Sargon of Akkad
Topic: Bronze Age Civilisations: Mesopotamia, Egypt, China · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 1 "Writing and City Life"
Meaning
Sargon was the king of Akkad in central Mesopotamia. Class 11 dates him c. 2370 BCE. Class 9 dates his Akkadian empire to 2334 BCE and calls it the world's first dynastic empire, meaning power passed down within one family. Later rulers of Mesopotamia remembered him as a great king of the distant past.
Example
Sargon's cuneiform tablets record trade with three eastern lands: Dilmun (Bahrain), Magan (Oman) and Meluhha (generally identified with the Harappan region). Many centuries later, Nabonidus, the last ruler of independent Babylon, found a broken statue of Sargon. He had craftsmen repair it, "because of my reverence for the gods and respect for kingship".
Don't confuse with
- Hammurabi: the Babylonian king of 1792 BCE, known for his law code. Sargon came several centuries earlier and ruled from Akkad.