Naram-Sin- Mesopotamian FigureMortal"King of the Four Quarters"

The God-King

Naram-Sin, grandson of Sargon of Akkad, expanded the Akkadian Empire to its greatest extent and did what no Mesopotamian king before him had dared: he claimed to be a god. He added the divine determinative to his name, accepted worship in temples, and styled himself "God of Akkad." His Victory Stele, commemorating his triumph over the Lullubi of the Zagros Mountains, declares this status in stone. Naram-Sin climbs the mountain at heroic scale, wearing the horned helmet previously reserved for gods alone. He stands larger than his soldiers, nearly touching the divine symbols at the stele's apex, while enemies fall or beg for mercy beneath his feet.

The Curse of Agade

Later tradition remembered the god-king differently. The Curse of Agade, composed centuries after his reign, tells how Naram-Sin attacked and destroyed the Ekur, Enlil's great temple at Nippur. The reaction was swift and absolute. Enlil withdrew his favor. Inanna abandoned the city. The gods themselves cursed Akkad, summoning the Gutian barbarians from the mountains to overwhelm the empire. The great city fell into ruin, its markets emptied, its fields turned to waste. The Curse of Agade was copied and recopied for over a thousand years.

The Cuthaean Legend

A second literary tradition offered a more complex portrait. In the Cuthaean Legend, Naram-Sin faces invasion by demonic warriors, creatures spawned by the gods who cannot be killed by conventional weapons. His initial campaigns end in disaster because he refuses to consult the oracles. Only after accepting his limits, submitting to proper divination through extispicy, and seeking the gods' guidance does Naram-Sin find the strategy to prevail.