Near East Kingdoms

Apiak (City) (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 Apiak (or Api'ak) flourished from the late third millennium BC, one of a network of smaller cities in the northern areas of Sumer, immediately to the south of Akkad. Its precise location is unknown, but it can be confirmed as being close to the Tigris, and to the east of Nippur. Its peak of activity was relatively brief, with it disappearing around the 1900s-1800s BC.

As with Kiritab to the north, it is known to have lain along the Abgal Canal which branched off the Euphrates to the south of Kish. The canal continued southwards to reach Marad. This territory was controlled for a time by the Amorite rulers of Kish, with two year names under Halium mentioning the Abgal.

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(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 Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East, Michael Road (Facts on File, 2000), from The Archaeology of Mesopotamia, S Lloyd (Revised Ed, London, 1984), from Mesopotamia, Chris Scarre (Ed, Past Worlds - The Times Atlas of Archaeology, Guild Publishing, London 1989), from Encyclopaedia Britannica (Eleventh Edition, Cambridge (England), 1910), from Political Change and Cultural Continuity in Eshnunna from the Ur III to the Old Babylonian Period, Clemens Reichel (Part of a dissertation proposal for the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago, 11 June 1996), from First Farmers: The Origins of Agricultural Societies, Peter Bellwood (Second Ed, Wiley-Blackwell, 2022), from Mesopotamia: Assyrians, Sumerians, Babylonians, Enrico Ascalone (Dictionaries of Civilizations 1, University of California Press, 2007), and from External Links: A New Look at Naram-Sin and the 'Great Rebellion', Steve Tinney (Journal of Cuneiform Studies, Vol 47, pp 1-14, 1995, and available via JSTOR), and Sargonic and Gutian Periods (2234-2113 BC), Douglas Frayne (RIM The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia, University of Toronto Press, 1993, and available via JSTOR).)

c.2254? BC

Kish leads a 'Great Revolt' against the Akkadian empire, rallying the northern Sumerian cities of Apiak (location unknown, but close to the Tigris, to the east of Nippur), Borsippa, Dilbat, Eresh, Kazallu, Kiritab, Kutha, Sippar, and Tiwa, and placing a well-organised army in the field which is then defeated.

Sargon 'the Great', the warrior king of apparently humble origins, unified Sumer for (perhaps) the first time in recorded history through a series of campaigns and the defeat of the current holder of Sumer's equivalent of a high kingship

? - c.2254 BC

Ensi (governor). Defeated during revolt.

? - c.2254 BC

Captain of Apiak. Defeated during revolt.

Amongst the defeated city heads are Pu-palîm, captain of Apiak, and Dada, governor of Apiak. Presumably this is the period in which Eresh (potentially Abu Slalabikh) has its own king in a fractured Sumerian political landscape.

c.2040s? BC

A great renovator of Sumer's ancient sites, Amar-Sin of Ur's 'Third Dynasty' apparently works on the ziggurat at Eridu, although the city has to be abandoned during his reign. The main temple at Ashur is restored following its recent destruction, and a potential temple at Adab is also restored.

Some of the earliest cities, such as Sippar, Borsippa, and Kish in the north, and Ur, Uruk, and Eridu in the south, formed the endpoints of what became the complex Sumerian network of cities and canals (click or tap on map to view full sized)

The city state of Hamazi also becomes part of Ur's empire at this time, while Amar-Sin places two successive governors at Apiak during his own later years of rule, and has to campaign against Arwilukpi, the present king of Marhashi.

fl c.2040s BC

Ensi (governor) under Amar-Sin of Ur.

fl c.2040s BC

Ensi (governor) under Amar-Sin of Ur. Former general.

c.2030s BC

Amar-Sin's son and successor, Shu-Sin, oversees continued regional decline for the majority of his reign. Amorites continue to migrate into the east and north of Ur's territory, essentially removing them from Ur's bureaucratic oversight without even fighting a pitched battle.

What in the twentieth century was known as the 'Sea Gate' of the Amorites is dated to about 2000 BC and would appear to be the Canaanite city gate of Ashkelon, which enjoyed good access to the sea

c.1920? BC

Having briefly controlled large areas of Sumer (including Apiak) since the fall of Ur, Isin suddenly and rapidly begins to decline. The precise events are not known but, around this time, Gungunum, Isin's governor of the province of Lagash (and apparently based at Larsa), seizes Amorite-controlled Ur.

This move cuts Isin's vital trade route, economically crippling the city. Gungunum's two successors at Ur seek to cut off Isin's access to water by rerouting canals to Larsa.

Nippur is also lost around this time, Kazallu seemingly follows suit at some point around 1900 BC, and Uruk breaks away around 1865 BC. As for Apiak, it declines and disappears relatively quickly during or immediately after this period of political upheaval and climate instability.

About a hundred and fifty kilometres to the south of Baghdad lies a great archaeological mound which is about eighteen metres high and almost 1.5 kilometres across: Nippur, the city of Enlil the 'mooring-rope' of heaven and earth which served as Sumer's primary religious centre