Sargon the Great (2335-2279 BC)

While the Sumerians fought among each other for cultural and political dominance, the city-state model was changing around them. Semites from the mountains of Zagros and the plains of Elam had been invading for centuries, but had never managed to gain a strong foothold in the southern river valley of Sumer. One location that Semites had controlled was Akkad, to the north of Sumer.
The ancient world is full of myths and stories that are retold over and over again. Over the course of this year we will see the same stories many times. Many of these stories will be familiar to us from biblical accounts. For instance, the narrative of the Flood in Genesis has similar stories from all over Mesopotamia, like the one in the Epic of Gilgamesh. This should not cause us to question the authenticity of the biblical story, but to confirm it. If, as the Bible insists, we are all descended from the sons of Noah every nation should have some collective memory of the Flood. That these stories are similar proves their veracity. That they are different, shows us how man corrupts the things of God when he does not focus his attention on God’s character and worship.
Sargon the Great provides one of the first examples of the river narrative in antiquity. The stories of antiquity are full of this imagery. According to legend, Sargon was set adrift on the Euphrates River shortly after his birth. The goddess Inanna guided his basket to the shores of the city of Kish. Sargon was raised there and eventually given the role of cupbearer to the king of Kish, Ur-Zababa. This river narrative will remind us immediately of Moses, but we see it in many other narratives as well. It becomes a standard narrative for divine providence in the overthrow of a civilization or kingship.
In course of time Sargon overthrew Ur-Zababa and declared himself King of Universal Dominion. Sargon invaded many of the southern Sumerian cities and conquered almost all of them. He joined the disparate Sumerian city-states into an empire of great size. He moved the capital of his empire to Akkad (Agade). In the fifty-five years of his rule he amassed an empire that stretched from the Persian Gulf to the mountains of southern Turkey. The entire river valley of Mesopotamia was his. The new kingdom was called the Akkadian Empire (sometimes called the kingdom of Agade). Sargon established Sumerian culture throughout his kingdom, though he was of Semitic origins himself. Cuneiform became the dominant writing in the empire and would remain so for a thousand years. Three of his descendants reigned after him. The last was Naram-sin who ruled from 2255-2219