Editing Akkadian Empire (section)

===Naram-Sin===
{{Main|Naram-Sin of Akkad}}
[[File:Stele of Naram-Sin of Akkad.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Naram-Sin, with inscription in his name.]]
Manishtushu's son and successor, [[Naram-Sin of Akkad|Naram-Sin]] (2254–2218 BC), due to vast military conquests, assumed the imperial title "King Naram-Sin, [[King of the Four Corners|king of the four-quarters]]" (''Lugal Naram-Sîn, Šar kibrat 'arbaim''), the four-quarters as a reference to the entire world. He was also for the first time in Sumerian culture, addressed as "the god (Sumerian = DINGIR, Akkadian = ''ilu'') of Agade" (Akkad), in opposition to the previous religious belief that kings were only representatives of the people towards the gods.<ref name="H.William 2009 p.74"/><ref>[https://isac.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/shared/docs/ois4.pdf] Piotr Michalowski, "The Mortal Kings of Ur: A Short Century of Divine Rule in Ancient Mesopotamia", in Religion and Power: Divine Kingship in the Ancient World and Beyond – Nicole Brisch ed., pp. 33–45, Oriental Institute Seminars 4, Chicago: The Oriental Institute, 2012 {{ISBN|978-1-885923-55-4}}</ref>
He also faced revolts at the start of his reign,<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Steve |last1=Tinney |title=A New Look at Naram-Sin and the Great Rebellion |journal=Journal of Cuneiform Studies |volume=47 |pages=1–14 |year=1995 |doi=10.2307/1359810 |jstor=1359810 |s2cid=163629316 }}</ref> but quickly crushed them.

[[File:Victory_stele_of_Naram_Sin_9068.jpg|thumb|[[Victory Stele of Naram-Sin]], celebrating victory against the [[Lullubi]] from [[Zagros]] 2260 BC. He is wearing a horned helmet, a symbol of divinity, and is also portrayed in a larger scale in comparison to others to emphasize his superiority.<ref name="H.William 2009 p.74">{{cite book |last1=Stiebing |first1=H. William Jr. |title=Ancient Near Eastern History and Culture |publisher=Pearson Longman |year=2009 |page=74 |isbn=978-0-321-42297-2 }}</ref> Brought back from [[Sippar]] to [[Susa]] as war prize in the 12th century BC.]]
Naram-Sin also recorded the Akkadian conquest of [[Ebla]] as well as [[Armanum]] and its king.<ref name="Otto2006">{{cite journal |first1=Adelheid |last1=Otto |title=Archaeological Perspectives on the Localization of Naram-Sin's Armanum |journal=Journal of Cuneiform Studies |volume=58 |pages=1–26 |year=2006 |doi=10.1086/JCS40025220 |s2cid=163490130 }}</ref>

[[File:TellBrakNaramsinN.jpg|thumb|Palace of [[Naram-Sin of Akkad|Naram-Sin]] at [[Tell Brak]].]] 
To better police Syria, he built a royal residence at Tell Brak, a crossroads at the heart of the [[Khabur (Euphrates)|Khabur River]] basin of the [[Al-Jazira, Mesopotamia|Jezirah]]. Naram-Sin campaigned against Magan which also revolted; Naram-Sin "marched against [[Majan (civilization)|Magan]] and personally caught Mandannu, its king", where he instated garrisons to protect the main roads. The chief threat seemed to be coming from the northern Zagros Mountains, the Lulubis and the Gutians. A campaign against the [[Lullubi]] led to the carving of the "Victory Stele of Naram-Suen", now in the [[Musée du Louvre|Louvre]]. [[Hittites|Hittite]] sources claim Naram-Sin of Akkad even ventured into [[Anatolia]], battling the Hittite and [[Hurrian]] kings [[Pamba (king)|Pamba]] of [[Hattians|Hatti]], Zipani of [[Kanesh]], and 15 others.

The economy was highly planned. Grain was cleaned, and rations of grain and oil were distributed in standardized vessels made by the city's potters. Taxes were paid in produce and labour on public walls, including city walls, temples, irrigation canals and waterways, producing huge agricultural surpluses.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fagan |first1=Brian |year=2004 |title=The Long Summer: how climate changed civilisation |publisher=Granta Books |isbn=1-86207-644-8 }}</ref> This newfound Akkadian wealth may have been based upon benign climatic conditions, huge agricultural surpluses and the confiscation of the wealth of other peoples.<ref name="William J. Burroughs 2008">{{cite book |first1=William J. |last1=Burroughs |title=Climate Change in Prehistory: The end of the age of chaos |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-521-07010-2 }}</ref>

In later Assyrian and Babylonian texts, the name ''Akkad'', together with ''Sumer'', appears as part of the royal title, as in the Sumerian [[LUGAL]] KI-EN-GI KI-URI or Akkadian ''Šar māt Šumeri u Akkadi'',<ref name="Mieroop2007" /> translating to "king of Sumer and Akkad".<ref>Ulanowski, Krzysztof, "The Rituals of Power: The Akkadian Tradition in Neo-Assyrian Policy", Tradition and Innovation in the Ancient Near East. Ed. by A. Arch, Winona Lake, Indiana Eisenbrauns, pp. 237-250, 2015</ref> This title was assumed by the king who seized control of [[Nippur]], the intellectual and religious center of southern Mesopotamia.

During the Akkadian period, the Akkadian language became the [[lingua franca]] of the Middle East, and was officially used for administration, although the Sumerian language remained as a spoken and literary language. The spread of Akkadian stretched from Syria to Elam, and even the [[Elamite language]] was temporarily written in Mesopotamian [[cuneiform]]. Akkadian texts later found their way to far-off places, from [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]] (in the [[Amarna Period]]) and [[Anatolia]], to [[Persia]] ([[Behistun]]).