Sargon II
King of Assyria who took the throne when Shalmaneser V died. His inscriptions claim the conquest of Samaria and the deportation of 27,290 of its people. The Bible names him once, for the capture of Ashdod.
Sargon took the throne of Assyria on the twelfth of the month Tebetu in the winter of 722/721 BC (Babylonian Chronicle 1 i.31). In the inscription of his palace at Khorsabad he says that he besieged and conquered Samaria, deported 27,290 people and imposed tribute on those who remained (Sargon II, Display Inscription lines 23–25). A prism from Nimrud adds that he resettled the city with people from other lands he had conquered (Sargon II, Nimrud Prism iv 25–41). The Bible names him once, when his commander took Ashdod (Isaiah 20:1). See the Fall of Samaria.
In the timeline
- 722/721 BC, estimated dateThe Fall of Samaria
After a siege of three years the Assyrians take Samaria, deport its people and settle others in their place. The northern kingdom of Israel comes to an end. Kings, a Babylonian chronicle and the inscriptions of Sargon II all record it.
Primary sources
Scripture
The Great Display Inscription of Sargon II
- Sargon II, Display Inscription lines 23–25oracc.museum.upenn.edu
The Nimrud Prism of Sargon II
- Sargon II, Nimrud Prism iv 25–41oracc.museum.upenn.edu