Alcibiades two millennia strove Because of this, much literature appeared concerning the Akkadian kings, especially Sargon and Naram-Sin In the Sargon Legend, which draws upon his illegitimate birth, Sargon is placed in a reed basket in the Euphrates before he is drawn out by a man named Aqqi and raised as a gardener From this humble beginning Sargon establishes himself as the king of the first Mesopotamian empire The King of Battle is another tale of how Sargon traveled to Purushkhanda in central Turkey in order to save the merchants there from oppression After defeating the king of the city, Nur-Daggal, the local ruler is allowed to continue to govern as long as he acknowledges Sargon as king Naram-Sin, however, is often portrayed as incompetent and disrespectful of the gods In The Curse of Akkad, Naram-Sin becomes frustrated because the gods will not allow him to rebuild a temple to the god Enlil, so he destroys it instead Enlil then sends the Gutians to destroy the Akkadian Empire As we know, however, the Akkadian Empire continued to have 25 prosperous years under Shar-kali-sharri after the death of Naram-Sin, and the Gutians were not the only reason for the downfall of the Akkadian Empire In fact, there is no evidence for the Gutians causing problems for the Akkadians until late in the reign of Shar-kali-sharri Although this story had an important didactic purpose, it shows that caution must be used in reconstructing the history of the Akkadian Empire from myths and legends In the Cuthean Legend, Naram-Sin goes out to fight a group that has invaded the Akkadian Empire Naram-Sin seeks an oracle about the outcome of the battle, but since it is negative, he ignores it and mocks the whole process of divination As in The Curse of Akkad, Naram-Sin’s disrespect of the gods gets him in trouble as he is defeated three times by the invaders He finally seeks another oracle and receives a positive answer Naram-Sin has learned his lesson: “Without divination, I will not execute punishment.” Despite these tales, there are others that paint Naram-Sin in a more positive light as an effective king with superior military capabilities Along with a centralized government comes standardization This included the gradual replacement of Sumerian, a non-Semitic language, with Akkadian, an East Semitic language, in administrative documents Dating by year names, that is naming each year after a particular event such as “the year Sargon destroyed Mari,” became the system used in Babylonia until 1500 b.c.e when it was replaced with dating by regnal years There was also a standardized system of weights and measures Taxes were collected from all regions of the empire in order to pay for this centralized administration The Akkadian ruler appointed governors in the territories the empire controlled, but many times the local ruler was just reaffirmed in his capacity The governor would have to pledge allegiance to the Akkadian emperor and pay tribute, but at times, when the empire was weak, the local rulers could revolt and assert their own sovereignty This meant that the Akkadian rulers were constantly putting down rebellions But perhaps the most important precedent started by the Akkadian Empire was the installation of Sargon’s daughter Enheduanna as the high priestess of the moon god Nanna at Ur She composed two hymns dedicated to the goddess Inanna, making her the oldest known author in Mesopotamia This provided much needed legitimacy for the kingdom in southern Babylonia and continued to be practiced by Mesopotamian kings until the sixth century b.c.e See also Babylon, early period; Babylon, later periods; Elam; Moses; Sumer Further reading: Franke, Sabina “Kings of Akkad: Sargon and Naram-Sin.” In Sasson, Jack, ed Civilizations of the Ancient Near East New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1995; Gadd, C J “The Dynasty of Agade and the Gutian Invasion.” In I E S Edwards, C J Gadd, and N G L Hammond, eds The Cambridge Ancient History, 3rd ed., Vol 1, Part 2, pp 417–463 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1971 James Roames Alcibiades (450–404 b.c.e.) Greek statesman and general Alcibiades was an Athenian who was influential in the creation of turmoil in his home city that went a long way to explaining the defeat by Sparta in the Peloponnesian War (431–404 b.c.e.) Alcibiades was a controversial and divisive figure, and his legacy in part continues to be colored by his character flaws even millennia after his death Thucydides, Plato, and Plutarch recount the adventures of Alcibiades in their histories Alcibiades was born into a powerful family, and his father commanded the Athenian army at the battle in which he was killed Alcibiades was then only about seven years