The Akkadians: Not quite the Rivers of Babylon

A Map showing the Location and extent
of the Akkadian Empire
Source: Wikipedia

The region of Mesopotamia is situated between the Tyris and Eupherates rivers in the Levant, which is often also referred to as the Fertile Crescent, one of the nuclei from which agriculture developed and spread across the world (deMenocal 2001). Because of these fertile lands, several civilizations settled cities and formed empires on the alluvial plains between the two rivers, such as: Babylon, Seleucids and Assyria. These series of posts are going to focus on the Akkadian empire.

The Akkadian empire gained their influence of the subject through the exploitation and management of agriculture processes on the Fertile Crescent (Weiss et al1993). In particular, the elite created store houses and regimes in which produce became stored to withstand periods of droughts (Weiss et al1993). Storage became so great that the empire actually began long distance trade with other settlements and civilizations, which in turn, helped the economy, grow and prosper (Linden 2006).  Weiss etal (1993) noted that the Northern and Southern parts of the empire undertook different roots to manage agriculture; whereby the North produced Imperial fortresses whilst the south focused on irrigation to extend the amount of cultivated land.

Excevation of Tell Leilan dating back
to the Akkadian empire
Source: HistoryFiles

Tell Leilan, located in the Northern region of the Akkadian empire, is the provincial capital and one centre of agriculturial and economic power towards the Southern Alluvial plains towards the Tigris and Eupherates Deltas (Linden 2006).

of the primary providers of cerals for the region (Cullen et al 2004). For that reason Tell Lilian has been excavated and studied intensely by looking at different assemblages of pottery and architecture (Weiss et al 1993; Linden 2006). Though what is most interesting about this site is that most of the structure have been left half built, monuments not fully erected almost, as if all the citizens just got up and left (Cullen et al 2004).

So it begs the question, what caused this mass abandonment?