These interpretations of the King of Battle and Great Revolt narratives have been
challenged, most vocally from authors like Liverani who warn that any ancient text that
recalls events from the past is masking observations on the world of the present:
Consequently, a lot of assumed information on the Akkad dynasty fades away...
On the other side, we get information on quite different matters, i.e. on the political
problems at the time of the texts’ composition, and on the use of Akkad as a model
dynasty for the succeeding periods.
(Liverani 1993 : 47 )Thus, the narratives are Old Babylonian/Old Assyrian compositions that took
inspiration from the ancient monuments erected by Akkadian kings. If Sargon or
Naram-Sin had actually undertaken these campaigns into the Anatolian Plateau, they
would likely have commissioned monuments commemorating these events, which
would have likely been copied by Old Babylonian/Old Assyrian scribes (Liverani 1993 :
50 ). Such copies have not been identified.
Potts acknowledges Liverani’s critique of the literal readings of these texts to
reconstruct the history of the Akkadian empire, but is careful not to dismiss every
narrative as pure fabrication, propagandistic or otherwise (Potts 2001 : 405 – 407 ). Citing
the Great Revolt against Naram-Sin, he proposes that scholarship is in need of more
evidence, textual and archaeological, to weigh against the reading of these texts. Further
evidence may open a “window into the historical dimension of the text” (Potts 2001 :
407 ), a window which has been shut in Liverani’s analysis.THE MATERIAL CULTURE OF COMMUNICATIONIconography and glyptic
How might archaeology inform these debates? Mellink has drawn attention to an
alabaster stela recovered (unprovenanced) in the Al-Hai district of southern Iraq
(Mellink 1963 ). Two preserved fragments show a row of nude captives moving from
right to left above a row of robed and helmeted soldiers carrying daggers aloft. One of
the soldiers also carries a distinctive two handled goblet (Basmachi 1954 : pl. 1 ; Mellink
1963 : pls. 28 – 29 ). The composition is unmistakably Akkadian and has good parallels
with the Lullubi victory stela of Naram-Sin (Mellink 1963 : 102 n. 4 for references). The
daggers and goblet appear to be the booty of a victorious Akkadian army, which had
just defeated an enemy represented by the nude captives (Mellink 1963 : 101 – 102 ).
The most evocative feature of the stela for this discussion is the double-handled
goblet (Mellink 1963 : pl. 30 ). No remotely comparable form exists in the local ceramic
repertoire of Syria, Iraq, or Iran (Mellink 1963 : 106 after Basmachi 1954 : 106 ), but the
double-handled goblets, including so-called “depascups” (Figure 26. 3 ), are emblematic
in a repertoire of Anatolian pottery that has been identified as imports in a region that
was likely under some manner of Akkadian control (i.e. in the conquered region of
Subartu, Figure 26. 1 ). If nothing else, it appears an Akkadian craftsman may have been
at least familiar with the double-handled Anatolian goblet form, and wanted to convey
the exoticness (and geographical distance) of these people conquered by Naram-Sin–– Christoph Bachhuber ––