AILEEN CASSINETTO and C. SOPHIA IBARDALOZA Engage
(Akkadian Empire, Wikipedia)
“The Curse of
Akkad”
EMPIRES AND FALLING SKIES
For the first time since cities were built and founded, / The great
agricultural tracts produced no grain, / The inundated tracts produced no fish,
/ The irrigated orchards produced neither syrup nor wine, / The gathered clouds
did not rain, the masgurum did not grow. / At that time, one shekel’s worth of
oil was only one-half quart, / One shekel’s worth of grain was only one-half
quart… / These sold at such prices in the markets of all the cities! / He who
slept on the roof, died on the roof, / He who slept in the house, had no
burial, / People were flailing at themselves from hunger.
“The Curse of Akkad” details the fall of the world’s
first empire. A century before the poem was written, however, an imperial
political structure was in place, and society was thriving. Its center lay
south of modern day Baghdad, and its rule extended to northeastern Syria, where
the Khabur River meets the Euphrates, supposedly the most fertile land in
northern Mesopotamia. But by 2200 BCE, based on archaeological evidence, the
empire had collapsed, and its settlements completely abandoned.
Around the same time, in Old Kingdom Egypt, political and
economic structures were fragmenting, characterized by dynastic instability,
civil wars, dispossession, and the absence of a centralized government.
Interestingly, it was also around this time that the Nile exhibited signs of
decline—such as changes in water chemistry, which caused widespread famine, and
dislocation, and may have greatly contributed to the systemic failure and the
eventual dissolution of the Old Kingdom.
Analyzing climate data, paleoclimatologists have deduced
that the collapse of these civilizations coincided with reduced rainfall,
severe droughts, and decreased agricultural yield. Abrupt climate shifts also
impacted other civilizations, such as the Harappan civilization in South Asia
around 1900 BCE, the Moche civilization in northern Peru around 700 CE, the
Tiwanaku civilization in the Andes around 1100 CE, the Mongol empire in the
late 1200s, and in the 1500s, the English colony on Roanoke Island.
The mighty Roman empire at its peak ruled three
continents and 75 million people. This period coincided with the “Roman Warm
Period” when climate was most favorable and most stable, as recorded in tree
rings. But by the 6th century, it was clear that Rome was falling. The period
was marked by climate variability (such as major volcanic eruptions followed by
colder temperatures),
plague pandemics, political turmoil, invasions, economic
dislocation, migration, and a declining population.
Stalagmite and sediment records from the 9th century show
protracted dry periods in the Lesser Antilles to as far as southern France, and
in Mesoamerica and Asia. So severe was the drought at the time that data
strongly suggests it contributed to the fall of the Tang Dynasty as well as the
collapse of the Mayan civilization.
As the American Century draws to a close (i.e., analyses
by the National Intelligence Council in Global Trends point to [the
unprecedented] “transfer of global wealth and economic power from the West to
the East”), here’s where we’re at: the building of the Dakota access and
Keystone XL oil pipelines were permitted, streams are reopened to mining waste,
water protection is rescinded, plans to reduce CO2 emissions from power plants
are dismantled, the Interior Department and the EPA’s Climate Change websites
have been deleted, the EPA’s science advisors were dismissed, federal
protection of whales from fishing nets was removed, the Climate Advisory Panel
has been disbanded, and regulations on toxic air pollution loosened, among
other things. We have also opted to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord,
“the world’s first comprehensive climate agreement.” Scientific evidence and
current trends, meanwhile, unequivocally indicate that the world’s climate is
changing—global temperatures and sea levels are rising and the oceans are
warming. And the sky really is falling.
Empires are fragile things. Archaeological evidence
suggests that a three century drought may have caused the collapse of
Mesopotamian settlements. In the end, all that is left of the world’s first
empire is a mound—specifically, three feet of wind-blown sand, and fragments: a
bronze head, a stone slab, the lower part of a copper statue, cylinder seals.
And a poem, exactly 281 lines long.
______________
REFERENCES:
Biello, David. “Rise and
Fall of Chinese Dynasties Tied to Changes in Rainfall.” Scientific American,
November 7, 2008.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/monsoon-climate-change-chinese/
Accessed February 8, 2018.
Butzer, Karl W. “Collapse,
environment, and society.”
PNAS 2012 March, 109 (10)
3632-3639. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1114845109 Accessed February 8, 2018.
Conniff, Richard. “When
Civilizations Collapse.” Yale University.
http://environment.yale.edu/envy/stories/when-civilizations-collapse/#gsc.tab=0
Accessed February 8, 2018.
Greshko, Michael et al. “A
Running List of How Trump Is Changing the Environment.” National Geographic,
February 1, 2018.
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/03/how-trump-is-changing-science-environment/
Accessed February 8, 2018.
Harper, Kyle. “How Climate
Change and Plague Helped Bring Down the Roman Empire. Smithsonian.com, December
19, 2017.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-climate-change-and-disease-helped-fall-rome-180967591/
Accessed February 8, 2018.
McCoy, Alfred W. “The
Decline and Fall of the American Empire.” The Nation, December 6, 2010.
https://www.thenation.com/article/decline-and-fall-american-empire/ Accessed
February 8, 2018.
NASA. “Global Climate
Change.” https://climate.nasa.gov Accessed February 8, 2018.
“The Electronic Text
Corpus of Sumerian Literature.” http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/. Accessed
February 11, 2018.
*****
Aileen Cassinetto is a small press publisher (https://palomapress.net)
and poet laureate finalist of San Mateo County. She's the author of
a poetry collection, traje de boda (Meritage Press), and
four poetry chaps through Moria Books’ Locofo (http://www.moriapoetry.com/locofo.html)
series.
C. Sophia
Ibardaloza is an artist and writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
She is the illustrator and co-author of the poetry collection, BLUE. Her most recent work, ANNE WITH AN E & ME, was published
by Paloma Press in January 2018.
