Sargon of Akkad

Sargon started as cup-bearer to the king of Kish, according to the Sumerian King List, before seizing power himself and founding the Akkadian Empire in the 24th to 23rd centuries BC. From his capital at Akkad — still unlocated — he conquered the Sumerian city-states and extended his reach across most of Mesopotamia, into the Levant, and into Hurrian and Elamite lands. His dynasty held for roughly a century after his death around 2279 BC, until the Gutians overran Sumer. A millennium later, in Neo-Assyrian libraries, scribes were still copying legends of his birth and reign.