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Akkad
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Bronze head of an Akkadian king, possibly Sargon of Akkad, with detailed curled beard and patterned hair, displayed on a white pedestal. Locator map showing the historical region of Akkad in Mesopotamia, highlighted in orange within present-day Iraq. The map provides regional context, displaying surrounding bodies of water such as the Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and Caspian Sea, as well as neighboring parts of Africa and Asia.
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Tomb of Mohammed Bin Ali, Salalah, Oman.
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Bronze head of an Akkadian king, possibly Sargon of Akkad, with detailed curled beard and patterned hair, displayed on a white pedestal.
bronze head of a king from Nineveh Bronze head of a king, perhaps Sargon of Akkad, from Nineveh (now in Iraq), Akkadian period, c. 2300 bce; in the Iraq Museum, Baghdad.

Akkad

historical region, Mesopotamia
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History

Akkad, ancient region in what is now central Iraq. Akkad was the northern (or northwestern) division of ancient Babylonia. The region was located roughly in the area where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (see Tigris-Euphrates river system) are closest to each other, and its northern limit extended beyond the line of the modern cities of Al-Fallūjah and Baghdad. The early inhabitants of this region were predominantly Semitic, and their speech is called Akkadian. To the...

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