Sargon of Akkad

Sargon, in Akkadian Sharru-kin ('the true king'), ruled from about 2334 to 2279 BCE. Britannica calls him one of the earliest great empire builders: he defeated the Sumerian city-states, conquered all of southern Mesopotamia, and campaigned into Syria, Anatolia and Elam. He ruled from a new capital, Akkad, whose ruins have never been securely found.

Later Mesopotamian tradition turned him into a legend. A text known as the Legend of Sargon, written long after his death, says his mother set him adrift in a reed basket on the river and that he was raised by a gardener. Readers have long compared this to the infancy of Moses; historians treat the legend as later royal storytelling, not biography.

His daughter Enheduanna became high priestess of the moon god at Ur and is the earliest author known by name. Because Sargon was so famous, writers have sometimes tried to identify him with later legendary kings such as the biblical Nimrod, though no identification fits neatly.