عنوان

The northwestern territorial extent of Sargon's Empire of Akkad :

Number

TLets416100

Title Proper

The northwestern territorial extent of Sargon's Empire of Akkad :

General Material Designation

[Thesis]

First Statement of Responsibility

Kawakami, Naohiko.

Title Proper by Another Author

studies on the royal inscriptions and the historical literary texts on the horizons of the historical geography

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

University of Liverpool

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

2004

Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree

Ph.D.

Body granting the degree

University of Liverpool

Text preceding or following the note

2004

Text of Note

The principal aim of this research is to contribute to solving a widely debatablequestion relating to the northwestern territorial extent of the empire of Akkad, indicatedby the royal inscriptions and the historical literary or epic texts, during the reign of Sargon.It is unfortunately impossible to define its territorial extent with certainty. However, somecontributions toward solving this historical problem have made an attempt to identify theplaces involved. The capital city of the empire of Akkad has still not been located. If wewere to discover its capital city of Agade, it would raise the great possibility thatexcavations on the site might produce evidence, which could eventually define the questionof Sargon's supremacy over the northwest.The same can be said for the locations of some northwestern places mentioned intwo different genres of the cuneiform texts, the royal inscriptions and the historical literaryor epic texts. According to these texts, Sargon may have had a sort of political or militarysupremacy over some places beyond Mari in the northwest of Mesopotamia. However, westill cannot identify the locations of some of these places. Again, if the locations of theseplaces can be identified, we may also expect the discovery of written and archaeologicalevidence, which might answer this controversial question.Chapter 1 considers the nature of the problems surrounding Sargon's territorialexpansion toward the northwest of Mesopotamia, in the light of both the royalinscriptions and the historical literary or epic texts. We cite and consider the varyingscholarly opinions relating to this problem. Following chapter 1, we consider themethodology for identifying the locations of the toponyms. We try to define the differentnatures of a number of pieces of topographical information, dividing them into threedifferent genres: primary topographical information or evidence, secondary topographicalinformation or evidence, and supportive secondary topographical information or evidence.We describe how to use these pieces of evidence with the so-called cartographic approach.From chapter 3 onwards, we begin the actual investigation into the locations of thetoponyms. We start searching for the capital city of Agade. In chapters 4 to 7, weinvestigate the locations of the toponyms, which are referred to in the royal inscriptions ofSargon in relation to his northwestern political supremacy. These places are Tuttul, Iarmuti,the Cedar Forest and the Silver Mountains. In Chapters 8 to 9, we investigate the locationsof two cities: Hassum and Purushanta, which are only mentioned by the historical literaryor eplc texts.The inquiry concludes with chapter 10. We firstly sum up the possible location ofthe city of Agade. Subsequently, we define the possible northwestern territorial extent ofSargon's empire in relation to the locations of the northwestern toponyms mentioned inthe royal inscriptions, then we compare its extent with the locations of the northwesterntoponyms of the historical literary or epic texts and identify their geographical relation.Finally, we consider the possibility of Sargon's visit in the northwest in relation to thehorizons of the historical geography of Sargon's Empire of Akkad.

Kawakami, Naohiko.

University of Liverpool

Electronic name

p

[Thesis]

276903

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Y