Near East Kingdoms

Akshak / Akcak (City State) (Sumer)

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The city states of Sumer formed one of the first great civilisations in human history (see feature link). This Near Eastern civilisation emerged a little way ahead of that of Africa's ancient Egypt, and up to a millennium before that of the Indus Valley culture. It developed out of the end of the Pottery Neolithic across the Fertile Crescent, a period which had seen Neolithic Farmer practices spread far and wide across the Near East and beyond.

As irrigation improved so the more southerly reaches of the Euphrates could at last be occupied by humans and their animals. Southern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq and the western edge of Iran) was subjected to permanent settlement, initially in the form of pastoralists but soon as farmers too. Cultures around the edges of this progression included the Hassuna and Samarra which began this settlement process, and perhaps elements of the Hissar culture in the Iranian highlands were also involved.

By the late fourth millennium BC, Sumer was divided into approximately a dozen city states which were independent of one another and which used local canals and boundary stones to mark their borders. Many early historical events in the region are found only in the Sumerian king list, which notates the rulers of the city states (and see feature link), but archaeology has also uncovered a wealth of detail.

The city of Akshak or Akcak (more correctly shown as Akšak) was located in the northern part of Sumer, a short way to the north of Umma. The city of Der lay some way to the direct east, in the Zagros Mountain foothills, but a host of smaller cities lay close to it by the start of the second millennium BC, including Ishan Mizyad, Kutha, Mutalu, Nerebtum, Shadlash, Shaduppum, Tutub, and Uzarlulu.

Akshak is sometimes identified with Babylonian Upi (Greek Opis). A question mark hangs over this positioning, however, as the archaeological site has yet to be definitively linked to the ancient city state. Even so, it was probably close to Eshnunna and Tutub which both sit on the banks of the River Diyala, both of which are a short way to the north of its site as shown on the Sumer map.

Akshak first appeared in written records around 2600 BC. During the period of its ascendancy, in the twenty-fifth century BC, it was at war with Lagash. It was after that period that, according to the Sumerian king list, Akshak defeated the 'Third Dynasty' of Kish to claim the kingship.

This is the twelfth set of entries on the king list, which comprises kings 67-72. Six kings ruled for 99 / 116 years (Lists 1 & 2), or five kings ruled for 87 years (List 2). Here, List 1 is primarily used, backed up by List 2 and List 3 (see the main Sumer page for details).

Principal author(s): Page created: Page last updated:

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from History of the Ancient Near East c.3000-323 BC, Marc van der Mieroop (Blackwell Publishing, 2004, 2007), from Historical Atlas of the Ancient World, 4,000,000 to 500 BC, John Heywood (Barnes & Noble, 2000), from Mesopotamia: Assyrians, Sumerians, Babylonians, Enrico Ascalone (Dictionaries of Civilizations 1, University of California Press, 2007), from Early Mesopotamia: Society and Economy at the Dawn of History, J N Postgate (Routledge, 1994), from The First Empires, J N Postgate (Oxford 1977), from Mesopotamia, Chris Scarre (Ed, Past Worlds - The Times Atlas of Archaeology, Guild Publishing, London 1989), and from External Links: Ancient Worlds, and Ancient History, Anthony Michael Love ('List 3' of Sumerian rulers at Sarissa.org).)

fl c.2470 BC

Possibly the same person as Urur, and placed about 2417 BC.

c.2459 - 2429 BC

Ruled for 30 years. A possible vassal of Ur (until about 2455 BC?).

c.2440s BC

The city of Akshak may be a vassal state around this time. Its king of the later mid-twenty-fifth century BC, one Unzi, is thought to be dominated at the start of his reign by Ur. But then Ur itself is defeated...

Eannatum of Lagash annexes virtually all of 'Post-Diluvian' Sumer, including Kish, Nippur, Uruk (briefly), Ur, and Larsa, and reduces his arch-rivals at Umma, twenty-nine kilometres away, to a tributary state with the defeat of Enakalle.

In addition, he extends his realm to parts of Elam and along the Persian Gulf, apparently using terror as a matter of policy. The stele of the vultures describes the violent treatment which is meted out to his enemies.

c.2429 - 2417 BC

Ruled for 12/6 years.

c.2417 - 2411 BC

Ruled for 6 years.

Urur leads the northern coalition against Eannatum of Lagash, but it is defeated, routed, and chased to the gates of the city of Akshak. Urur recognises the supremacy of Lagash, at least until it is later eclipsed by Umma under Lugalzaggesi.

Akshak was dominated by Lagash for a time, so figurines like this example from Lagash which is dated to 2500 BC may well have been found in both cities

c.2411 - 2391 BC

Ruled for 20 years.

c.2391 - 2367 BC

Ruled for 24 years.

c.2367 - 2360 BC

Son. Ruled for 7/24/14 years.

c.2353 - 2330 BC

Akshak is captured by Lugalzaggesi of Umma, and presumably becomes a vassal thereafter.

c.2210 BC

Marhashi overruns Elam for a time, and unites eastern efforts in fighting against the Akkadian empire. A battle is fought between the two states near Akshak, at the confluence of the Diyala and Tigris rivers. The Akkadian name for the following year suggests that it is the Akkadians under Shar-kali-sharri who claim the victory.

One of the daughters of the ruler of Marhashi is married either to Shar-kali-sharri or his son, perhaps as a consequence of the battle, and as a sign of renewed ties of peace.

c.1900 - 1830 BC

It is in this period that several very minor regional kings govern individual cities, largely Amorites. Such minor cities are especially numerous in the River Diyala area, close to what remains at this time the small city of Babylon, and close to the region in which Akshak must be located.

Amongst those mentioned in clay tablets are Išmeḫ-bala, Sumu-nabi-yarim, Ḫammi-dušur, Sîn-abušu, and Ikun-pi-Sin of Nerebtum, Shaduppum, and Uzarlulu. Dates are not known, although rough approximations can be ascertained by connecting events which are mentioned for or from other cities and across several tablets.