Akšak
Akšak (also: Akschak, Akshak ; ?? ), was a Sumerian city in Mesopotamia .
location
The exact location of the city is unknown today, it was probably on the later northern border of the empire of Akkad , according to classical authors at the point where the Tigris and Euphrates are closest together. She has been identified with the city of Upi on various occasions . At the beginning of the 20th century, archaeologists suspected Akšak to be on Tell ʿUmar near Upi, but this turned out to be the site of Seleukia-Ctesiphon . According to information from the clay tablet archives of Mari , the city is also located in the Diyala river valley .
history
Only as much is known about the history of the city as is evident from mentions in the records of other cities.
Akšak is mentioned in several cuneiform texts, the earliest mentions being dated around 2500 BC:
The city was a war opponent of Lagaš : the local king Eanatum , also known for the Lagaš-Umma war , boasted the conquest of Kiš and Akšak and the suppression of the local Elamite king, Zuzu . Another text mentions the sacking of Akšak by King Enšakušana of Uruk. In Dumuzi's dream , the story's title character, the King of Uruk , is dethroned by two men from Sumerian cities. Akšak appears in the list of cities. In an Inanna legend , the goddess leaves the places dedicated to her and descends into the underworld. Akšak is reported to be leaving the Anzagar . The Sumerian King List also provides the following kings of Akšak for about the 24th or 23rd century BC: Unzi, Undalulu, Urur, Puzur-Niraḫ, Išu-Il, Šu-Sin, but there are different reigns in different versions. Puzur-Nirah is also mentioned by these rulers in the Weidner tablet ( ABC 19) as King Akšaks at the time when Kubaba is said to have been raised by Kiš to the rulership of all Sumerian cities. Akšak is also mentioned in the Ebla tablets .
Akšak was one of the most important cities in Mesopotamia between 2500 and 2350 BC, and around 2400 it will have had a dominant position among them. Around 2350 most of the southern Mesopotamian cities were conquered by Lugal-Zagesi from Umma , including Akšak. The lands of the Lugal-Zagesi fell to the kingdom of Akkad after Umma was overthrown by Sargon . In this context, the place is mentioned again when in the reign of Šar-kali-šarri (around the year 2200) Elamite invaders were defeated near the city.
Notes and individual references
- ↑ a b Akshak . In: Encyclopaedia Britannica
- ↑ This article gives dates according to Middle Chronology ; according to a brief chronology, events are dated approximately 60 years later.
- ^ Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, Dumuzid's dream
- ^ Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, Inana's descent to the nether world
- ↑ Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, Sumerian King List
- ^ Cyrus Herzl Gordon , Gary Rendsburg: Eblaitica: essays on the Ebla archives and Eblaite language . Volume 3. Eisenbrauns 1990, ISBN 0-931464-77-3 , p. 58.