Sargon: (In the inscriptions, "Sarra-yukin" [the god] has appointed the king;
also "Sarru-kinu," the legitimate king.) On the death of Shalmaneser
(B.C. 723) one of the Assyrian generals established himself on the
vacant throne, taking the name of "Sargon," after that of the famous
monarch, the Sargon of Accad, founder of the first Semitic empire, as
well as of one of the most famous libraries of Chaldea. He forthwith
began a conquering career, and became one of the most powerful of the
Assyrian monarchs. He is mentioned by name in the Bible only in
connection with the siege of Ashdod
(Isaiah 20:1) At the very beginning
of his reign he besieged and took the city of Samaria
(2 Kings 17:6)
(2 Kings 18:9-12) On an inscription found in the palace he built at
Khorsabad, near Nieveh, he says, "The city of Samaria I besieged, I
took; 27,280 of its inhabitants I carried away; fifty chariots that
were among them I collected," etc. The northern kingdom he changed
into an Assyrian satrapy. He afterwards drove Merodach-baladan (q.v.),
who kept him at bay for twelve years, out of Babylon, which he entered
in triumph. By a succession of victories he gradually enlarged and
consolidated the empire, which now extended from the frontiers of
Egypt in the west to the mountains of Elam in the east, and thus
carried almost to completion the ambitious designs of Tiglath-pileser
(q.v.). He was murdered by one of his own soldiers (B.C. 705) in his
palace at Khorsabad, after a reign of sixteen years, and was succeeded
by his son Sennacherib.
