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Sargon of Akkad, also known as Sargon the Great "the Great King" (Akkadian ''Šarru-kīnu'', meaning "the true king" or "the king is legitimate"),〔Chavalas 2006〕 was a Semitic Akkadian emperor famous for his conquest of the Sumerian city-states in the 24th and 23rd centuries BC. The founder of the Dynasty of Akkad, Sargon reigned during the penultimate quarter of the third millennium BC. Cuneiform sources agree that he was cup-bearer (official in charge of wine) of king Ur-Zababa of Kish, and some later historians have speculated that he killed the king and usurped his throne before embarking on the quest to conquer Mesopotamia. He was originally referred to as ''Sargon I'' until records concerning an Assyrian king also named Sargon (now usually referred to as Sargon I) were unearthed.〔Bromiley 1996〕 Sargon's vast empire is thought to have included large parts of Mesopotamia, and included parts of modern-day Iran, Asia Minor and Syria. He ruled from a new, but as yet archaeologically unidentified capital, Akkad, which the Sumerian king list claims he built (or possibly renovated).〔Kramer 1963: 60–61〕 He is sometimes regarded as the first person in recorded history to create a multiethnic, centrally ruled empire, although the Sumerians Lugal-anne-mundu and Lugal-zage-si also have a claim. His dynasty controlled Mesopotamia for around a century and a half.〔Van de Mieroop 2006: 63〕 He is a well known king of the Akkadians. ==Origins and rise to power== The exact date of Sargon's birth or even death are unknown. According to the short chronology, he reigned from 2270 to 2215 BC (the Middle Chronology lists his reign as 2334 to 2279 BC). These dates are based on the Sumerian king list.〔Kramer 1963〕 There is discussion among Assyriologists over whether or not the name Sargon was given at birth or a regnal name adopted later in life, given its directly relevant meaning.〔Lewis 1984: 277–292〕〔Sallaberger & Westenholz 1999: 34〕 The story of Sargon's birth and childhood is given in the "Sargon legend," a Sumerian text purporting to be Sargon's biography. The extant versions are incomplete, but the surviving fragments name Sargon's father as La'ibum. After a lacuna, the text skips to Ur-Zababa, king of Kish, who awakens after a dream, the contents of which are not revealed on the surviving portion of the tablet. For unknown reasons, Ur-Zababa appoints Sargon as his cup-bearer. Soon after this, Ur-Zababa invites Sargon to his chambers to discuss a dream of Sargon's, involving the favor of the goddess Inanna and the drowning of Ur-Zababa by the goddess. Deeply frightened, Ur-Zababa orders Sargon murdered by the hands of Beliš-tikal, the chief smith, but Inanna prevents it, demanding that Sargon stop at the gates because of his being "polluted with blood." When Sargon returns to Ur-Zababa, the king becomes frightened again, and decides to send Sargon to king Lugal-zage-si of Uruk with a message on a clay tablet asking him to slay Sargon.〔("The Sargon Legend." ''The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature.'' ) Oxford University, 2006〕 The legend breaks off at this point; presumably, the missing sections described how Sargon becomes king.〔Cooper & Heimpel 1983: 67–82〕 The Sumerian king list relates: "In Agade (), Sargon, whose father was a gardener, the cup-bearer of Ur-Zababa, became king, the king of Agade, who built Agade; he ruled for 56 years." There are several problems with this entry in the king list. Thorkild Jacobsen marked the clause about Sargon's father being a gardener as a lacuna, indicating his uncertainty about its meaning.〔Jacobsen 1939: 111〕 Ur-Zababa and Lugal-zage-si are both listed as kings, but separated by several additional named rulers of Kish, who seem to have been merely governors or vassals under the Akkadian Empire.〔(Kish at The History Files )〕 The claim that Sargon was the original founder of Akkad has come into question in recent years, with the discovery of an inscription mentioning the place and dated to the first year of Enshakushanna, who almost certainly preceded him.〔Van de Mieroop 1999: 74–75〕 The ''Weidner Chronicle'' (ABC 19:51) states that it was Sargon who built Babylon "in front of Akkad."〔Grayson 1975: 19:51〕〔 The ''Chronicle of Early Kings'' (ABC 20:18–19) likewise states that late in his reign, Sargon "dug up the soil of the pit of Babylon, and made a counterpart of Babylon next to Agade."〔〔Grayson 1975: 20:18–19〕 Van de Mieroop suggested that those two chronicles may in fact refer to the much later Assyrian king, Sargon II of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, rather than to Sargon of Akkad.〔Dalley 2005〕 Sargon survives as a legendary figure into the Neo-Assyrian literature of the Early Iron Age. Tablets with fragments of a Sargon Birth Legend were found in the Library of Ashurbanipal from the 7th century BC. According to this legend, Sargon was the illegitimate son of a priestess (older translations describe his mother as lowly). She brought him forth in secret and placed him in a basket of reeds on the river. He was found by Akki the irrigator who raised him as his own son.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Empire of Sargon )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sargon of Akkad」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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