Sargon of Akkad (; ; died 2279 BC), also known as Sargon the Great, was the first ruler of the

Akkadian Empire The Akkadian Empire () was the first known empire, succeeding the long-lived city-states of Sumer. Centered on the city of Akkad (city), Akkad ( or ) and its surrounding region, the empire united Akkadian language, Akkadian and Sumerian languag ...

, known for his conquests of the

Sumer Sumer () is the earliest known civilization, located in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (now south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. ...

ian

city-state A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world throughout history, including cities such as Rome, ...

s in the 24th to 23rd centuries BC.The date of the reign of Sargon is highly uncertain, depending entirely on the (conflicting) regnal years given in the various copies of the

Sumerian King List The ''Sumerian King List'' (abbreviated ''SKL'') or ''Chronicle of the One Monarchy'' is an ancient Composition (language), literary composition written in Sumerian language, Sumerian that was likely created and redacted to legitimize the claims ...

, specifically the uncertain duration of the Gutian dynasty. The added regnal years of the Sargonic and the Gutian dynasties have to be subtracted from the accession of

Ur-Nammu Ur-Nammu (or Ur-Namma, Ur-Engur, Ur-Gur, Sumerian language, Sumerian: ; died 2094 BC) founded the Sumerian Third Dynasty of Ur, in southern Mesopotamia, following several centuries of Akkadian Empire, Akkadian and Gutian period, Gutian rule. Thou ...

of the

Third Dynasty of Ur The Third Dynasty of Ur or Ur III was a Sumerian dynasty based in the city of Ur in the 22nd and 21st centuries BC ( middle chronology). For a short period they were the preeminent power in Mesopotamia and their realm is sometimes referred to by ...

, which is variously dated to either 2047 BC (

Short Chronology The chronology of the ancient Near East is a framework of dates for various events, rulers and dynasties. Historical inscriptions and texts customarily record events in terms of a succession of officials or rulers: "in the year X of king Y". Com ...

) or 2112 BC (

Middle Chronology The chronology of the ancient Near East is a framework of dates for various events, rulers and dynasties. Historical inscriptions and texts customarily record events in terms of a succession of officials or rulers: "in the year X of king Y". Com ...

). An accession date of Sargon of 2334 BC assumes: (1) a Sargonic dynasty of 180 years (fall of Akkad 2154 BC), (2) a Gutian interregnum of 42 years and (3) the Middle Chronology accession year of Ur-Nammu (2112 BC). He is sometimes identified as the first person in

recorded history Recorded history or written history describes the historical events that have been recorded in a written form or other documented communication which are subsequently evaluated by historians using the historical method. For broader world h ...

to rule over an

empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

. He was the founder of the "Sargonic" or "Old Akkadian" dynasty, which ruled for about a century after his death until the Gutian conquest of Sumer. The

makes him the

cup-bearer A cup-bearer was historically an officer of high rank in royal courts, whose duty was to pour and serve the drinks at the royal table. On account of the constant fear of plots and intrigues (such as poisoning), a person had to be regarded as thor ...

to King

Ur-Zababa Ur-Zababa () is listed on the ''Sumerian King List'' as the second king of the 4th Dynasty of Kish. This text also records that Ur-Zababa had appointed Sargon of Akkad as his cup-bearer. Sargon was later the ruler of the Akkadian Empire. Famil ...

Kish Kish may refer to: Businesses and organisations * KISH, a radio station in Guam * Kish Air, an Iranian airline * Korean International School in Hanoi, Vietnam People * Kish (surname), including a list of people with the name * Kish, a former ...

before Sargon became a king himself. His empire, which he ruled from his archaeologically as yet unidentified capital, Akkad, is thought to have included most of

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

and parts of the

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

Hurrian The Hurrians (; ; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri) were a people who inhabited the Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age. They spoke the Hurro-Urartian language, Hurrian language, and lived throughout northern Syria (region) ...

and

Elam Elam () was an ancient civilization centered in the far west and southwest of Iran, stretching from the lowlands of what is now Khuzestan and Ilam Province as well as a small part of modern-day southern Iraq. The modern name ''Elam'' stems fr ...

ite territory. Sargon appears as a legendary figure in Neo-Assyrian literature of the 8th to 7th centuries BC. Tablets with fragments of a ''Sargon Birth Legend'' were found in the

Library of Ashurbanipal The Royal Library of Ashurbanipal, named after Ashurbanipal, the last great king of the Assyrian Empire, is a collection of more than 30,000 clay tablets and fragments containing texts of all kinds from the 7th century BCE, including texts in ...

