Volta
Politicsc. 2334 – c. 2154 BC

Rise of the Akkadian Empire

Also called: Akkad

Sargon of Akkad conquered the Sumerian city-states and founded the first empire to unite Mesopotamia.

Bronze head of an Akkadian king found at Nineveh, thought to show Sargon or his grandson Naram-Sin
Bronze head of an Akkadian king found at Nineveh, thought to show Sargon or his grandson Naram-Sin

Eric de Redelijkheid · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Source

Around 2334 BC the Akkadians, a Semitic people living north of Sumer, overthrew the Sumerian city-states one by one under Sargon. Campaigning from the Persian Gulf almost to the Mediterranean, he created the first unified empire in Mesopotamia, and his grandson Naram-Sin called himself “king of the four quarters”. Written in cuneiform, Akkadian long remained the diplomatic language of the Near East.

The empire fell around 2150 BC amid invasions by the Gutians from the mountains, after which the Third Dynasty of Ur revived Sumer. Its dates differ by decades from one chronology to another. The founding of Gojoseon recorded in the Samguk yusa (2333 BC) falls in this same period.

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The map in 2334 BC

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States at the time
Akkadian Empire · founded

People

  • Sargon of Akkad

    monarch · Founder of the Akkadian Empire (r. c. 2334 – c. 2279 BC), the first to unite Mesopotamia

Before and after

Earlier
3500 BC Sumerian City-States and Cuneiform
Later
1754 BC Code of Hammurabi

Themes that include this event

  • Early Civilizations and Empires3500 BC – 486 BC

    From the first civilizations in the great river valleys to the first empires of the Near East, India and China — comparing their writing, law, religion and rule