The Late Third Millennium: The Rise of Akkad and Ur 2450-2000 B.C.E.

The region of southern Mesopotamia experienced a kind of political centralization at the end of the third millennium which resolved down to a competition between two city states, Akkad in the north and Ur in the south.

This centralization was achieved through military means and in general art became more martial. In Akkad, this era is begun by Sargon, a man from a lowly family who rose to power and founded the royal city of Akkad, which is thought perhaps to be under modern Baghdad.

Head of Akkadian Ruler, 2250-2200 B.C.E. (Iraqi Museum, Baghdad - looted?)

This image of an unnamed Akkadian ruler (some say it is Sargon, but no one knows) is one of the most beautiful and terrifying images in all of Ancient Near Eastern art.  The life sized bronze head shows in sharp geometric clarity locks of hair, curled lips and a wrinkled brow. Perhaps more awesome then the powerful and somber face of this ruler is the violence with which it was mutilated in antiquity.

The kingdom of Akkad ends with internal strife and problems with invaders from the Zagros mountains to the northeast, the Gutians. The city of Ur, south of Uruk, becomes dominant with the ousting of the Gutians and control is seized by king Ur-Nammu, who establishes the third dynasty of Ur, also referred to as the Ur III period.

Perhaps because of the changing fortunes of the area or because of a growing complexity in visual story telling, we find that monuments erected by rulers include multiple registers, which tell long and complicated stories, almost like a three-dimensional comic book.  

Stela of Ur-Nammu, c. 2112-2094 B.C.E., limestone, 3 x 1.5 m (University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology)

This limestone stele, found in a very fragmentary state at the site of Ur, has five strips of images (called registers) on both sides which probably depict episodes of Ur Nammu’s building and consecration of the major temple complex at Ur dedicated to Nanna, the moon god and divine patron of the city.

Ur Nammu is shown multiple times, carrying mud bricks, accompanied by an architect, and preying to Nanna, represented as a huge crescent moon at the top of the stele.

The late third millennium is also an era in which some of the first remains of the massive temple structures which become typical of ancient Near Eastern architecture. Built almost entirely of mud-brick (often with the name of the reigning ruler stamped on each one) these huge raised platform temples known as ziggurats, remain some of the most impressive monuments of ancient architecture. The Ziggurat at Ur is a largely reconstructed example from a later period.

Text by Dr. Senta German