Sargon of Akkad

Sargon of Akkad built the first empire in recorded history. He ruled in Mesopotamia around 2334 to 2279 BC, and his origins are given in a legend written a thousand years later in which his mother, a priestess, placed him in a reed basket sealed with bitumen and set him on the river, where a gardener drew him out and raised him — a story that reappears with Moses. He was cupbearer to the king of Kish and took power by means the sources do not record. He then conquered the Sumerian city-states of the south, defeating Lugalzagesi of Uruk and leading him to the gate of Nippur in a neck-stock, and campaigned north into Syria and Anatolia and east into Elam. His inscriptions claim that ships from Meluhha, Magan and Dilmun — probably the Indus, Oman and Bahrain — docked at his capital. The empire was an invention rather than an enlargement. He replaced local rulers with Akkadian governors, garrisoned the cities, standardised weights and measures, and made Akkadian the administrative language alongside Sumerian, which is the beginning of Semitic dominance in Mesopotamia. He is credited with a standing army of 5,400 men who ate before him daily. He installed his daughter Enheduanna as high priestess of the moon god at Ur, and her hymns are the earliest literature attributed to a named author. His capital Agade has never been located. The dynasty lasted about a century and a half, and later Mesopotamian kings measured themselves against him. His name in Akkadian means the king is legitimate, which is what usurpers call themselves.

• Lived: 2334 BCE – 2279 BCE
• Nationality: Iraqi
• Roles: ruler, military_leader