Historians know little about Sargon’s background. One legend relates that he was abandoned as an infant by his mother, a high priestess in the service of the Akkadian goddess Ishtar. The child was placed in a basket and set adrift on the Euphrates River, where he was found by a fruit grower named Aggi who brought him up. The legend goes on to say that, in his youth, Sargon became a cupbearer in the court of the king of Kish. Then, with the help of Ishtar, Sargon managed to free himself from the king and found a new dynasty.
War between Lugalzaggisi and Sargon was inevitable. Texts discovered by archaeologists list many battles between the two kings. Sargon triumphed eventually and conquered the rest of southern Mesopotamia as well, tearing down the walls of the cities he defeated. Sargon then marched to the edge of the Persian Gulf and washed his weapons in the water to show that he was the master of all the land between Kish and the coast.
Sargon built a new capital city on the banks of the Euphrates River. He called the city Akkad (or Agade), and although the remains of the city have never been found, it is believed to have been near the present-day city of Baghdad. The Akkadian Empire was established around 2335 BCE, and by the end of his reign in 2279 BCE, Sargon (or Sargon the Great as he was later called) had made Akkad the greatest city in Mesopotamia. His Akkadians and the people of northern Sumer gradually merged to produce a new, highly advanced civilization that left a considerable and lasting mark on Mesopotamian culture.
World History
