Bronze Head of a King, perhaps Sargon of Akkad, from Nineveh (now in Iraq), Akkadian period, 2300 BC; in Iraq Museum, Baghdad 🇮🇶Sargon of Akkad, an ancient Mesopotamian ruler (r. 2334–2279 BC) who was one of earliest of the world’s great empire builders, conquering all of southern Mesopotamia as well as parts of Syria, Anatolia and Elam (western Iran). He established region’s first Semitic dynasty and was considered founder of Mesopotamian military tradition.Sargon is known almost entirely from the legends and tales that followed his reputation through 2000 years of cuneiform Mesopotamian history, and not from documents that were written during his lifetime. Lack of contemporary record is explained by fact that the capital city of Agade (Akkad), which he built, has never been located and excavated. It was destroyed at end of dynasty that Sargon founded and was never again inhabited, at least under name of Agade.According to a folktale, Sargon was a self-made man of humble origins; a gardener, having found him as a baby floating in a basket on the river, brought him up in his own calling. His father is unknown; his own name during his childhood is also unknown; his mother is said to have been a priestess in a town on middle Euphrates. Rising, therefore, without help of influential relations, he attained post of cupbearer to ruler of city of Kish, in north of ancient land of Sumer. Event that brought him to supremacy was the defeat of Lugalzaggisi of Uruk (biblical Erech, central Sumer). Lugalzaggisi had already united city-states of Sumer by defeating each in turn and claimed to rule the lands not only of Sumerian city-states but also those as far west as Mediterranean. Thus, Sargon became king over all of southern Mesopotamia, first great ruler for whom, rather than Sumerian, Semitic tongue known as Akkadian was natural from birth, although some earlier kings with Semitic names are recorded in Sumerian king list. Victory was ensured, however, only by numerous battles, since each city hoped to regain its independence from Lugalzaggisi without submitting to new overlord. It may have been before these exploits, when he was gathering followers and an army, that Sargon named himself Sharru-kin (“Rightful King”) in support of an accession not achieved in an old-established city through hereditary succession. Historical records are still so meagre, however, that there is a complete gap in information relating to this period.As the result of Sargon’s military prowess and ability to organize, as well as of the legacy of Sumerian city-states that he had inherited by conquest and of previously existing trade of the old Sumerian city-states with other countries, commercial connections flourished with the Indus Valley, coast of Oman, the islands and shores of Persian Gulf, the lapis lazuli mines of Badakhshān, cedars of Lebanon, silver-rich Taurus Mountains, Cappadocia, Crete, and perhaps even Greece.During Sargon’s rule Akkadian became adapted to the script that previously had been used in Sumerian language and new spirit of calligraphy that is visible upon clay tablets of this dynasty is also clearly seen on contemporary cylinder seals, with their beautifully arranged and executed scenes of mythology and festive life. Even if this new artistic feeling is not necessarily to be attributed directly to personal influence of Sargon, it shows that, in his new capital, military and economic values were not alone important.Attributing his success to the patronage of the goddess Ishtar, in whose honour Agade was erected, Sargon of Akkad became the first great empire builder. Two later Assyrian kings were named in his honour. Although the briefly recorded information of his predecessor Lugalzaggisi shows that expansion beyond the Sumerian homeland had already begun, later Mesopotamians looked to Sargon as the founder of the military tradition that runs through the history of their people.