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Akkad (or Agade) was a city and its region of northern Mesopotamia, between Assyria to the
northwest and Sumer to the south, for the period in ancient history before the time of Babylonia. Akkad
gave its name to the Akkadian language, which reflects the
linguistic variation between south and north in Mesopotamia. The name of the language is derived from akkadû which was
used in the Old Babylonian period to denote the Semitic version of a Sumerian text..
Babylonia was formed out of the combined territories of Akkad and Sumer, with the Akkadian language evolving to form the
language of Babylonia and the Sumerian language falling into
everyday disuse, but retained in religious contexts.
Written records are not found in the language of Akkad until the time of Sargon of Akkad (ruled 2334 - 2279 BCE). While Sargon is traditionally cited as the first ruler of a
combined empire of Akkad and Sumer, more recent work suggests that a Sumerian expansion began under a previous king, Lugal-zage-si of Uruk.
However Sargon took this process further, conquering many of the surrounding regions to create an empire that reached as far as
the Mediterranean Sea and Anatolia.
In the later Assyro-Babylonian literature the name Akkadu appears as part of the royal title in connexion with Sumer; viz.
non-Semitic: lugal Kengi (ki) Uru (ki) = sar mat Sumeri u Akkadi, "king of Sumer and
Akkad," which appears to have meant simply "king of Babylonia."
The site of Akkad has not been identified, though texts from as late as the 6th century BCE mention it, and even its ruined
buildings.
See also: Akkadian Empire, Enheduanna.
Sources
A. Leo Oppenheim,
Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization
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