The Fall of the World’s First Empire - 1x60’

YEAR OF PRODUCTION: 2025

Themes: History, Documentary

SYNOPSIS:

The Fall of the World’s First Empire explores the dramatic rise and mysterious collapse of the Akkadian Empire—the earliest known major empire in human history. More than 4,500 years ago, Sargon the Great unified the fertile crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates, replacing the Sumerians and extending Akkadian influence from Syria to Oman. With pioneering irrigation systems, organized agriculture, and a centralized bureaucracy, the empire transformed productivity, governance, and the ancient world itself.

Yet just two centuries later, the great Akkadian cities fell silent, swallowed by shifting sands and overtaken by nomadic herders. For generations, theories of their downfall ranged from volcanic eruptions and meteor strikes to economic ruin and devastating droughts. But new isotope analysis from northern Mesopotamian human remains challenges these long-held assumptions. Instead of a sudden environmental catastrophe, the evidence points to something more complex: an empire that fractured politically while its people endured, adapted, and remained—setting the stage for new powers to rise where Sargon’s dominion once stood.