Acad was the capital of the first empire of history. Never found

The city of Acad was the nevral center of the first great empire of humanity, which, more than 4,300 years ago, unified under one government the lands of Mesopotamia. But its location remains a riddle for archaeologists – perhaps the true holy grail of Mesopotamian archeology.

Also designated Agadé, Akkad or Akkade, the city of Acad It was not founded occasionally.

It is known, through ancient registration, that the city already existed and was important enough to have been looted shortly before Sargon, the greatto raise to category of capital.

A King of Uruk called hearound 2350 BC, he gave one of his reign years the name of “The Year when En-Shaku-Shanna defeated Akkad.” This Design the ancient belief that it would have been a sargon to found it.

On the contrary, he says: Sargon conquered it and, being a visionary, he knew recognize the potential.

Sargon, who began his career as a high employee of the king of the city of Kish, toppled his lord and launched a military campaign unprecedented. Defeated Lugal-Zages of Urukwhich dominated southern Mesopotamia, and unified a vast territory under a centralized government.

Instead of choosing one of the old and venerable Sumerian cities, such as UR or Uruk, established its capital in Acad. This decision was crucial: being a city Free of the weight of traditionsS of the ancient Sumerical States, has become the perfect symbol of its new and revolutionary unified state project.

From there, sargon and his successors ruled an empire that extended from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean.

The inscriptions of the time glorify their splendor. Your grandson, ManishtushuHe wrote: «Manishtushu, king of the world: When he won Anshan and Shirihum, he caused the ships to cross the lower sea (the Persian Gulf). He extracted the black stone from the mountains on the other side of the lower sea, carried it into ships and tied them to the Agadé pier.

Acad was not just the political center; It was also the commercial port of an empire, despite being hundreds of kilometers of the sea – a testimony of the engineering and ambition of its rulers.

It was equally a spiritual center. His main deity was Ishtar, but not the ishtar of love and fertility, but A House of the Guerreira: Ishtar-Annum ou Ishtar-Ulmašītum, Ishtar a Belicosa.

By your side His consort was worshiped, the god Ilaba. The worship of these deities was so significant that, centuries later, during the Sumerian Renaissance of the Third Dynasty of UR, the city continued to be mentioned as an important religious center, designated by «Dur-da-ga-de»(The Fortress of Agadé).

A DIVININITY OF ACADIO POWER reached such a point that the king himself Naram-SinSargon’s grandson was elevated to God in life.

An inscription from Statue of Bassetki, Found in northern Iraq, he reports how, after stifling a great revolt that threatened the city’s foundations, the grateful inhabitants of Acad asked the great gods of Mesopotamia who was not declared God of his city. Other registrations mark the construction of the city walls and the temple of Ishtar.

After the death of Sharkali-Sharri, son of Naram-Sin, around 2200 BC, the Empire dived into chaos. Internal conflicts and the invasion of a people coming from the Zagros, the Guti ended the Acadian dynasty. But the city of Acad survived.

Your trail persists in the historical textss during more than one millennium. It is known that, centuries later, about 1800 BC, the kings of the city of Eshnunna performed religious rituals in Acad. Mari city documents report how ambitious King Amorita Shamshi-Adad I traveled to Ramiqum and Akkad during a military campaign.

A text even tells the story of a singer Called Hussutum that was recognized and captured in the public square of Acad, suggesting that the city was still a vibrant and known place.

The most celebrated reference to the modern audience It is in the Bible. In Genesis 10:10, on the list of cities of the kingdom of the legendary Nimrod, one reads: «The beginning of his kingdom was Babylon, Erek, Akka Calne, which is right».

O Last View of Acad in history comes from Cyrus himselfThe Great of Persia, who, after winning Babylon in 539 BC, listed in an inscription the cities of his vast empire, including among them Agadé.

The modern search: a puzzle with 4,000 years

Since the early days of assyriology, in the nineteenth century, that enfate acad became an obsession. The tracks are many, but vacancies.

The ancient texts place it in general: near Eshnunnanot far from Kish and Babylon, and Próxima dos rios tigre e diyala. This would put it in a radius of about 30 km around the current Bagade. However, there are also hypotheses that put it well north, near Mosul.

The main problem It is the Tigre River itself. Its course has changed dramatically through the millennia, and many cities that have once been on its banks are now buried away from the current bed. It is possible that Acad itself was abandoned or displaced due to one of these river changes.

Archaeologists have considered several candidates:

• Ishan mizyad: A great tell (Archaeological Monticle) Located only 5 km from the old Kish. The excavations revealed administrative tables of the Acádio period, which proves that it was an important place at this time. However, there is no conclusive proofs that it was the imperial capital itself.
• Tell Muhammad: In the surroundings of southeast of Bagade, near the confluence of the tiger with the Diyala. Although geographically corresponding to some descriptions, no traces of the acadium period were found, only from later times.
• Samarra area: Some experts, based on the discovery of a fragment of a colossal statue of black stone (possibly King Rimush, son of a sargon) in a place called El Sanam, propose that Acad could have been in this area, north than usual. The three meter high statue was partially destroyed in the nineteenth century by a local magnet that considered it a pagan idol.

A LOOKINGS COMPLICA-SE due to modern human geography itself. The most likely zone, along with the confluence of the tiger with Diyala, is currently covered largely by the Urban Bagity Expansionwhich makes it almost impossible to perform extensive archaeological prospects.

Even if their ruins remain hiddenAcad’s legacy is immense and indelible. Gave its name to an entire empire, a crucial historical period and, above all, to a language: Acádio.

This Semitic languagewritten in cuneiform characters inherited from Sumerian, became the lingua franca of diplomacy and commerce throughout the former Middle East for more than two thousand years. Agean boards were found from Egypt to Anatolia and Persia.

A sargon epicNaram-Sin’s exploits and the lost city’s own legend have become a matter of historical and literary narratives that circulated throughout the region for centuries, including among the Hittites.

Acad was the prototypethe first experience of what meant to govern a multiethnic empire under a strong central power. Launched the administrative, political and ideological basis for all the mesopotamian empires that followed: Babylons, the Assyrians and the Persians.

Like this, The search for Acad continues. Each new excavation campaign in Iraq brings with it the hope that an archaeologist, a por even a satellite look can finally stumble on the definitive test.

Until then, the capital of Sargon will remain where it was during millennia: on the border between history and legend.