Name

The Akkadian name is normalized as either ''Šarru-ukīn'' or ''Šarru-kēn''. The name's cuneiform spelling is variously LUGAL-''ú-kin'', ''šar-ru-gen''₆, ''šar-ru-ki-in'', ''šar-ru-um-ki-in''. In

Old Babylonian Old Babylonian may refer to: *the period of the First Babylonian dynasty (20th to 16th centuries BC) *the historical stage of the Akkadian language Akkadian ( ; )John Huehnergard & Christopher Woods, "Akkadian and Eblaite", ''The Cambridge Enc ...

tablets relating the legends of Sargon, his name is transcribed as (''Šar-ru-um-ki-in'').Cooper, Jerrold S. and Wolfgang Heimpel, "The Sumerian Sargon Legend", Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 103, no. 1, pp. 67–82, January–March 1983 In Late Assyrian references, the name is mostly spelled as LUGAL-GI.NA or LUGAL-GIN, i.e. identical to the name of the Neo-Assyrian king

Sargon II Sargon II (, meaning "the faithful king" or "the legitimate king") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 722 BC to his death in battle in 705. Probably the son of Tiglath-Pileser III (745–727), Sargon is generally believed to have be ...

.Eckart Frahm
"Observations on the Name and Age of Sargon II and on Some Patterns of Assyrian Royal Onomastics"
''NABU'' 2005.2, 46–50. The spelling ''Sargon'' is derived from the single mention of the name (in reference to

) in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Isaiah 20:1. The first element in the name is '' šarru'', the Akkadian (East Semitic) for "king" (cf. Hebrew ''śar'' ). The second element is derived from the verb ''kīnum'' "to confirm, establish" (related to Hebrew ''kūn'' ). A possible interpretation of the reading ''Šarru-ukīn'' is "the king has established (stability)" or "he he godhas established the king". Such a name would however be unusual; other names in ''-ukīn'' always include both a subject and an object, as in ''Šamaš-šuma-ukīn'' "

Shamash Shamash (Akkadian language, Akkadian: ''šamaš''), also known as Utu (Sumerian language, Sumerian: dutu "Sun") was the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian Solar deity, sun god. He was believed to see everything that happened in t ...

has established an heir". There is some debate over whether the name was an adopted regnal name or a birth name. The reading ''Šarru-kēn'' has been interpreted adjectivally, as "the king is established; legitimate", expanded as a phrase ''šarrum ki(e)num''. The terms "Pre-Sargonic" and "Post-Sargonic" were used in Assyriology based on the chronologies of Nabonidus before the historical existence of Sargon of Akkad was confirmed. The form ''Šarru-ukīn'' was known from the Assyrian Sargon Legend discovered in 1867 in

at Nineveh. A contemporary reference to Sargon thought to have been found on the cylinder seal of Ibni-sharru, a high-ranking official serving under Sargon. Joachim Menant published a description of this seal in 1877, reading the king's name as ''Shegani-shar-lukh'', and did not yet identify it with "Sargon the Elder" (who was identified with the Old Assyrian king Sargon I). In 1883, the British Museum acquired the "mace-head of Shar-Gani-sharri", a votive gift deposited at the temple of Shamash in

Sippar Sippar (Sumerian language, Sumerian: , Zimbir) (also Sippir or Sippara) was an ancient Near Eastern Sumerian and later Babylonian city on the east bank of the Euphrates river. Its ''Tell (archaeology), tell'' is located at the site of modern Tell ...

