INTRODUCTION

Over the span of roughly two centuries, the Sargonic dynasty attained a greater level of territorial control than previously realized in the ancient Near East, achieving what may be considered the world’s first empire.[1] This empire was formed and maintained through conquests, both military and economic, that transferred political power from various city-states and regions to the Sargonic rulers and their loyal dependents. Thus, the centralization of power was pivotal to wielding control over a vast and diverse area, which spanned from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea (though with admittedly less control along the peripheries). Since power centralization of this magnitude had not been formerly achieved, the Sargonic rulers needed to implement novel mechanisms of control, which often took the form of reorganization of leadership and land ownership. Whereas the first two Sargonic rulers, Sargon and Rimush, effected such reorganization primarily through military conquests, the third ruler, Manishtushu, was able to reorganize leadership and land ownership through an economic “conquest”—namely, the confiscation or expropriation of land through financial means. As such, the Obelisk of Manishtushu commemorated and validated the large-scale reorganization of leadership and land ownership through economic conquest in order to further centralize the power of the Akkadian Empire. While his reign was short-lived, this economic conquest probably benefited his successors, who similarly reorganized leadership and land ownership through economic conquests. To explore this Manishtushu’s economic conquest, this discussion will (1) contextualize the Obelisk of Manishtushu before (2) considering power centralization during the Akkadian empire.