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===Sargon of Akkad=== {{Main|Sargon of Akkad}} The earliest records in the Akkadian language date to the time of Sargon of Akkad, who defeated the [[Sumer]]ian king [[Lugal-zage-si]] at the [[Battle of Uruk]] and conquered his former territory, establishing the Akkadian Empire. Sargon was claimed to be the son of a gardener in the [[Sumerian King List]]. Later legends named his father as La'ibum or Itti-Bel and his birth mother as a priestess (or possibly even a [[hierodule]]) of [[Ishtar]], the Akkadian equivalent of the Sumerian goddess [[Inanna]]. One legend of Sargon from [[Neo-Assyrian]] times quotes him as saying {{Blockquote|My mother was a [[changeling]], my father I knew not. The brothers of my father loved the hills. My city is Azurpiranu (the wilderness herb fields), which is situated on the banks of the Euphrates. My changeling mother conceived me, in secret she bore me. She set me in a basket of rushes, with bitumen she sealed my lid. She cast me into the river which rose not over me. The river bore me up and carried me to Akki, the drawer of water. Akki, the drawer of water, took me as his son and reared me. Akki the drawer of water, appointed me as his gardener. While I was gardener Ishtar granted me her love, and for four and (fifty?) ... years I exercised kingship.<ref name=Roux />}} Later claims made on behalf of Sargon were that his mother was an "''entu''" priestess (high priestess). The claims might have been made to ensure a pedigree of nobility, since only a highly placed family could achieve such a position.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stiebing |first1=H. William Jr. |title=Ancient Near Eastern History and Culture |publisher=Pearson Longman; University of New Orleans |year=2009 |page=69}}</ref> Originally a [[cupbearer]] ([[Rabshakeh]]) to a king of [[Kish (Sumer)|Kish]] with a [[Semitic languages|Semitic]] name, [[Ur-Zababa]], Sargon thus became a gardener, responsible for the task of clearing out irrigation canals. The royal cupbearer at this time was in fact a prominent political position, close to the king and with various high level responsibilities not suggested by the title of the position itself.<ref>{{citation |title=Sargon |doi=10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e1101500}}</ref> This gave him access to a disciplined corps of workers, who also may have served as his first soldiers. Displacing Ur-Zababa, Sargon was crowned king, and he entered upon a career of foreign conquest.<ref>Samuel Noah Kramer, ''The Sumerians'', Chicago University Press, 1971, {{ISBN|0-226-45238-7}}</ref> Four times he invaded [[Syria]] and [[Canaan]], and he spent three years thoroughly subduing the countries of "the west" to unite them with Mesopotamia "into a single empire". However, Sargon took this process further, conquering many of the surrounding regions to create an empire that reached westward as far as the [[Mediterranean Sea]] and perhaps [[Cyprus]] (''Kaptara''); northward as far as the mountains (a later [[Hittite language|Hittite]] text asserts he fought the [[Hattians|Hattian]] king [[Nurdaggal]] of [[Burushanda]], well into [[Anatolia]]); eastward over [[Elam]]; and as far south as [[Magan (civilization)|Magan]] ([[Oman]]) β a region over which he reigned for purportedly 56 years, though only four "year-names" survive. He consolidated his dominion over his territories by replacing the earlier opposing rulers with noble citizens of Akkad, his native city where loyalty was thus ensured.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stiebing |first1=H. William Jr. |title=Ancient Near Eastern History and Culture |publisher=Pearson Longman; University of New Orleans |year=2009 |page=70}}</ref> [[File:Prisoners on the victory stele of an Akkadian king circa 2300 BCE Louvre Museum Sb 3.jpg|thumb|left|Prisoners escorted by a soldier, on a victory stele of Sargon of Akkad, circa 2300 BC.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Potts |first1=D. T. |title=The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State |date=1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521564960 |page=104 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mc4cfzkRVj4C&pg=PA104 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Harper |first1=Prudence O. |title=Royal City of Susa: Ancient Near Eastern Treasures in the Louvre |date=1992 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/RoyalCityofSusaAncientNearEasternTreasuresintheLouvre/page/n182 162]β163 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |url=https://archive.org/details/RoyalCityofSusaAncientNearEasternTreasuresintheLouvre |language=en}}</ref> The hairstyle of the prisoners (curly hair on top and short hair on the sides) is characteristic of Sumerians, as also seen on the [[Standard of Ur]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nigro |first1=Lorenzo |title=The Two Steles of Sargon: Iconology and Visual Propaganda at the Beginning of Royal Akkadian Relief |journal=Iraq |volume=60 |date=1998 |pages=85β102 |publisher=British Institute for the Study of Iraq |doi=10.2307/4200454 |jstor=4200454 |hdl=11573/109737 |s2cid=193050892 }}</ref> [[Louvre