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Sargon of Akkad founded the Dynasty of Akkad, and created the Akkadian Empire. Famous for his conquest of the Sumerian city-states in the 23rd centuries BC, Sargon reigned for 56 years, ca. 2270 BC – 2215 BC (short chronology).
Early in his career, he was as a prominent member of the royal court of Kish, ultimately overthrowing its king before embarking on the conquest of Mesopotamia. Sargon's vast empire is known to have extended from Elam to the Mediterranean sea, including Mesopotamia, parts of modern-day Iran and Syria, and possibly parts of Anatolia and the Arabian peninsula. He ruled from a new capital, Akkad (Agade), which the Sumerian king list claims he built (or possibly renovated), on the left bank of the Euphrates. Sargon is regarded as one of the first individuals in recorded history to create a multiethnic, centrally ruled empire, and his dynasty controlled Mesopotamia for around a century and a half.
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Cyrus the Great (ca. 580 — August 530 BC) was the founder of the Persian Empire under the Achaemenid dynasty. The empire expanded under his rule, eventually conquering most of Southwest Asia and much of Central Asia, from Egypt and the Hellespont in the west to the Indus River in the east, to create the largest state the world had yet seen.
During his twenty-nine year reign, Cyrus fought against some of the greatest states of his time, including the Median Empire, the Lydian Empire, and the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Cyrus did not venture into Egypt, as he himself died in battle, fighting the Massagetae along the Syr Darya in August 530 BC.
Beyond his nation, Cyrus left a lasting legacy on Jewish religion (through his Edict of Restoration), politics, and military strategy, as well as on both Eastern and Western civilization.
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Hammurabi (ca. 1728 – 1686 BC short chronology) was the sixth king of Babylon. He became the first king of the Babylonian Empire, extending Babylon's control over Mesopotamia by winning a series of wars against neighboring kingdoms. Although his empire controlled all of Mesopotamia at the time of his death, his successors were unable to maintain his empire.
Hammurabi is known for the set of laws called Hammurabi's Code, one of the first written codes of law in recorded history. These laws were written on a stone tablet standing over six feet tall that was found in 1901. Owing to his reputation in modern times as an ancient law-giver, Hammurabi's portrait is in many government buildings throughout the world.
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Akkad was a city and its surrounding region in central Mesopotamia which became the capital of the Akkadian Empire.
The city was probably situated on the west bank of the Euphrates, between Sippar and Kish (in present-day Iraq, about 50 km (31 mi) southwest of the center of Baghdad). Despite an extensive search, the precise site has never been found.
Akkad reached the height of its power between the 23th and 22nd centuries BC, following the conquests of king Sargon of Akkad.
Because of the policies of the Akkadian Empire toward linguistic assimilation, Akkad also gave its name to the predominant Semitic dialect: the Akkadian language, reflected in the word akkadû ("in the language of Akkad") during the Old Babylonian period to denote a Semitic-language version of a Sumerian text.
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The Aramaic languages are a group of Semitic languages with a 3,000-year history. It has been the language of administration of empires and the language of divine worship. It is the original language of large sections of the biblical books of Daniel and Ezra, and is the main language of the Babylonian Talmud. Aramaic was the native language of Jesus (see Aramaic of Jesus). Modern Aramaic is spoken today as a first language by numerous scattered communities, most significantly by the Assyrians and is considered to be endangered today.
Aramaic belongs to the Afro-Asiatic language family. Within that diverse family, it belongs to the Semitic subfamily. Aramaic is a part of the Northwest Semitic group of languages, which also includes the Canaanite languages (such as Hebrew). It is also related to Arabic, being part of the more diverse Central Semitic languages; one possible source for the Arabic alphabet is Nabataean Aramaic script.
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Zoroastrianism is an ancient Persian religion and philosophy based on the teachings ascribed to the prophet Zoroaster (Zarathustra, Zartosht). The Zoroastrian Magi were an important priestly class in the Medean and Achaemenid empires, the creed becoming the dominant religion in the Achaemenid Empire. Zoroastrianism is uniquely important in the history of religion because of its possible formative links to both Western and Eastern religious traditions. As "the oldest of the revealed credal religions", Zoroastrianism "probably had more influence on mankind directly or indirectly than any other faith" (Mary Boyce, 1979).
The Avesta is the collection of the sacred texts of Zoroastrianism; the most ancient are written in an old or Gathic Avestan language, and the majority of the texts are probably from the Achaemenid era (648–330 BC).
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The Battle of Kadesh was fought between between Ancient Egyptian forces under Ramesses II and the Hittites under Muwatalli II at the city of Kadesh on the Orontes River, modern Tell Nebi Mend, Syria, and is generally dated to Year 5, III Shemu, day 9 of Ramesses II's reign, or May 12, 1274 BC, based on Ramesses' commonly accepted accession date in 1279 BC. The battle was part of the Egyptian New Kingdom's campaign to regain control over the Levant, which they were losing to Mitanni's expansion. Over the course of these campaigns, lighter 2-man chariots, the battle axe, and the curved khopesh sword came into use, with the Battle of Kadesh probably being the largest chariot battle ever fought, involving perhaps 5,000—6,000 chariots. The battle was also extensively documented, especially by the Egyptians, and gives modern historians the earliest accounts of military strategy.
Ultimately the battle was fought to a stalemate, essentially a loss for Egypt, and conflicts continued for 15 more years, after which the earliest extant international peace treaty was reached (pictured).
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The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia and is among the earliest known works of literary fiction. Scholars surmise that a series of Sumerian legends about the mythological hero-king Gilgamesh (who according to the Sumerian king list might have been a real ruler in the late Early Dynastic II period (ca. 27th century BC)) were later compiled by the scribe Sin-liqe-unninni into an Akkadian language epic, with the most complete version existing today preserved on twelve clay tablets found in the library of the 7th century BC Assyrian king Ashurbanipal.
The story revolves around the relationship between Gilgamesh, a king who has become distracted and disheartened by his rule, and a friend, Enkidu, who is half-wild and who undertakes dangerous quests with Gilgamesh. Much of the epic focuses on Gilgamesh's thoughts of loss following Enkidu's death. It is about their becoming human together, and places a high emphasis on issues surrounding human mortality. It is often credited by historians as being one of the first literary works.
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