Sargon of Akkad Founds the First Empire

Around 2334 BCE, Sargon — a man of humble origins who claimed his mother set him adrift in a basket on the river — overthrew the king of Kish and went on to conquer all of Sumer and beyond. His Akkadian Empire stretched from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean, uniting dozens of city-states under one ruler for the first time. The parallels between his birth legend and the story of Moses have fascinated scholars for over a century.