I am not terribly familiar with Akkad, but if the figures are correct, Menes unified Upper and Lower Egypt somewhere near 3100 B.C. Sargon, however, ruled closer to 2300 B.C., taking him some 800 years out of winning the “First Kingdgom” prize. Of course, all this depends on one’s definition of “kingdom”.

I will cast my ballot with Sargon I since the Akkadians were a mobile empire…

What would mobility have to do with kindgomship? It would seem that if anything, this would detract from a people’s claim to having a kingdom.

Here's a timeline of Egyptian dynasties (from Wikipedia):

These figures put the Old Kingdom at a date prior to the emergence of Sargon. As evidence of an advanced Egyptian civilization at this time, the largest of the pyramids was built during this time (2530 B.C., Pharaoh Khufu). Even if the pyramids were built with massive amounts of slave labor, they would still require significant managerial oversight, as well as logistical expertise to some degree or another. I think that this suggests the existence of an advanced civilization.

An argument could be made for Nimrod as well. He orginized a large group of people to build the tower of Babel just after the flood. He was well known among his contemporaries and  a leader of men. I suppose though that one would have to believe the bible as a historical source to consider Nimrod.

Hey, I hav just got a news that the Egyptian archaeologists hav just found out a tomb of 4 millennium years. This brand new foundation dedicates that the community of tombs in Saqqara, South Cairo is much larger than what we used to know. :D. This news is so interesting !!!

SARGON OF AKKAD was an ancient Mesopotamian ruler who  reigned approximately 2334-2279 BC, and was one of the earliest of the world's great empire builders, conquering all of southern Mesopotamia as well as parts of Syria, Anatolia, and Elam (western Iran). He established the region's first Semitic dynasty and was considered the founder of the Mesopotamian military tradition.Sargon is known almost entirely from the legends and tales that followed his reputation through 2,000 years of cuneiform Mesopotamian history, and not from documents that were written during his lifetime. The lack of contemporary record is explained by the fact that the capital city of Agade, which he built, has never been located and excavated. It was destroyed at the end of the dynasty that Sargon founded and was never again inhabited, at least under the name of Agade.According to a folktale, Sargon was a self-made man of humble origins; a gardener, having found him as a baby floating in a basket on the river, brought him up in his own calling. His father is unknown; his own name during his childhood is also unknown; his mother is said to have been a priestess in a town on the middle Euphrates. Rising, therefore, without the help of influential relations, he attained the post of cupbearer to the ruler of the city of Kish, in the north of the ancient land of Sumer. The event that brought him to supremacy was the defeat of Lugalzaggisi of Uruk (biblical Erech, in central Sumer). Lugalzaggisi had already united the city-states of Sumer by defeating each in turn and claimed to rule the lands not only of the Sumerian city-states but also those as far west as the Mediterranean. Thus, Sargon became king over all of southern Mesopotamia, the first great ruler for whom, rather than Sumerian, the Semitic tongue known as Akkadian was natural from birth, although some earlier kings with Semitic names are recorded in the Sumerian king list. Victory was ensured, however, only by numerous battles, since each city hoped to regain its independence from Lugalzaggisi without submitting to the new overlord. It may have been before these exploits, when he was gathering followers and an army, that Sargon named himself Sharru-kin ("Rightful King") in support of an accession not achieved in an old-established city through hereditary succession. Historical records are still so meager, however, that there is a complete gap in information relating to this period.Not content with dominating this area, his wish to secure favorable trade with Agade throughout the known world, together with an energetic temperament, led Sargon to defeat cities along the middle Euphrates to northern Syria and the silver-rich mountains of southern Anatolia. He also dominated Susa, capital city of the Elamites, in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran, where the only truly contemporary record of his reign has been uncovered. Such was his fame that some merchants in an Anatolian city, probably in central Turkey, begged him to intervene in a local quarrel, and, according to the legend, Sargon, with a band of warriors...read more:http://history-world.org/sargon_the_great.htm

I am not terribly familiar with Akkad, but if the figures are correct, Menes unified Upper and Lower Egypt somewhere near 3100 B.C.  Sargon, however, ruled closer to 2300 B.C., taking him some 800 years out of winning the "First Kingdgom" prize.  Of course, all this depends on one's definition of "kingdom".

Rereading this thread is interesting.  I still contend that Menes (aka Narmer) was the king well before Sargon, and even if we discount him then there are plenty of other Egyptian rulers who preceded Sargon (Khufu, Khafre, Menkaure, etc.).  Interestingly enough, the class lecture I gave my students today was on the Egyptian Old Kingdom.  Anyway, I'm basically agreeing here with the 2005 version of myself.  ;D