CONCLUSION

The level of territorial control achieved by the Sargonic rulers reached imperial heights with the effective employment of novel means of control through conquest. Whether these conquests were military or economic in nature, they involved the reorganization of leadership and land ownership in order to centralize power around Akkad and the king. Whereas Sargon and Rimush primarily engaged in military conquests, the large-scale land purchase of northern Babylonian land by Manishtushu was an act of economic conquest, based on a legitimate commercial transaction, commemorated and validated by the Obelisk of Manishtushu. Though it is difficult to assess how effective at centralizing power this economic conquest was, it likely established a precedent for Naram-Sin and Shar-kali-sharri. Despite the later collapse of the empire, it nevertheless achieved a legendary status for which later states would strive.