. This "Shar-Gani" was identified with the Sargon of Agade of Assyrian legend. The identification of "Shar-Gani-sharri" with Sargon was recognised as mistaken in the 1910s. Shar-Gani-sharri (

Shar-Kali-Sharri Shar-Kali-Sharri (, ''Dingir, DShar-ka-li-Sharri''; died 2193 BC) reigned c. 2218–2193 BC (middle chronology) as the ruler of Akkadian Empire, Akkad. In the early days of cuneiform scholarship the name was transcribed as "Shar-Gani-sharri". In ...

) is, in fact, Sargon's great-grandson, the successor of Naram-Sin. It is not entirely clear whether the Neo-Assyrian king

was directly named for Sargon of Akkad, as there is some uncertainty whether his name should be rendered ''Šarru-ukīn'' or as ''Šarru-kēn(u)''.

Chronology

Primary sources pertaining to Sargon are sparse; the main near-contemporary reference is that in the various versions of the ''

''. Here, Sargon is mentioned as the son of a gardener, former cup-bearer of

. He usurped the kingship from Lugal-zage-si of

Uruk Uruk, the archeological site known today as Warka, was an ancient city in the Near East, located east of the current bed of the Euphrates River, on an ancient, now-dried channel of the river in Muthanna Governorate, Iraq. The site lies 93 kilo ...

and took it to his own city of Akkad. The later (early 2nd millennium BC) Weidner chronicle has Sargon ruling directly after Ur-Zababa and does not mention Lugal-zage-si. Various copies of the king list give the duration of his reign as either 40 or 54–56 years. Only a few contemporary inscriptions relating to Sargon exist, though there are a number of Old Babylonian period texts that purport to be copies of earlier inscriptions of Sargon. In absolute years, his reign would correspond to c. 2334–2279 BC in the

middle chronology The chronology of the ancient Near East is a framework of dates for various events, rulers and dynasties. Historical inscriptions and texts customarily record events in terms of a succession of officials or rulers: "in the year X of king Y". Com ...

. His successors until the Gutian conquest of Sumer are also known as the "Sargonic Dynasty" and their rule as the "Sargonic Period" of Mesopotamian history. Foster (1982) argued that the reading of 55 years as the duration of Sargon's reign was, in fact, a corruption of an original interpretation of 37 years. An older version of the king list gives Sargon's reign as lasting for 40 years. Thorkild Jacobsen marked the clause about Sargon's father being a gardener as a lacuna, indicating his uncertainty about its meaning. The claim that Sargon was the original founder of Akkad has been called into question with the discovery of an inscription mentioning the place and dated to the first year of Enshakushanna, who almost certainly preceded him. The ''Weidner Chronicle'' ( ABC 19:51) states that it was Sargon who "built Babylon in front of Akkad". The '' Chronicle of Early Kings'' (ABC 20:18–19) likewise states that late in his reign, Sargon "dug up the soil of the pit of Babylon, and made a counterpart of Babylon next to Agade". Van de Mieroop suggested that those two chronicles may refer to the much later Assyrian king,

of the

Neo-Assyrian Empire The Neo-Assyrian Empire was the fourth and penultimate stage of ancient Assyrian history. Beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II in 911 BC, the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew to dominate the ancient Near East and parts of South Caucasus, Nort ...

, rather than to Sargon of Akkad.

Year names

While various copies of the Sumerian king list and later Babylonian chronicles credit Sargon with a reign length ranging from 34 to 56 years, dated documents have been found for only four different year-names of his actual reign. The names of these four years describe his campaigns against Elam, Mari, Simurrum, and Uru'a/Arawa (in western Elam).

Historiography

Numerous other inscriptions related to Sargon are known.

Nippur inscription

Prisoners on the victory stele of an Akkadian king circa 2300 BCE Louvre Museum Sb 3

Among the most important sources for Sargon's reign is a tablet, in two fragments, of the

period recovered at

Nippur Nippur (Sumerian language, Sumerian: ''Nibru'', often logogram, logographically recorded as , EN.LÍLKI, "Enlil City;"I. E. S. Edwards, C. J. Gadd, N. G. L. Hammond, ''The Cambridge Ancient History: Prolegomena & Prehistory'': Vol. 1, Part 1, Ca ...

in the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

expedition in the 1890s. The tablet is a copy of the inscriptions on the pedestal of a statue erected by Sargon in the temple of

Enlil Enlil, later known as Elil and Ellil, is an List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian god associated with wind, air, earth, and storms. He is first attested as the chief deity of the Sumerian pantheon, but he was later worshipped by t ...