Museum]].]] Trade extended from the [[silver]] mines of Anatolia to the [[lapis lazuli]] mines in modern [[Afghanistan]], the [[Cedrus libani|cedars]] of [[Lebanon]] and the [[copper]] of [[Magan (civilization)|Magan]]. This consolidation of the city-states of Sumer and Akkad reflected the growing economic and political power of Mesopotamia. The empire's breadbasket was the rain-fed agricultural system and a chain of fortresses was built to control the imperial wheat production. Images of Sargon were erected on the shores of the Mediterranean, in token of his victories, and cities and palaces were built at home with the spoils of the conquered lands. Elam and the northern part of Mesopotamia were also subjugated, and rebellions in [[Sumer]] were put down. Contract tablets have been found dated in the years of the campaigns against [[Canaan]] and against [[Sarlak]], king of [[Gutian period|Gutium]]. He also boasted of having subjugated the "four-quarters" β the lands surrounding Akkad to the north, the south (Sumer), the east (Elam), and the west ([[Amorites|Martu]]). Some of the earliest historiographic texts ([[Babylonian Chronicles|ABC 19, 20]]) suggest he rebuilt the city of Babylon (''Bab-ilu'') in its new location near Akkad.<ref>Dalley proposes that these sources may have originally referred to [[Sargon II]] of the Assyria rather than Sargon of Akkad. Stephanie Dalley, "Babylon as a Name for Other Cities Including Nineveh", in [http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/saoc62.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120730041524/http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/saoc62.pdf|date=30 July 2012}}'' Proceedings of the 51st [[Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale]]'', Oriental Institute SAOC 62, pp. 25β33, 2005</ref> Sargon, throughout his long life, showed special deference to the Sumerian deities, particularly [[Inanna]] ([[Ishtar]]), his patroness, and [[Zababa]], the warrior god of Kish. He called himself "The anointed priest of [[Anu]]" and "the great'' ensi'' of [[Enlil]]" and his daughter, [[Enheduanna]], was installed as priestess to [[Nanna (Sumerian deity)|Nanna]] at the temple in [[Ur]]. Troubles multiplied toward the end of his reign. A later Babylonian text states: {{Blockquote|In his old age, all the lands revolted against him, and they besieged him in Akkad (the city) [but] he went forth to battle and defeated them, he knocked them over and destroyed their vast army.}} It refers to his campaign in "Elam", where he defeated a coalition army led by the King of Awan and forced the vanquished to become his vassals.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stiebing |first1=H. William Jr. |title=Ancient Near Eastern History and Culture |publisher=Pearson Longman; University of New Orleans |year=2009 |page=71}}</ref> Also shortly after, another revolt took place: {{Blockquote|the Subartu the upper countryβin their turn attacked, but they submitted to his arms, and Sargon settled their habitations, and he smote them grievously.}} The [[Bible]] refers to [[Akkad (city)|the city of Akkad]] in the [[Book of Genesis]], which states: {{blockquote|text="[[Cush (Bible)|Cush]] [grandson of [[Noah]]] became the father of [[Nimrod]]; he was the first on earth to become a mighty warrior. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, βLike Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.β The beginning of his kingdom was [[Babylon|Babel]], [[Uruk|Erech]], and '''Accad''', all of them in the land of [[Shinar]]. From that land he went into [[Assyrian homeland|Assyria]], and built [[Nineveh]], [[Rehoboth (Bible)#Rehoboth-Ir|Rehoboth-ir]], [[Nimrud|Calah]], and [[Resen (Bible)|Resen]] between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city."<ref>{{Bibleverse|Genesis|10:8β12|NRSV}}, [[New Revised Standard Version]] (1989)</ref> }} [[Nimrod]]'s historical inspiration remains uncertain, but he has been identified with Sargon of Akkad by some scholars who also propose that the name of Sargon's grandson and successor [[Naram-Sin of Akkad|Naram-Sin]] is the root of Nimrod's,<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Yigal |last=Levin |title=Nimrod the Mighty, King of Kish, King of Sumer and Akkad |magazine=Vetus Testamentum |volume=52 |year=2002 |issue=3 |pages=350β356 |doi=10.1163/156853302760197494}}</ref> while others have noted similarities between Nimrod and the legendary [[Gilgamesh]], king of [[Uruk]] ([[Erech]]).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dalley |first1=Stephanie |author-link=Stephanie Dalley |title=The Legacy of Mesopotamia |year=1997 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=9780198149460 |page=116 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UhVfijsPxOMC&pg=PA116 }}</ref><ref name=schrakamp>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Schrakamp |first1=Ingo |editor1-first=Roger S. |editor1-last=Bagnall |title=The Encyclopedia of Ancient History |year=2013 |publisher=Blackwell |location=Chicago |doi=10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah24182 |chapter=Sargon of Akkad and his dynasty |pages=6045β6047 |isbn=9781444338386}}</ref>
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