Akkad, considered part of Mesopotamia, was a region north of Sumer which included the area around modern Baghdad as well as the ancient sites of Babylon, Kish, and Nippur. United under a common rulership with Sumer, circa 2371 BC.

Peopled by Semites, presumed to have come from Northern Syria, the first king being the particular imperialistic Sargon. The site of the city from which the region gained its name, Agade has yet to be determined (to the best of my briefly researched knowledge).

Sargon is notable for being the subject of a Moses like legend (though trouncing Moses by some millenia in the originality stakes); a baby bearing basket of reeds covered with bitumen floating on down the river Akki, leading young Sargon to a new, more fortunate life than his poor lowly mother and unknown father could provide.