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 clearings. They seem in no way a degenerate race, but rather a people arrested in development by the forest environment.

AKKAD (Gr. versions and  ), a Hebrew name, mentioned only once in the Old Testament (Gen. x. 10), for one of the four chief cities, Akkad, Babel, Erech and Calneh, which constituted the nucleus of the kingdom of Nimrod in the land of Shinar or Babylonia. This Biblical city, Akkad, was most probably identical with the northern Babylonian city known to us as Agade (not Agane, as formerly read), which was the principal seat of the early Babylonian king Sargon I. (Šargani-Šarāli), whose date is given by Nabonidus, the last Semitic king of Babylonia (555–537 ), as 3800, which is perhaps too old by 700 or 1000 years. The probably non-Semitic name Agade occurs in a number of inscriptions and is now well attested as having been the name of an important ancient capital. The later Assyro-Babylonian Semitic form Akkadū (“of or belonging to Akkad”) is, in all likelihood, a Semitic loan form from the non-Semitic name Agade, and seems to be an additional demonstration of the identity of Agade and Akkad. The usual signs denoting Akkadū in the Semitic narrative inscriptions were read in the non-Semitic idiom uri-ki or ur-ki, “land of the city,” which simply meant that Akkadū was the land of the city par excellence, i.e. of the city of Agade of Sargon I., which remained for a long period the leading city of Babylonia.

It is quite probable that the non-Semitic name Agade may mean “crown (aga) of fire (de)” in allusion to Ištar, “the brilliant goddess,” the tutelar deity of the morning and evening star and the goddess of war and love, whose cult was observed in very early times in Agade. This fact is again attested by Nabonidus, whose record mentions that the Ištar worship of Agade was later superseded by that of the goddess Anunit, another personification of the Ištar idea, whose shrine was at Sippar. It is significant in this connexion that there were two cities named Sippar, one under the protection of Shamash, the sun-god, and one under this Anunit, a fact which points strongly to the probable proximity of Sippar and Agade. In fact, it has been thought that Agade-Akkad was situated opposite Sippar on the left bank of the Euphrates, and was probably the oldest part of the city of Sippar.

In the Assyro-Babylonian literature the name Akkadū appears as part of the royal title in connexion with Sumer; viz. non-Semitic: lugal Kēngi (ki) Uru (ki) = šar mât Šumeri u Akkadī, “king of Sumer and Akkad,” which appears to have meant simply “king of Babylonia.” It is not likely, as many scholars have thought, that Akkad was ever used geographically as a distinctive appellation for northern Babylonia, or that the name (q.v.) denoted the southern part of the land, because kings who ruled only over Southern Babylonia used the double title “king of Sumer and Akkad,” which was also employed by northern rulers who never established their sway farther south than Nippur, notably the great Assyrian conqueror Tiglath-pileser III. (745–727 ). Professor McCurdy has very reasonably suggested that the title “king of Sumer and Akkad” indicated merely a claim to the ancient territory and city of Akkad together with certain additional territory, but not necessarily all Babylonia, as was formerly believed.

A discussion of the interesting question relating to the non-Semitic so-called Sumero-Akkadian language and race will be found in the article.

AKKERMAN (in old Slav. Byelgorod, “white town”), a town, formerly a fortress, of south-west Russia, in the government of Bessarabia, situated on the right bank of the estuary (liman) of the Dniester, 12 m. from the Black Sea. The town stands on the site of the ancient Milesian colony of Tyras. Centuries later it was rebuilt by the Genoese, who called it Mauro Castro. The Turks first acquired possession of it in 1484. It was taken by the Russians in 1770, 1774 and 1806, but each time returned to the Turks, and not definitely annexed to Russia until 1881. A treaty concluded here in 1826 between Russia and the Porte secured considerable advantages to the former. It was the non-observance of this treaty that led to the war of 1828. The harbour is too shallow to admit vessels of large size, but the proximity of the town to Odessa secures for it a thriving business in wine, salt, fish wool and tallow. The salt is obtained from the saline lakes (limans) in the neighbourhood. The town, with its suburbs, contains beautiful gardens and vineyards. It is surrounded by ramparts, and commanded by a citadel. Pop. (1900) 32,470.

AKMOLINSK, one of the governments belonging to the governor-generalship of the Steppes in Asiatic Russia, formerly known as the Kirghiz Steppe; bounded by the government of Turgai on the W., by that of Tobolsk on the N., of Semi-palatinsk on the E., and of Syr-darya on the S. Area 229,544 sq. m., of which 4535 are lakes. In the north the government is low and dotted with salt lakes, and is sandy on the banks of the Irtysh in the north-east. An undulating plateau stretches through the middle, watered by the Ishim and its tributary the Nura. The plains gradually rise southwards, where a broad spur of the Tarbagatai mountains stretches north-westwards, containing gold, copper and coal. Many lakes, of which the largest is Teniz, are scattered along the northern slope of these hills. Farther south, towards Lake Balkash, on the south-eastern frontier, is a wide waterless desert, Bek-pak-dala, or Famine Steppe. This section of the government is drained by the Sary-su and Chu, the latter on the southern boundary-line. The climate is continental and dry, the average temperatures at the town of Akmolinsk being for the year 35°, January 1·5°, July 70°; rainfall, only 9 in. The population, which was 686,863 in 1897 (324,587 women), consists chiefly of Russians in the northern and middle portions, and of Kirghiz (about 350,000), who breed cattle, horses and sheep. The urban population was only 74,069. Agriculture is successfully carried on in the north, the Siberian railway running between Petropavlovsk and Omsk through a very fertile, well-populated region. Steamers ply on the Irtysh. The government is divided into five districts, the chief towns of which are: Omsk (pop. 53,050 in 1900), formerly capital of West Siberia, now capital of this government and also of the governor-generalship of the Steppes; Akmolinsk, or Akmolly (9560 in 1897), on the Ishim, 260 m. S.S.W. of Omsk, and chief centre for the caravans coming from Tashkent and Bokhara; Atbasar (3030); Kokchetav (5000); and Petropavlovsk (21,769 in 1901).

AKOLA, a town and district of India, in Berar, otherwise known as the Hyderabad Assigned Districts. The town is on the Murna tributary of the Purna river, 930 ft. above the sea, Akola proper being on the west bank, and Tajnapeth, containing the government buildings and European residences, on the east bank. It is a station on the Nagpur branch of the Great Indian Peninsula railway and is 383 m. E.N.E. of Bombay. It had a population (1901) of 29,289. It is walled, and has a citadel built in the early years of the 19th century. Akola is one of