In the political sphere the Dynasty of Akkad attained a similar position. Not only did her kings secure the hegemony in Akkad and Sumer, but they pushed their influence beyond the limits of Babylonia, and consolidated an empire in the strict sense of the term. His rule over the four quarters of the world may have led Narâm-Sin to add to his titles, and the growth of their power probably increased the tendency of these early monarchs to assume the attributes and privileges of gods. Of the kings of Kish we have evidence that some were deified, and the divine determinative is set before the name of Shar-Gani-sharri in two inscriptions that have come down to us. In nearly every text of Narâm-Sin the determinative for deity precedes his name, and in some of the contemporary seal-inscriptions he is even termed "the god of Akkad." Under the later kings of Ur the cult of the reigning monarch was diligently practised, and his worship was continued after death. There is no evidence that this custom obtained among the earlier Sumerian kings and patesis, and we may with some confidence set its origin in this period of Semitic supremacy. That the kings of Akkad should have claimed divine honours during their own lifetime may probably be connected with the increase in their dominion, based upon conquests which extended from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean, and from Arabia to the mountains of Kurdistan.
[1] Written both as _Sharru_-GI-NA and as _Sharru_-DU.
[2] Cf. "Cuneiform Inscriptions from Western Asia," Vol. II. (1866), pl. 39, No. 5, l. 41, where Sargon's name occurs in conjunction with his title "King of Agade," or pl. 48, l. 40, where he is credited with such descriptions as "king of justice" (_shar kitti_), "proclaimer of justice" (_dabib kitti_), "proclaimer of favours" (_dabib damkâti_); the passage in pl. 50, l. 64, which mentions the old Babylonian city of Dûr-Sharrukîn, "Sargon's Fortress," was also referred to him.
[3] Rawlinson announced his discovery of the Legend of Sargon in the _Athenæum_, No. 2080, Sept. 7, 1867, p. 305, where he made the acute suggestion that Sargon of Assyria, the father of Sennacherib, may have been called "the later Sargon" (_Sharru-ukîn arkû_) "to distinguish him from the hero of romance whose adventures were better known among the Assyrian people."