Around 2250BC, Naram-Sin reigned supreme over a big chunk of Mesopotamia in modern Iraq – an empire known as Akkad. But then, catastrophically, came “the curse of Akkad”. Rains stopped and crops failed, leading to rampant inflation, mass starvation and political chaos. At the time, it was believed that the “curse” was Naram-Sin’s doing – he’d wronged by “defying the gods” and “losing divine favour”.
Scientists today have reached a different conclusion. Evidence suggests there was a sudden change in the climate at the time – “an evaporation event” – which caused severe drought followed by several centuries of aridity. As Peter Frankopan puts it in his masterly new book: “the collapse of the Akkadian empire has become an important and salutary example for the modern age” and “a stark warning of how mighty civilisations can fold in on themselves”, because of rapid ecological shocks. “Our world has always been one of transformation, transition and change,” he writes, and yet “the weather, climate and environmental factors have rarely been seen as a backdrop to human history, let alone as an important lens through which to view the past”.
