The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Sargon, king of Assyria
d. 705 B.C., king of Assyria (722–705 B.C.), successor to Shalmaneser V. He completed Shalmaneser’s siege of Samaria in 721 B.C., thus destroying the northern Israelite kingdom forever. In 720 he defeated a coalition of enemies at Raphia. He captured Carchemish, subdued Babylonia, and advanced eastward to Kurdistan. He founded the last great Assyrian dynasty. Excavations of his palace at Dur Sharrukin (Khorsabad) have uncovered his personal annals, in which he recorded in detail his destruction of Samaria. His name appears also as Sharrukin.