. Fragment one (CBS 13972) was edited by Arno Poebel and fragment two (Ni 3200) by Leon Legrain.

Conquest of Sumer

In the inscription, Sargon styles himself "Sargon, king of Akkad, overseer (''mashkim'') of Inanna, king of Kish, anointed (''guda'') of Anu, king of the land esopotamia governor (''ensi'') of Enlil". It celebrates the conquest of

and the defeat of Lugalzagesi, whom Sargon brought "in a collar to the gate of Enlil":Mario Liverani, "The Ancient Near East: History", Routledge (2013)
p. 143
/ref> Sargon then conquered Ur and E-Ninmar and "laid waste" the territory from

Lagash Lagash (; cuneiform: LAGAŠKI; Sumerian language, Sumerian: ''Lagaš'') was an ancient city-state located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, about east of the modern town of Al-Shatrah, Iraq. Lagash ( ...

to the sea, and from there went on to conquer and destroy

Umma Umma () in modern Dhi Qar Province in Iraq, was an ancient city in Sumer. There is some scholarly debate about the Sumerian and Akkadian names for this site. Traditionally, Umma was identified with Tell Jokha. More recently it has been sugges ...

Conquest of Upper Mesopotamia, as far as the Mediterranean Sea

Submitting himself to the (Levantine god) Dagan, Sargon conquered territories of

Upper Mesopotamia Upper Mesopotamia constitutes the Upland and lowland, uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, in the northern Middle East. Since the early Muslim conquests of the mid-7th century, the regio ...

and the

, including Mari, Yarmuti ( Jarmuth?) and Ibla "up to the Cedar Forest (the Amanus) and up to the Silver Mountain ( Aladagh?)", ruling from the "upper sea" (Mediterranean) to the "lower sea" (Persian Gulf).

Conquests of Elam and Marhashi

Sargon also claims in his inscriptions that he is "Sargon, king of the world, conqueror of

and Parahshum", the two major polities to the east of Sumer. He also names various rulers of the east whom he vanquished, such as " Luh-uh-ish-an, son of Hishibrasini, king of Elam, king of Elam" or "Sidga'u, general of Parahshum", who later also appears in an inscription by

Rimush Rimush (or Rimuš, ''Ri-mu-uš''; died 2270 BC) was the second king of the Akkadian Empire. He was the son of Sargon of Akkad. He was succeeded by his brother Manishtushu, and was an uncle of Naram-Sin of Akkad. Naram-Sin posthumously deified Sa ...

. Sargon triumphed over 34 cities in total. Ships from Meluhha,

Magan Magan may refer to: Places * Magan (civilization) * Magan, Russia * Magan Airport * Magán, Spain *Magan, alternative name of Mahin, a village in Iran * Aman Magan, a village in Iran People * Magan (name) Film and television *'' Azhagiya Tamil ...

and

Dilmun Dilmun, or Telmun, ( Sumerian: ,Transliteration: Similar text: later 𒉌𒌇(𒆠), NI.TUKki = dilmunki; ) was an ancient East Semitic–speaking civilization in Eastern Arabia mentioned from the 3rd millennium BC onwards. Based on contextual ...

, rode at anchor in his capital of Akkad. He entertained a court or standing army of 5,400 men who "ate bread daily before him".

