Sargon of Agade (ca. 2334-2279 BC) was the first Semitic king of Mesopotamia. He founded the Akkadian dynasty and was the first ruler in history to win and hold an empire. He became a heroic figure of literature. Sargon was born, according to legend,...

c. 2334-2279 B.C. Mesopotamian ruler who created the first empire in history. Sargon came from the lower classes, and like Moses a thousand years later was said to have been rescued from a boat of reeds and pitch. He eventually seized power, becoming...

Sargon of Akkad, also known as Sargon the Great (Akkadian Šarru-kinu, cuneiform ŠAR.RU.KI.IN ����, meaning "the true king" or "the king is legitimate"), was an Akkadian king famous for his conquest of the Sumerian city-states in the 24th and...

It might have been a scene from one of Moustapha Akkad's films: a world-renowned filmmaker steps forward to greet his beautiful daughter just as a massive explosion from a suicide bomb shatters the lobby of a luxury hotel in Amman, Jordan. Tragically, it...

I first came across the poetry of Sargon Boulus in an anthology of Arabic poetry written in exile. Refreshingly, his work lacked the maudlin tone and dreary nostalgia that weighs down so much of the Arabic poetry produced in the West today, but what...