How did the Akkadian and Old Babylonian empires develop in Mesopotamia?

TTHE WEALTH OF SUMERIAN CITIES also attracted non-Sumerian conquerors from the north, beginning with the Akkadians and then the Babylonians. Both of these peoples created large states in the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates, and Hammurabi, one ruler of Babylon, proclaimed an extensive law code. Merchants traveled throughout the Fertile Crescent and beyond, carrying products and facilitating cultural exchange.

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Sargon of AkkadThis bronze head, with elaborately worked hair and beard, might portray the great conqueror Sargon of Akkad (though his name does not appear on it). The eyes were originally inlaid with jewels, which have since been gouged out. Produced around 2300 B.C.E., this head was found in the ruins of the Assyrian capital of Nineveh, where it had been taken as loot. (INTERFOTO/Alamy)