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Widely considered the first empire ever, the Akkadian Empire was founded by Sargon the Great around 2330 BCE. Sargon, who claimed the ancient city of Akkad as his home and capital, ruled over most of Mesopotamia for the rest of his life. In light of his successful conquests over the known world, Sargon named himself the first King of the Universe.
After the long prehistoric period known as the Upper and Lower Period, Egypt was unified for the first time by the Upper Egyptian leader known both as Narmer and Menes.
Regarded as the first monarch to rule over all of England, Æthelstan was crowned king of the Anglo-Saxons in 924 CE after the death of his father, Edward the Elder.
Most agree that Narmer's unification occurred sometime around 3100 BCE, marking the beginning of the First Dynasty of Egypt, a 200-year-long chain of kings who all descended from Narmer.
Sargon successfully conquered most of the old Sumerian city-states and put them under his direct control. At least three distinct cultures and languages existed throughout the Akkadian Empire, and Sargon was arguably the first leader to standardize measurements, currency, and trade dealings across cultures.
After being crowned king of Wessex and Mercia, Æthelstan successfully fought to gain control over the various smaller kingdoms on the island, such as the Viking kingdom of York. All of England was unified under Æthelstan's power until his death in 939. Shortly after his death, England splintered into smaller kingdoms once again.
The legendary first king of Attica, and founder of the ancient Greek city-state of Athens, was known as Cecrops. Evidence confirming when exactly Cecrops was to have founded Athens and its Acropolis is lacking, but scholars of Greek mythology point to sometime around the 16th century BCE.
Apparently reflecting his 'dual-citizenship' as both an Athenian and a barbarian, Cecrops is depicted as having the head, torso, and arms of a civilized man and the body of a wild, writhing snake.
The founder of the Qin Dynasty, the first dynasty of China and likely where the Western name "China" originates, Qin Shi Huang ruled with an iron first for only nine years before his death. The Qin Dynasty itself only lasted a total of 15 years, but changed the course of Chinese history and had a lasting impact stretching over the next two millennia of unified China.
One of two legendary brothers that are considered the founders of Rome, Romulus is widely considered the first king of Rome. Romulus is said to have crowned himself king after slaying his twin brother, Remus, in 754 BCE.
According to legend, Romulus and Remus were the sons of the Roman god Mars and a mortal woman named Rhea. Abandoned on a hill near the future site of Rome, the twins were found and nursed by a great she-wolf until they were able to fend for themselves. Ancient traditional accounts of Rome trace the political, religious, and social policies that made the early republic so great back to the acts and edicts of Romulus.
Qin Shi Huang became the first emperor of China after unifying the numerous Chinese kingdoms in 221 BCE, putting an end to the tumultuous Warring States period.
This makes Enmebaragesi a strong contestant for the first verifiably real king on Earth. While details regarding his life and rule remain murky, his mere existence makes Enmebaragesi an immeasurably important figure in the field of historiography.
Born around 600 BCE, Cyrus the Great founded the first Persian Empire, also known as the Achaemenid Empire, in 556 BCE. At the time, his was the largest empire ever seen on Earth.
While not the first king of Kish according to legend and mythology, Enmebaragesi is the first ruler whose existence is backed by archaeological evidence. He served as the king of Kish, also known as Sumer, for a disputed amount of time around the 29th century BCE.
Considered the progenitor of the area now known as Russia, Prince Rurik was the founder of the Rurik Dynasty that ruled over the ethnic Rus' people for centuries.
The Achaemenid Empire stretched over 2.1 million square miles (5.5 million square km), reaching as far east as India and as far west as Egypt.
Prince Rurik is said to have unified a number of Rus' kingdoms and territories in 872 CE, and ruled until 879. His dynasty would go on to establish the first tsars of Russia in 1557, and remain the most powerful dynasty in the area until the fall of Tsar Vasili IV in 1610.
Ayar Manco was the founder and first emperor of the ill-fated Inca Empire, the largest and one of the most advanced civilizations of the Americas. They were one of the last major indigenous civilizations in the Americas to survive before the arrival of the Spanish Empire.
The Songhai Empire stretched across 540,000 square miles (1.4 million square km) of West Africa during the incredibly busy lifetime of its founder, Sonni Ali.
Ayar Manco, the leader of a large tribe of nomads known as the Allyu, led his people into the Cusco Valley of modern-day Peru, where he founded the city of Cusco sometime in the early 13th century. The Inca Empire would grow to cover the lion's share of South America's western coastline.
Sonni Ali stayed in a perpetual state of conquest for the duration of his reign, capturing territory from the neighboring Mali and Ghana Empires, including the influential cities of Timbuktu and Gao.
One of the most notorious and successful leaders of the ancient world was Genghis Khan, leader and founder of the Mongol Empire, the largest empire in history.
Chandragupta Maurya was the founder and first leader of the ancient Indian Maurya Empire. Established by Maurya in 332 BCE, the empire and its forces successfully pushed Alexander the Great's armies out of the Indian subcontinent before taking control of almost all of the region's territories.
Considered a "god king" during his lifetime and for centuries afterwards, Jayavarman II set in motion a long era of stability and prosperity in continental Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Vietnam, and parts of China. At its height, the Khmer Empire surpassed its contemporary, the Byzantine Empire, in size. Although few documents from the era exist, the influence and prosperity of Jayavarman II's empire is made apparent in the great monuments of his reign, such as Angkor Wat.
See also: The powerful women who changed the courser of history
The Indian subcontinent flourished under Maurya's rule, who halted conquests once he was satisfied with his expansive territories. Social and economic reforms helped to cement his power without any great uses of force. Maurya is said to have adopted old Hindu principles of nonviolence after his era of conquests.
Jayavarman II, who lived from 770 CE to 850 CE, is responsible for the unification of the Khmer culture of Southeast Asia, in what is now Cambodia, and the founding of the Khmer Empire.
Active during the first decades of the 13th century, Genghis Khan united the tribes of the Mongolian Steppe before leading widespread conquests all across Eastern Europe and Asia, reaching as far south as Palestine, as far west as Poland, and as far east as the Korean Peninsula.
Osman I may have started out as a minor Turkic tribal prince, but he would go on to become the founder and first Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, after the empire's establishment in 1299.
Osman himself led small-scale conquests against other Eastern kingdoms and chipped away at the borders of the neighboring Byzantine Empire, slowly growing his empire. His descendants would go on to cause the final fall of the Byzantines and become one of the longest-lasting empires in history, not officially falling apart until the 20th century.
The history of civilization is mostly told through the stories of a handful of powerful empires and civilizations that had incomprehensible impact on the world, both positive and negative. The story of modern democracy starts with the great city-states of ancient Greece, and the Mongol Empire's influence on all of Asia cannot be overlooked just the same. The exploits of these powerful entities are well known, but what about their origins? What about the powerful and industrious individuals who founded these great civilizations and fearsome empires?
Read on to learn all about the first leaders of the greatest civilizations in history.
The very first rulers of these ancient civilizations
Get to know the progenitors of history's greatest powers
LIFESTYLE History
The history of civilization is mostly told through the stories of a handful of powerful empires and civilizations that had incomprehensible impact on the world, both positive and negative. The story of modern democracy starts with the great city-states of ancient Greece, and the Mongol Empire's influence on all of Asia cannot be overlooked just the same. The exploits of these powerful entities are well known, but what about their origins? What about the powerful and industrious individuals who founded these great civilizations and fearsome empires?
Read on to learn all about the first leaders of the greatest civilizations in history.