ACCAD

(Acʹcad).

One of the four cities founded by Nimrod that formed “the beginning of his kingdom.” (Ge 10:10) Accad (Akkad) has been identified with the ancient city of Agade. The precise location is uncertain.

The name Akkad is also applied to the whole northern region of what later was called Babylonia. Akkad appears to have received prominence as the principal or royal city of that region under Sargon I (not the Sargon of Isa 20:1). The southern region of Mesopotamia was known as Sumer. Babylonia grew out of these two areas, and in Babylonian texts her rulers were still called “king of Akkad” down to the time of Babylon’s fall in 539 B.C.E. On the Cyrus Cylinder, Babylon’s conqueror takes over the title “King of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad.”

The Akkadians appear to have surpassed the Sumerians in fine sculpture and intricate seal cutting. The name Akkadian (Accadian) today is used to describe the ancient Assyrian and Babylonian languages.