Later literary composition on Sargon

Sargon Epos

A group of four Babylonian texts, summarized as "Sargon Epos" or ''Res Gestae Sargonis'', shows Sargon as a military commander asking the advice of many subordinates before going on campaigns. The narrative of ''Sargon, the Conquering Hero,'' is set at Sargon's court, in a situation of crisis. Sargon addresses his warriors, praising the virtue of heroism, and a lecture by a courtier on the glory achieved by a champion of the army, a narrative relating a campaign of Sargon's into the far land of ''Uta-raspashtim'', including an account of a "darkening of the Sun" and the conquest of the land of ''Simurrum'', and a concluding oration by Sargon listing his conquests. The narrative of '' King of Battle'' relates Sargon's campaign against the Anatolian city of

Purushanda Purushanda (also variously Puruskhanda, Purushhattum, Purushhatum or Burushattum) was an Anatolian kingdom of the early second millennium prior to the common era. It was conquered by the Hittites circa 1700 BC. The name disappears from history soon ...

in order to protect his merchants. Versions of this narrative in both Hittite and Akkadian have been found. The Hittite version is extant in six fragments, the Akkadian version is known from several manuscripts found at Amarna, Assur, and Nineveh.
Joan Goodnick Westenholz, "Legends of the Kings of Akkade: The Texts", Eisenbrauns, 1997 The narrative is anachronistic, portraying Sargon in a 19th-century milieu. The same text mentions that Sargon crossed the Sea of the West (

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

) and ended up in Kuppara, which some authors have interpreted as the Akkadian word for Keftiu, an ancient locale usually associated with

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. Famine and war threatened Sargon's empire during the latter years of his reign. The ''Chronicle of Early Kings'' reports that revolts broke out throughout the area under the last years of his overlordship: A. Leo Oppenheim translates the last sentence as "From the East to the West he .e. Mardukalienated (them) from him and inflicted upon (him as punishment) that he could not rest (in his grave)."

''Chronicle of Early Kings''

Shortly after securing Sumer, Sargon embarked on a series of campaigns to subjugate the entire

Fertile Crescent The Fertile Crescent () is a crescent-shaped region in the Middle East, spanning modern-day Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria, together with northern Kuwait, south-eastern Turkey, and western Iran. Some authors also include ...

. According to the '' Chronicle of Early Kings'', a later Babylonian historiographical text: In the east, Sargon defeated four leaders of

, led by the king of Awan. Their cities were sacked; the governors, viceroys, and kings of

Susa Susa ( ) was an ancient city in the lower Zagros Mountains about east of the Tigris, between the Karkheh River, Karkheh and Dez River, Dez Rivers in Iran. One of the most important cities of the Ancient Near East, Susa served as the capital o ...

, Waraḫše, and neighboring districts became vassals of Akkad.

Origin legends

Sargon became the subject of legendary narratives describing his rise to power from humble origins and his conquest of Mesopotamia in later Assyrian and Babylonian literature. Apart from these secondary, and partly legendary, accounts, there are many inscriptions due to Sargon himself, although the majority of these are known only from much later copies. The

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

has fragments of two Sargonic victory steles recovered from

(where they were presumably transported from Mesopotamia in the 12th century BC).

Sumerian legend

The Sumerian-language ''Sargon legend'' contains a legendary account of Sargon's rise to power. It is an older version of the previously known Assyrian legend, discovered in 1974 in

and first edited in 1983. Subsequent scholarship questioned if the two fragments were actually a join, or were even from two different texts. The initial translation has also been questioned. The extant versions are incomplete, but the surviving two fragments name Sargon's father as La'ibum. After a lacuna, the text skips to

, king of

, who awakens after a dream, the contents of which are not revealed on the surviving portion of the tablet. For unknown reasons, Ur-Zababa appoints Sargon as his

. Soon after this, Ur-Zababa invites Sargon to his chambers to discuss a dream of Sargon's, involving the favor of the goddess

Inanna Inanna is the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, love, and fertility. She is also associated with political power, divine law, sensuality, and procreation. Originally worshipped in Sumer, she was known by the Akk ...

and the drowning of Ur-Zababa by the goddess in a river of blood. Deeply frightened, Ur-Zababa orders Sargon murdered by the hands of Beliš-tikal, the chief smith, but Inanna prevents it, demanding that Sargon stop at the gates because of his being "polluted with blood". When Sargon returns to Ur-Zababa, the king becomes frightened again and decides to send Sargon to king Lugal-zage-si of

with a message on a clay tablet asking him to slay Sargon. The legend breaks off at this point; presumably, the missing sections described how Sargon becomes king. 2015-12 Birth Sargon of Akkad Louvre-AO 7673

2015-12 Birth Sargon of Akkad Louvre-AO 7673

The part of the interpretation of the king's dream has parallels to the biblical story of

Joseph Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...

