even though his true name saru kinnu meant true king he took the name sargon when he ascended the
throne why he did this is unknown and some scholars say it was a biblical translation
not a willful choice the name has given scholars the idea that sargon the great was a semite who
spoke a semitic language the problem is that the name sargon was used often after his reign
confusing historians as to which legend myth or actual historical record applied to the original
sargon known as the great he was found floating in a river legend has it that a gardener found
sargon floating in a river in a tiny little basket this myth reflects the story of the biblical moses
and has led some scholars to claim that the biblical authors copied from sargon's birth
to give moses a more human and humble beginning little is known of sargon's parents his mother
was supposed to be a priestess in an unknown town located around the middle of the euphrates
his father is completely unknown even with the handicap of not knowing who his relatives were
sargon rose to be the cup bearer of a ruler of kish and because of his position sargon
was given leadership over an army sargon went on to conquer and create his powerful empire
establishing his name as sargon the great historical record and tablets from sargon's era
finding information about sargon is quite difficult there are many men
who came after him who used the same name but the royal inscriptions do attest to him
although the majority of the akkad texts come from second millennium assyrian and babylonian texts
yet those were not the only locations that held inscriptions referring to sargon
when the town of ebla was unearthed its importance was not fully realized but italian archaeologists
decided to dig a little deeper and eventually came upon a much older city underneath ebla
in the ruins of that older city were 42 tablets from sargon's era a little later 15 000 more were
found and they detailed the business dealings and trade between different nations and sargon
however these documents do not pinpoint the dates of his rule nor provide a sequence to the events
surrounding his life these tablets also described the law code that sargon had imposed on his people
men were fined for having sexual relations with unmarried women or if they were a virgin they
were put on trial to see if the woman was raped religious tablets were also found depicting the
religious practices of the time he expanded his empire sargon was able to use his military
and personal genius to carve out a large empire after conquering sumer he set his sights on syria
souza of the elamites southern anatolia and even western iran for sargon keeping control of
such a vast empire was not that difficult he used trusted men to oversee the captive cities even to
the point of using his daughter to make sure the conquered people were controlled through religious
and political means no emperor has an easy time ruling other nations the nation people have a way
of becoming disgruntled with foreign rule and seek ways to end it even after reigning for 56 years
sargon still had rebellions and other opposition to his rule to put down the fact that sargon was
able to create a dynasty and have a grandson named sargon ii shows that he was a capable
ruler whose empire lasted long after his death his influence also lasted long after his death as well
origin of the akkadian language sumer's language was quite different from the language that sargon
spoke acadian was a semite language which was only one version of a group of semite languages that
existed at that time the name semite was taken from the bible it refers back to shem one of the
sons of noah some of the other semitic languages spoken at the time and centuries afterward are
hebrew arabic assyrian and babylonian sargon the great's legacy while sargon was a great leader his
empire did not last very long he built a beautiful capital city and named it agade unfortunately this
city did not survive past his grandson naram sin the mountain living gooti descended upon sargon's
capital city and destroyed it but his capital city was not the only part of sargon's legacy
two assyrian kings were named after him sargon also left behind the rule and religious code that
helped govern his empire finally his agade city name evolved into babylon which became a center
point for mesopotamian history for approximately 2 000 years even though sargon the great rose out
of obscurity he was able to grow into a successful leader he didn't let his lack of family or status
and life hinder him from obtaining the absolute leadership of the acadian people this is probably
one reason he was given the title the great when others examined his rise to power and his overall
accomplishments sargon did not let handicaps or obstacles get in the way of his goals sargon is
credited with establishing the first world empire even though it may have been founded on earlier
expansion efforts conducted by lugol zagasi of uma no matter who started the expansion it was sargon
who finished it his influence helped guide future military leaders including alexander the great
the sumerians were the first known people to settle in mesopotamia over 7 000 years ago
located in the southernmost part of mesopotamia between the tigris and euphrates rivers modern day
iraq summer was often called the cradle of civilization by the fourth millennium bc
it had established an advanced system writing spectacular arts and architecture astronomy
and mathematics the acadians would follow the sumerians borrowing from their culture producing a
new language of their own and creating the world's first empire who were the sumerians the origin
of the sumerians remains a mystery till this day they called themselves segiga are the black-headed
or bald-headed ones and their country kingi or civilized land some believe they came from around
anatolia or modern day turkey others suggest they might have come from india and were caucasian
in origin they were established in southern babylonia in what is now iraq by at least 3 500
bc located in what the ancient greeks called mesopotamia meaning the land between the rivers
sumer was a collection of city-states or cities that were also independent nations some of which
endured for 3 000 years beginning around 3 500 bc the sumerians began to build walled cities
including ur the capital of the civilization each of these cities contained public buildings markets
workshops and advanced water systems and they were all surrounded by villages and land for
agriculture political power originally belonged to the citizens but as rivalries between the various
city-states increased each adopted the institution of kingship where is akkad the sumerians may have
been one of the first known civilizations but it was the acadians that formed one of the first
known empires a semitic group they moved into southern mesopotamia during the early part of
the third millennium and gained political control of the area the civilization was founded by sargon
the great and was a collection of city-states under the control of sargon city akad sargon
reigned from approximately 2334 to 2279 bc and conquered all of southern mesopotamia as well as
parts of syria anatolia and elam which is now western iran establishing the region's first
semitic dynasty sargon is known almost entirely from the legends that followed his reputation
through 2000 years of mesopotamian history but not from documents written during his lifetime
this lack of contemporary record is explained by the fact that the capital city of akkad which he
commissioned has never been located and excavated it was destroyed at the end of the dynasty that
sargon founded and was never inhabited again at least under the name of akkad the rise and
fall of the mesopotamian empire in 2350 bc sargon conquered all the sumerian city-states united them
under his rule creating the first mesopotamian empire he defeated the armies of summer in two
battles and captured lugos zaghezzi the sumerian king who had united or conquered all of summer and
earned the title of king of kish for the next two centuries the acadians would rule summer during
which time the cities carried out many revolts against them around 2100 bc as akkad declined
the city of ur took its place rising to prominence a century after its fall and the city-states once
again became independent the acadian empire collapsed sometime after 2200 bc historians
blame its downfall on tribes of mountain people called kushins who conquered many parts
of summer or possibly point at administrative incompetence a poor harvest provincial revolt
or perhaps even a giant meteor climate change has of course been thrown into the mix as well
and evidence of a long drought changing winds and ocean currents have been provided to support that
ideal as well in a 2019 study fossil coral records from omen were given as new evidence
that frequent winter shamals or dust storms and a prolonged cold winter season also contributed
to the collapse of the ancient empire ezrea and babylon would grow to dominate the area afterwards
from 212 to 2004 bc the dynasty based at the city of ur revived sumerian culture to its
greatest height even though the sumerian language had begun to fall out of use
by 2000 bc it was no longer being used and was replaced as a spoken language
by semantic acadian although sargon's dynasty only lasted around 150 years it created a model of
government that influenced all of middle eastern civilization and left a permanent imprint on
mesopotamian civilization for the millennia that followed if you guys enjoy this video and want
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