Sargon of Akkad and the World's First Empire
Tides of History
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Sargon's Conquest of the Mediterranean
We don't know who sargon's parents were, whether he was of royal birth or self made. He subjugated the proud, independent city states of sumer and reduced them to mere provinces in a centralized empire stretch from deep in the iranian plateau to the shores of the mediterranean. Empire was a genuinely and recognizably new development. We don't get even a fleeting sense for the man's personality outside of his willingness to spill blood in the pursuit of conquest. It is impossible to untangle image and reality but this was a different kind of royal power in both image and reality.
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