, the part about the letter with the carrier's death sentence has similarities to the Greek story of

Bellerophon Bellerophon or Bellerophontes (; ; lit. "slayer of Belleros") or Hipponous (; lit. "horse-knower"), was a divine Corinthian hero of Greek mythology, the son of Poseidon and Eurynome, and the foster son of Glaukos. He was "the greatest her ...

and the biblical story of Uriah.

Birth legend

A Neo-Assyrian text from the 7th century BC purporting to be Sargon's autobiography asserts that the great king was the illegitimate son of a priestess. Only the beginning of the text (the first two columns) is known, from the fragments of three manuscripts. The first fragments were discovered as early as 1850. Sargon's birth and his early childhood are described thus: Similarities between the Sargon Birth Legend and other infant birth exposures in ancient literature, including

Moses In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...

Karna Karna (Sanskrit: कर्ण, IAST: ''Karṇa''), also known as Vasusena, Anga-Raja, Sutaputra and Radheya, is one of the major characters in the Hindu epic ''Mahābhārata''. He is the son of Surya (the Sun deity) and princess Kunti (later ...

, and

Oedipus Oedipus (, ; "swollen foot") was a mythical Greek king of Thebes. A tragic hero in Greek mythology, Oedipus fulfilled a prophecy that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother, thereby bringing disaster to his city and family. ...

, were noted by psychoanalyst

Otto Rank Otto Rank (; ; né Rosenfeld; 22 April 1884 – 31 October 1939) was an Austrian psychoanalyst, writer, and philosopher. Born in Vienna, he was one of Sigmund Freud's closest colleagues for 20 years, a prolific writer on psychoanalytic themes, ...

in his 1909 book ''

The Myth of the Birth of the Hero ''The Myth of the Birth of the Hero'' () is a book by Austrians, Austrian psychoanalyst Otto Rank in which the author puts forth a psychoanalytical interpretation of mythological heroes, specifically with regard to legends about their births. The ...

''. The legend was also studied in detail by Brian Lewis, and compared with many different examples of the infant birth exposure motif found in Eurasian folktales. He discusses a possible archetype form, giving particular attention to the Sargon legend and the account of the birth of

. Joseph Campbell has also made such comparisons. Sargon is also one of the many suggestions for the identity or inspiration for the biblical

Nimrod Nimrod is a Hebrew Bible, biblical figure mentioned in the Book of Genesis and Books of Chronicles, the Books of Chronicles. The son of Cush (Bible), Cush and therefore the great-grandson of Noah, Nimrod was described as a king in the land of Sh ...

. Ewing William (1910) suggested Sargon based on his unification of the Babylonians and the Neo-Assyrian birth legend. Yigal Levin (2002) suggested that Nimrod was a recollection of Sargon and his grandson Naram-Sin, with the name "Nimrod" derived from the latter.

Family

The name of Sargon's main wife, Queen

Tashlultum Tashlultum () was a wife of King Sargon of Akkad. Her name is known to archaeology only from a single shard of an alabaster vase or bowl with an inscription indicating it was dedicated to the temple by her steward.Enheduanna Enheduanna ( , also transliteration, transliterated as , , or variants; ) was the (high) priestess of the moon god Sin (mythology), Nanna (Sīn) in the Sumerian city-state of Ur in the reign of her father, Sargon of Akkad ( BCE). She was likely ...

was a high priestess of the moon God in Ur who composed ritual hymns. Many of her works, including her ''Exaltation of

'', were in use for centuries thereafter. Sargon was succeeded by his son

; after Rimush's death another son,

Manishtushu Manishtushu (Man-ištušu) (, ''Ma-an-ish-tu-su''; died 2255 BC) was the third (or possibly second) king of the Akkadian Empire, reigning 15 years c. 2270 BC until his death c. 2255 BC. His name means "Who is with him?". He was the son of Sargon ...

