Akkad was a city and its surrounding region in central Mesopotamia. Akkad also became the capital of the Akkadian Empire. The city was probably situated on the west bank of the Euphrates, between Sippar and Kish (in present-day Iraq, about southwest of the center of Baghdad). Despite an extensive search, the precise site has never been found. Akkad reached the height of its power between the 24th and 22nd centuries BC, following the conquests of king Sargon of Akkad. Because of the policies of the Akkadian Empire toward linguistic assimilation, Akkad also gave its name to the predominant Semitic dialect: the Akkadian language, reflecting use of "akkadû" ("in the language of Akkad") in the Old Babylonian period to denote the Semitic version of a Sumerian text.