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Naram-Sin stele (Louvre Museum)

This article is about the king of the Akkadians. For other meanings of the word see Naram-Sin.

Naram-Sin (2255 BC – 2219 BC short chronology) was the third successor and grandson of Sargon of Akkad; under Naram-Sin the Akkadian Empire reached its zenith.

He was the first Mesopotamian king to claim divinity, and the first to be called "King of the Four Quarters". He traded with Meluhha (possibly corresponding to the Indus Valley civilization) and controlled a large portion of land along the Persian Gulf. Naram-Sin expanded his empire by defeating the King of Magan at the southern end of the Persian Gulf and conquering the hill tribes northwards in the Taurus Mountains. He built administrative centers at Nagar (Tell Brak) and Nineveh.

Part of Mesopotamian mythology has it that the Goddess Inanna abandoned the former capital of Akkad due to Naram-sin's plunder of the Ekur (temple of the god Enlil) in Nippur. In his anger, Enlil brought the Gutians down from the hills to bring plague, famine and death throughout Mesopotamia. To prevent this destruction eight of the gods decreed that Agade (Akkad) should be destroyed to spare the remaining cities. While this story is mostly mythological, it does suggest that Gutian raids contributing to the downfall of the Akkadian empire began during this period.

Naram-Sin's famed victory stele (illustration) depicts him as a god-king (symbolized by his horned helmet) climbing a mountain above his soldiers and enemies. The stele of victory was broken off at the top when it was stolen and carried off by the Elamites; but nonetheless, it still strikingly reveals the pride and glory and divinity of Naram-Sin. This is probably the first instance in history when a king was depicted as a god. The stele broke off from traditions by using successive diagonal tiers rather than a horizontal format to communicate the story to viewers.

Soon after the death of Naram-Sin, the Gutians who lived on the east bank of the Tigris river, began to invade Assyria. By 2457 BC, Assyria was completely in the hands of the Gutians who ruled over the land once conquered by Naram-Sin's grandfather, Sargon of Akkad. Gutians remained in Mesopotamia for 125 years until they were finally thrown out by the Sumerians who themselves were conquered by Sargon of Akkad some three centuries earlier. ^[1]

• Sumerian king list.
• Name of alternative rock band of the late 1970s-1980s based out of Boulder, Colorado fronted by Jon Martinez.

• H.W.F. Saggs, The Babylonians, Fourth Printing, 1988, Macmillan Publishers Ltd.