Page "Akkadian Empire" Paragraph 9

Originally a cupbearer ( Rabshaqe ) to a king of Kish with a Semitic name, Ur-Zababa, Sargon thus became a gardener, responsible for the task of clearing out irrigation canals.

This gave him access to a disciplined corps of workers, who also may have served as his first soldiers.

Displacing Ur-Zababa, Sargon was crowned king, and he entered upon a career of foreign conquest.

Four times he invaded Syria and Canaan, and he spent three years thoroughly subduing the countries of " the west " to unite them with Mesopotamia " into a single empire.