Akkad (/ˈækæd/; or Agade, cuneiform 𒀀𒂵𒉈𒆠, A-ga-deki3 in Akkadian, also 𒌵𒆠 URIKI in Sumerian during the Ur III period) was the name of a Mesopotamian city and its surrounding area.Akkad was the capital of the Akkadian Empire, which was the dominant political force in Mesopotamia during a period of about 150 years in the last third of the 3rd millennium BC. Its location is unknown, although there are a number of candidate sites, mostly situated east of the Tigris, roughly between the modern cities of Samarra and Baghdad.