Akshak

Approximate location of Akshak (in brown). Akkad before expansion appears in green. The territory of Sumer under its last king Lugal-Zage-Si appears in red. Circa 2350 BC

Akshak (Sumerian: 𒌔𒆠, akšak) was a city of ancient Sumer, situated on the northern boundary of Akkad, sometimes identified with Babylonian Upi (Greek Opis).

History[edit]

Akshak first appears in records of ca. 2500 BC. In the Sumerian text Dumuzid's dream, Dumuzid king of Uruk is said to have been toppled from his opulence by a hungry mob composed of men from the major cities of Sumer, including Akshak.^[1] Another king of Uruk, Enshakushanna, is recorded as having plundered Akshak. Following this, Akshak was at war with Lagash, and was captured by Eannatum, who claims in one inscription to have smitten its king, Zuzu.^[2]^[3] The Sumerian king list mentions Unzi, Undalulu, Urur, Puzur-Nirah, Ishu-Il and Shu-Sin as kings of Akshak. Puzur-Nirah is also mentioned in the Weidner Chronicle as reigning in Akshak when a female tavern-keeper, Kug-bau of Kish, was appointed overlordship over Sumer. Akshak was also mentioned in tablets found at Ebla.^[4] In ca. 2350 BC, Akshak fell into the hands of Lugalzagesi of Umma. The Akkadian king Shar-Kali-Sharri reports defeating the Elamites in a battle at Akshak. The city was also mentioned in an Old Babylonian period tablet found at Sippar-Amnanum.

Location[edit]

Its exact location is uncertain. Classical writers located it where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers are closest together and it was mentioned along with Kish in early records. Archaeologists in the 1900s placed Akshak at the site of Tel Omar (or Tel Umar) where a pair of sites straddles the Tigris, but that turned out to be Seleucia (possibly earlier Upi/Opis) when it was excavated by LeRoy Waterman of the American Schools of Oriental Research,.^[5]^[6]^[7] Initially it was thought that two inscriptions bearing the name of Akshak were found there but after examination that proved not the case.^[8] Michael C. Astour placed it on the Tigris, on what is now the southern outskirts of Baghdad.^[4]

References[edit]

^ "Dumuzid's Dream". Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)"Those who come for the king are a motley crew, who know not food, who know not drink, who eat no sprinkled flour, who drink no poured water, who accept no pleasant gifts, who do not enjoy a wife's embraces, who never kiss dear little children, who never chew sharp-tasting garlic, who eat no fish, who eat no leeks. There were two men of Adab who came for the king. They were thistles in dried-up waters, they were thorns in stinking waters -- 'his hand was on the table, his tongue was in the palace' (Alludes to a proverb) . Then there were two men of Akšak who came for the king, with …… carried on their shoulders. Then there were two men of Unug who came for the king. With head-smashing clubs tied to their waists, there were two men of Urim who came for the king. "
^ CURCHIN, Leonard. “Eannatum and the Kings of Adab.” Revue d’Assyriologie et d’archéologie Orientale, vol. 71, no. 1, 1977, pp. 93–95
^ Hamblin, William James (2007). Warfare in the ancient Near East to c. 1600 BC. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-25588-2. OCLC 255477145.
^ ^a ^b Gordon, Cyrus Herzl (1992). Eblaitica: essays on the Ebla archives and Eblaite language 3. 3. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-931464-77-5. OCLC 642922991.
^ George A. Barton, Dr. Waterman's Excavation at Tel Omar (Ctesiphon), Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, no. 30, pp. 6-8, (Apr., 1928)
^ Howard C. Hollis, Material from Seleucia, The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 20, No. 8, pp. 129-131, 1933
^ Professor Waterman's Work at Seleucia, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, no. 35, pp. 25-27, 1929
^ Barnett, R. D. “Xenophon and the Wall of Media.” The Journal of Hellenic Studies, vol. 83, 1963, pp. 1–26

Akshak

History[edit]

Location[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]