, became king. Manishtushu would be succeeded by his own son, Naram-Sin. Two other sons, Shu-Enlil (Ibarum) and

Ilaba'is-takal Sargon of Akkad (; ; died 2279 BC), also known as Sargon the Great, was the first ruler of the Akkadian Empire, known for his conquests of the Sumerian city-states in the 24th to 23rd centuries BC.The date of the reign of Sargon is highly unc ...

(Abaish-Takal), are known. Sargon of Akkad is sometimes identified as the first person in

to rule over an

(in the sense of the central government of a multi-ethnic territory), although earlier Sumerian rulers such as Lugal-zage-si might have a similar claim. His rule also heralds the history of Semitic empires in the Ancient Near East, which, following the

Neo-Sumerian The Third Dynasty of Ur or Ur III was a Sumerian dynasty based in the city of Ur in the 22nd and 21st centuries BC (middle chronology). For a short period they were the preeminent power in Mesopotamia and their realm is sometimes referred to by ...

interruption (21st/20th centuries BC), lasted for close to fifteen centuries until the

Achaemenid The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire, also known as the Persian Empire or First Persian Empire (; , , ), was an Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. Based in modern-day Iran, it was the large ...

conquest following the 539 BC

Battle of Opis The Battle of Opis was the last major military engagement between the Achaemenid Empire and the Neo-Babylonian Empire, which took place in September 539 BC, during the Persian invasion of Mesopotamia. At the time, Babylonia was the last major ...

. Sargon was regarded as a model by Mesopotamian kings for some two millennia after his death. The Assyrian and Babylonian kings who based their empires in Mesopotamia saw themselves as the heirs of Sargon's empire. Sargon may indeed have introduced the notion of "empire" as understood in the later Assyrian period; the Neo-Assyrian ''Sargon Text'', written in the first person, has Sargon challenging later rulers to "govern the black-headed people" (i.e. the indigenous population of Mesopotamia) as he did. An important source for "Sargonic heroes" in oral tradition in the later Bronze Age is a Middle Hittite (15th century BC) record of a Hurro-Hittite song, which calls upon Sargon and his immediate successors as "deified kings" (^d''šarrena''). Sargon shared his name with two later Mesopotamian kings. Sargon I was a king of the

Old Assyrian period The Old Assyrian period was the second stage of Assyrian history, covering the history of the city of Assur from its rise as an independent city-state under Puzur-Ashur I 2025 BC to the foundation of a larger Assyrian territorial state after th ...

presumably named after Sargon of Akkad.

was a Neo-Assyrian king named after Sargon of Akkad; it is this king whose name was rendered ''Sargon'' () in the Hebrew Bible (

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "Yahweh is salvation"; also known as Isaias or Esaias from ) was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. The text of the Book of Isaiah refers to Isaiah as "the prophet" ...

20:1). Neo-Babylonian king

Nabonidus Nabonidus (Babylonian cuneiform: ''Nabû-naʾid'', meaning "May Nabu be exalted" or "Nabu is praised") was the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, ruling from 556 BC to the fall of Babylon to the Achaemenian Empire under Cyrus the Great in 53 ...

showed great interest in the history of the Sargonid dynasty and even conducted excavations of Sargon's palaces and those of his successors.Oates, John. ''Babylon''. London: Thames and Hudson, 1979, p. 162.

In popular culture

Battle between the Sumerians and Semites

The fanciful adventure film '' The Scorpion King: Rise of a Warrior'' (2008) imagines Sargon of Akkad as a murderous army commander wielding

black magic Black magic (Middle English: ''nigromancy''), sometimes dark magic, traditionally refers to the use of Magic (paranormal), magic or supernatural powers for evil and selfish purposes. The links and interaction between black magic and religi ...

. He is the film's main villain, portrayed by

Randy Couture Randall Duane Couture (; born June 22, 1963) is an American mixed martial arts commentator, actor, former United States Army sergeant, former professional mixed martial artist, and former Collegiate wrestling, collegiate and Greco-Roman wrestlin ...

