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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Sargon II Biography SARGON II, of Assyria (722-705 B.C.). He was a usurper, probably raised to the throne by priestly influence. In the battle of Durilu he was defeated by Humbanigash of Elam and the Chaldaean Mardukapaliddin, and the latter reigned for 12 years in Babylon (721-709). He claims to have captured Samaria, but this was probably done by Shalmaneser V in 723, as the biblical accounts and the Babylonian Chronicles indicate. He took Hamath in 720, quelled an insurrection in Samaria, defeated Hanun of Gaza, and won the battle of Raphia against the Egyptians. He carried away from Samaria 27,290 Israelites to Mesopotamia and Media. In 717 he captured Carchemish and in 715 invaded Arabia, whence he brought a large number of people whom he settled in Samaria. In 714 he conducted a. campaign in western Iran, Armenia, and Kurdistan, according to a recently found inscription. An insurrection in Ashdod in 711 was quelled by his turtanu, or commander in chief. Babylonia was conquered in 709. Wars were also fought with the Chaldians (q.v.) in Armenia, with Melitene, Commagene, Cilicia, Cappadocia, and Ellip. Sargonbuilt a splendid palace in his new capital, Dur Sargon, the modern Khorsabad. He appears to have fallen in a battle with the Cimmerians in Cappadocia. The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XX (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 472-473. |