Akkad (city)
Akkad was the capital of the Akkadian Empire, which was the dominant political force in Mesopotamia during a period of about 150 years in the last third of the 3rd millennium BC.
Its location is unknown. In the early days of research various unidentified mounds were considered as the location of Akkad. In modern times most of the attention has focused on an area roughly defined by 1) near Eshnunna, 2) near Sippar, 3) not far from Kish and Babylon, 4) near the Tigris River, and 5) not far from the Diyala River – all within roughly 30 kilometers of modern Baghdad in central Iraq. There are also location proposals as far afield as the Mosul area in northern Iraq.
The main goddess of Akkad was Ishtar-Annunitum or ‘Aštar-annunîtum, though it may have been a different aspect, Istar-Ulmašītum. Her husband Ilaba was also revered. Ishtar and Ilaba were later worshipped at Girsu and possibly Sippar in the Old Babylonian period.
The city is possibly mentioned in the Hebrew Bible where it is written , in a list of the cities of Nimrod in Sumer.
In the early days of Assyriology, it was suggested that the name of Agade is not of Akkadian language origin. Proposals include Sumerian language, Hurrian language or the Lullubian. The non-Akkadian origin of the city's name would suggest that the site may have been occupied in pre-Sargonic times.
Location
Scholars have worked to identify the location of the city of Akkad since the earliest days of Assyriology. The proposals essentially all fall into two areas 1) near the confluence of the Tigris river and Diayalla river, an area significantly covered by the large modern city of Baghdad, and 2) the confluence of the Tigris river and the Adheim river south of Samarra.Almost all of the proposals for the location of the city of Akkad place it on the Tigris river. A problem is that the Tigris, from Samarra south, has shifted its banks over time with its historical course being an open question. This complicates locating the city of Akkad and also opens the possibility that its location shifted over time, as sometimes happened when the Tigris or Euphrates river moved.
It has been proposed, based on kudurrus from the reigns of Kassite ruler Marduk-nadin-ahhe and Second Dynasty of Isin ruler Nebuchadnezzar I, that Akkad had been renamed sometime in the 2nd millennium. The kudurru suggests the new name was Dur-Sharru-Kin, "on the bank of the river Nish-Gatti in the district of Milikku". This is not to be confused with the Dur-Sharukin built by the Neo-Assyrians in the 8th century BC: the most likely site would be Dur-Rimush, nine kilometers north of Dur-Sharukin.
The area of the Little Zab river, which originates in Iran and joins the Tigris just south of Al Zab in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, has also been suggested.
A proposed location of Agade is Ishan Mizyad, a large low site northwest from Kish and 15 kilometers east-northeast of Babylon. Excavations have shown that the remains at Ishan Mizyad date to the Akkadian period, Ur III period, Isin-Larsa period, and Neo-Babylonian period, including an archive of cuneiform tablets from the Ur III period. Until Neo-Babylonian times a canal ran from Kish to Mizyad.
On the Kassite Land grant to Marduk-apla-iddina I by Meli-Shipak II the recipient is given cultivated land in the communal land of the city of Agade located around the settlement of Tamakku adjacent to the Nar Sarri in Bīt-Piri’-Amurru, north of the "land of Istar-Agade" and east of Kibati canal.
Based on an Old Babylonian period itinerary from Mari which places Akkade between the cities of Sippar and Khafajah on a route to Eshnunna, Akkad would be on the Tigris just downstream of the current city of Baghdad, near the crossing of the Tigris and its tributary Diyala River. Mari documents also indicate that Akkad is sited at a river crossing.
During the reign of Rîm-Anum, ruler of Uruk prisoners of war from Akkad were grouped
with those of Eshnunna and Nērebtum.
An Old Babylonian prisoner record from the time of Rīm-Anum of Uruk in the 18th century BC implies that Akkad is in the area of Eshnunna, in the Diyala Valley north-west of Sumer proper. It has also been suggested that Akkad was under the control of Eshnunna in that period. It is also known that the rulers of Eshnunna continued cult activities in the city of Akkad.
A text from the reign of Zimri-Lim also suggests a location not far from Eshnunna. After Eshnunna was conquered by Atamrum of Andarig a songstress, Huššutum, was repatriated by Mari and soon reached Agade.
Tell Muhammad in the south-eastern suburbs of Baghdad near the confluence of the Diyala River with the Tigris, has been proposed as a candidate for the location of Akkad. No remains datable to the Akkadian Empire period have been found at the site. Excavations found remains dating to the Isin-Larsa, Old Babylonian, and Kassite periods.
A site, locally called El Sanam, near Qādisiyyah, has been suggested based on the base fragment of an Old Akkadian statue found there. The statue is of black stone and was originally three meters high and thought to be of ruler Rimush. The upper portion of the statue was reportedly destroyed by a local imam for idolatry. The site in question has been partially eroded away by the Tigris and is located between Samarra and the confluence of the Tigiris and ʿAdhaim rivers. The fragment was first observed and described by Claudius Rich in 1821. This location had been suggested much earlier by Lane. More recently this site has been identified in a regional survey as lying not far south of the site of Samarra on the Tigris river by an old citadel.
Màr-Issâr, agent of the Neo-Assyrian ruler Esarhaddon in the city of Akkad, was having trouble getting reports to the king. He names some of the post stations between Akkad and Nineveh. None of them are currently known though there have been proposals.