whereas, for all time since the creation of mankind, no king whosoever had destroyed Armanum and Ebla, the god Nergal, by means of (his) weapons opened the way for Naram-Sin, the mighty, and gave him Armanum and Ebla. Further, he gave to him the Amanus, the Cedar Mountain, and the Upper Sea. By means of the weapons of the god Dagan, who magnifies his kingship, Naram-Sin, the mighty, conquered Armanum and Ebla." See? Tolda ya. Kind of odd maybe that he, proclaiming himself a god after all, needed help from another god. I suppose even in the divine pantheon there were levels, and Nergal would have been one of the chief gods, if not the actual head god. "We're all god tier, mate," he might have said to Naram-sin, "but I'm more god tier than you."

None of these may have been the first, but perhaps the first time in an empire - well, given that the Akkadian empire is acknowledged as history's first, I guess we can take that as fact - that food and grain was properly rationed, taxes were levied and public works were undertaken, such as repair/building of walls, maintenance of temples and irrigations of canals and waterways. The Akkadian language supplanted the Sumerian, and became the most widely-spoken across the Middle East, the equivalent perhaps of Latin or Greek in later centuries.

The Akkadian was one of many empires in which power rested, after the king, with the religious leaders. Unlike the Romans, who, while deemed appointed by the gods, didn't really consider themselves under their authority, Akkadian kings were subservient to Nergal, Inanna and the other Sumerian gods, realising and accepting that their power devolved from them, so much so that in later times the ensi, or highest functionary in the Sumerian city-states, was required to marry Inanna, in order to legitimise his rule. Obviously, metaphorically and symbolically only, but it shows how much importance even the men in the highest positions in the land placed on religion and their gods. It then followed that the high priestess and her subordinates would be respected and feared, and wield great power in the empire, and indeed it seems the high priestess was second only in power to the king himself.

International trade was possibly first organised under the Akkadians, who had a surplus of agricultural products, which they exported, but almost no mineral ores, wood or stone, all of which had to be imported. Akkadian art concentrated almost exclusively on the exploits of the various kings, one reason we have a record of their acts today. Like Sumerian art though, it was dark, sombre and cold, reflecting the times they lived in. The Sumerian gods were not benevolent gods, and while you certainly couldn't call their pantheon a death cult, death and darkness did figure very prominently in their worship, and of course they demanded blood and human sacrifice.

Enheduanna

As mentioned earlier, Enheduanna, the daughter of Sargon, high priestess of the Temple of Nanna the moon god was also an author and poet, and the first in history to be known by name. Naturally, as you might expect, her poetry took the form of hymns to the gods, including Inanna and Nanna. She is believed to have been one of the most powerful women in the world at the time.

Fall of the empire

Although, as in most if not all empires in history, no single cause can be attributed to the eventual collapse of the Akkadian empire, nor can a specific date be pointed to when it fell, one of the main factors in its decline seems to have been a major shift in climate. The pasture lands dried up as temperatures rose, along with humidity, rainfall decreased and drought began to stalk through the empire. Cattle and sheep died, agriculture failed, and with it the larger part of the empire's trade. Seeking fresher water for their herds, nomads such as the Amorites brought their cattle into the Akkadian empire, creating conflict and competition for resources. Severe and prolonged winter winds deposited salt into the fields, ruining crops. The natural, unfortunate result was famine.

Incursions then by the Gutians, who had been conquered by the Akkadians, coupled with weak later kings and strife within the power structure of the empire all led to its eventual collapse, with the Gutians seemingly little more than barbarians, perhaps comparable to the Vandals or Visigoths who sacked Rome and brought that empire down. They had no interest in proper government or administration, nor agriculture, loosing all farm animals and letting them wander all over Mesopotamia, which led to famine and soaring grain prices. The Sumerian King List describes the end:

"Who was king? Who was not king? Irgigi the king; Nanum, the king; Imi the king; Ilulu, the king—the four of them were kings but reigned only three years. Dudu reigned 21 years; Shu-Turul, the son of Dudu, reigned 15 years. ... Agade was defeated and its kingship carried off to Uruk. In Uruk, Ur-ningin reigned 7 years, Ur-gigir, son of Ur-ningin, reigned 6 years; Kuda reigned 6 years; Puzur-ili reigned 5 years, Ur-Utu reigned 6 years. Uruk was smitten with weapons and its kingship carried off by the Gutian hordes."

In the end, it's the old story isn't it: don't make 'em like they used to.