Sargon of Akkad

Sargon of Akkad (reigned c. 2334-2279 BCE) was a Mesopotamian ruler who founded the Akkadian Empire, generally regarded as the first empire in recorded world history. Rising from obscure origins, according to later legend as a cupbearer to the king of Kish, he conquered the Sumerian city-states of southern Mesopotamia and extended his rule across a wide swath of the ancient Near East, unifying Akkadian and Sumerian speaking peoples under a single administration. His empire and the administrative and military models it established became a template invoked by Mesopotamian rulers for many centuries after his death.