. The twentieth episode of the second season of '' Star Trek: The Original Series'', " Return to Tomorrow", features an ancient, telepathic alien named Sargon who once ruled a mighty empire. American Rock Group

They Might Be Giants They Might Be Giants, often abbreviated as TMBG, is an American alternative rock and Children's music, children's band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years, Flansburgh and Linnell frequently performed as ...

refer to Sargon of Akkad in the track "The Mesopotamians" on their 2007 album The Else, along with

Hammurabi Hammurabi (; ; ), also spelled Hammurapi, was the sixth Amorite king of the Old Babylonian Empire, reigning from to BC. He was preceded by his father, Sin-Muballit, who abdicated due to failing health. During his reign, he conquered the ci ...

Ashurbanipal Ashurbanipal (, meaning " Ashur is the creator of the heir")—or Osnappar ()—was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 669 BC to his death in 631. He is generally remembered as the last great king of Assyria. Ashurbanipal inherited the th ...

and

Gilgamesh Gilgamesh (, ; ; originally ) was a hero in ancient Mesopotamian mythology and the protagonist of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'', an epic poem written in Akkadian during the late 2nd millennium BC. He was possibly a historical king of the Sumer ...

. Carl Benjamin, British right-wing YouTuber and political commentator, goes by the online pseudonym "Sargon of Akkad" on his YouTube channel. The ''Return of Rome'' expansion pack for the video game '' Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition'' features a campaign called "Sargon of Akkad", which depicts his conquest of Sumer and the rise of the Akkadian Empire.

Notes

References

*Albright, W. F., "A Babylonian Geographical Treatise on Sargon of Akkad's Empire", Journal of the American Oriental Society, pp. 193–245, 1925 *Bachvarova, Mary R., "Sargon the Great: from history to myth", in From Hittite to Homer: The Anatolian Background of Ancient Greek Epic, pp. 166–198, Cambridge University Press, 2016 * Beaulieu, Paul-Alain, et al., "A Companion to the Ancient near East", Blackwell, 2005 *Botsforth, George W., "The Reign of Sargon", "A Source-Book of Ancient History", New York: Macmillan, 1912 *Foster, Benjamin R., "The Age of Agade. Inventing Empire in Ancient Mesopotamia", Routledge, 2016 *Glassner, Jean-Jacques, "Mesopotamian Chronicles", Society of Biblical Literature, 2004 *Grayson, Albert Kirk, "Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles", J. J. Augustin, 1975; Eisenbrauns, 2000

horkild Jacobsen, Jacobsen, Thorkild, "The Sumerian King List", Assyriological Studies, AS 11, Chicago: Oriental Institute, 1939

eonard William King, King, L. W., "Chronicles Concerning Early Babylonian Kings", II, London, pp. 87–96, 1907 * Kramer, S. Noah, "The Sumerians: Their History, Culture and Character", Chicago, 1963 *Kramer, S. Noah, "History Begins at Sumer: Thirty-Nine "Firsts" in Recorded History", Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 1981 *Lewis, Brian, "The Sargon Legend: A Study of the Akkadian Text and the Tale of the Hero Who Was Exposed at Birth", American Schools of Oriental Research Dissertation Series, no. 4, Cambridge, MA: American Schools of Oriental Research, 1984 *Luckenbill, D. D., "On the Opening Lines of the Legend of Sargon", The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, pp. 145–46, 1917 *Postgate, Nicholas. "Early Mesopotamia: Society and Economy at the Dawn of History", Routledge, 1994 *Roux, G., "Ancient Iraq", London, 1980 *Sallaberger, Walter, "Mesopotamien. Akkade-Zeit und Ur III-Zeit", Annäherungen 3. OBO 160/3. Freiburg, Schweiz/Göttingen, 1999 *Schomp, Virginia, "Ancient Mesopotamia", Franklin Watts, 2005 * Van de Mieroop, Marc, "A History of the Ancient Near East: ca. 3000–323 BC", Blackwell, 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Sargon of Akkad 24th-century BC kings of Akkad 23rd-century BC kings of Akkad Founding monarchs in Asia 24th-century BC births 23rd-century BC deaths Nimrod Kings of the Universe Cup-bearers