Sargon of Akkad (also known as Sargon the Great and Sarru-Kan, meaning 'True King’) reigned in Mesopotamia from 2334 to 2279 BCE. He is equally famous today as the father of the great poet-priestess Enheduanna. He was born as an illegitimate son of a temple priestess of the goddess Innana and, according to the Sargon Legend (a cuneiform clay tablet purporting to be his biography) was set adrift by her in a basket on the Euphrates River where he was found by a man named Akki who was a gardener, perhaps in the Kingdom of Kish. He followed in his father’s trade and somehow became appointed Cup Bearer to Ur-Zababa, the King of Kish, who sent him to work for Lugalzagesi of Uruk, whom Sargon promptly overthrew. He then conquered Kish, became king and founded the city of Akkad (Agade). Sargon conquered the dominant Sumerians to forge the first great Semitic kingdom, the Akkadian Empire. His story was long known throughout Mesopotamia and he was considered the greatest man who had ever lived, celebrated in glorious tales down through the Persian Empire.
Ancient Mesopotamia (like ancient Greece) was dotted by many small city-states all of whom fought one another over fertile territory and water. Lugalzagesi of Uruk had marched through the land and conquered the city-states one by one, uniting all of them under his authority. When Sargon overthrew Lugalzagesi and seized power he gained an already united kingdom which he could use to advantage in military campaigns to, finally, establish the first empire over all of Mesopotamia.
After the defeat of Lugalzagesi, however, the city-states hardly accepted Sargon with grace and submission; they rebelled against their new ruler, and forced him to prove his legitimacy as king through military might. He traveled throughout Mesopotamia conquering one city-state after another and expanded his empire as far as Lebanon and the Taurus mountains of Turkey. He built the first city of Babylon and instituted military practices of combining different types of fighting forces which became standard down through the time of Alexander the Great.
Ancient Mesopotamia (like ancient Greece) was dotted by many small city-states all of whom fought one another over fertile territory and water. Lugalzagesi of Uruk had marched through the land and conquered the city-states one by one, uniting all of them under his authority. When Sargon overthrew Lugalzagesi and seized power he gained an already united kingdom which he could use to advantage in military campaigns to, finally, establish the first empire over all of Mesopotamia.
After the defeat of Lugalzagesi, however, the city-states hardly accepted Sargon with grace and submission; they rebelled against their new ruler, and forced him to prove his legitimacy as king through military might. He traveled throughout Mesopotamia conquering one city-state after another and expanded his empire as far as Lebanon and the Taurus mountains of Turkey. He built the first city of Babylon and instituted military practices of combining different types of fighting forces which became standard down through the time of Alexander the Great.