The World's First Superpower: Sargon of Akkad and the Mighty Akkadian Empire - Bronze Age History

This is the video that many of your have been waiting for - a comprehensive, in-depth look at the Akkadian Empire from just before it was created to its mysterious end. Founded by Sargon of Akkad and expanded by his descendants Rimush, Manishtushu and Naram-Sin, the Akkadian Empire was the first hegemonic state and superpower of the early Bronze Age. This program will examine Akkad's beginning, it's rise and expansion to the far corners of the known world, its economy, administration, collapse and legacy.

Contents:

00:00 Introduction: The World Before Sargon of Akkad
04:37 Lugalzagesi
09:33 The Early Life and Legends of Sargon of Akkad
13:24 Who were the Akkadians?
16:05 Sargon and Ur-Zababa
20:01 The Founding of the Akkadian Empire
22:17 Sargon Battles Against Elam and Marhashi
23:24 King of Battle
25:49 Administration of the Akkadian Empire
27:26 Enheduanna
30:15 The Glory of Agade
36:30 Rimush the Warmonger
45:48 Manishtushu the Consolidator
49:10 Naram-Sin and the Great Revolt
53:55 Naram-Sin the Divine
57:40 Naram-Sin and Elam
1:00:04 Other Conquests of Naram-Sin
1:01:28 Akkadian Administration under Naram-Sin
1:03:26 Land Distribution and Reforms
1:07:28 Family of Naram-Sin and Diplomatic Marriages
1:09:56 Shar-kali-sharri and the End of an Era
1:16:55 After Akkad
1:18:29 Thank You and Patrons

Thanks to Irena for being the voice of Enheduanna. Check out her amazing channel @ancientsitesgirl to travel so some of the world's most interesting archaeological sites.

Related Videos:

The Complete and Concise History of the Sumerians and Early Bronze Age Mesopotamia (7000-2000 BC)

Babylon: The City at the Center of the World - The Concise History of Babylonia (2000-539 BC)

Trade in the Early Bronze Age: Ancient Mesopotamia and the East (Harappan Civilization, Oxus & Elam)

Sources and Suggested Reading:

The Age of Agade: Inventing Empire in Ancient Mesopotamia - Benjamin R. Foster
Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature - Benjamin R. Foster
The Ancient Near East: History, Society and Economy - Mario Liverani
A History of Babylon, 2200 BC - AD 75 - Paul-Alain Beaulieu
Weavers, Scribes, and Kings: A New History of the Ancient Near East - Amanda H. Podany

Follow History with Cy:

Music:

Epidemic Sound

#mesopotamia #bronzeage #ancienthistory

[kevinmilner]

I love how Cy's videos always have a map with an Elam token lurking off to the side obviously causing trouble.

[satohime]

an hour and 20 minutes of Akkadian history is the best gift we could receive for the weekend🙏🏼

[ancientsitesgirl]

Working with you is always a pleasure! Thanks for this! ❤️

[WanaxTV]

Probably the best video on the Akkadians on YouTube. Great job Cy! ☑️

[pumpkin]

I have a massive interest in ancient mesopotamia and you are by far my favorite channel covering the topic. Massive thanks for your hard and brilliant work!

[michaellewis]

Cy!! Hello! I must say the content of your channel has just become better and better over the years. Really impressive that your documentaries outshines and far out performs anything from multi million dollar netflix for example. Keep up the fantastic work!!

[xetht]

Almost an hour and a half of Akkad??? You always do great work Cy! Thank you!

[TERMICOBRA]

Outstanding episode. I instantly recognized Irena's voice. I love her channel. When she says "Let's go!" you know you're going to learn something amazing about the ancient world.

[Akutabai]

Sorry but I can't take king Dudu seriously

[kersebleptes]

These longer videos that you do now are excellent (this one being no different!).
You've always been great at summoning up the atmosphere of the past, with your well chosen and presented quotes, but now this is accompanied by the wealth of detail that there just wasn't time for before.
This was a real pleasure to watch!

[chriscahill]

I hope Agade is found. What a wealth of info that would provide. Excellent video Cy! Thanks

[codyclick]

Thanks Cy! Always appreciate one of your long form videos

[beasleydad]

Always a good listen/watch. I've learned so much about our past as humans. I haven't been here from video 1, but I've been around for a while. You rock.

[interdictr]

I was hoping for this. Excellent.

And many thanks!

[Azqabat]

I've waited for a video exactly this size. The tidbits were okay, but I digest at lest hourly themed videos far easier. Keep up the good work Cy!

[highadmiraljt]

Lugal zage si was so close to becoming the first emperor in know history, just for Sargon to outdo him immediately and now be remembered as such instead.

[hughquigley]

17:04 "...he was disturbed like a fish living in brackish water" is so funny to me. Kinda goes hard idk

[davidportman]

Watching this channel grow has been awesome, I lost my original account when cy was at 60, 000 to now makes me happy.

[zas]

We still have Akkadian word in our Kurdish language.

[myownmusic]

I just want to say that only today did I notice your quizzes! I did the latest quiz and went all the way back to #14. I don't know if your motivation behind the quizzes is to increase crowd interaction with your channel, a genuine desire to promote education about the subjects you make videos about, or a combination of the two, but I REALLY love it.

That said, Id recommend, like, two minor changes to really streamline your process: 1.) Make at least one quiz after each video, 2.) Make multiple questions per quiz. Say, each quiz has ten questions. Those who get them all right get bragging rights, and are ousted as being super nerds.

Either way, you're easily my favorite history youtuber, and I think I've probably provided you with maybe 100 or 200 views for your channel (probably 4 or 5 just on this video, I keep forgetting I've already watched it XD). Keep it up! Or don't - I'll probably just keep rewatching all of your old videos if you don't post new stuff, I'm more than happy either way!

Alright, enough fan-girling! It's time for me to watch this again!