Sargon

Sargon, king of Akkad

Sargon (sär`gŏn), king of Akkad in Mesopotamia (reigned c.2340–c.2305 B.C.). By conquest he established a great empire that included the whole of Mesopotamia and extended over Syria and Elam, and he controlled territories W to the Mediterranean and N to the Black Sea. Documents now support the theory that Sargon and his successors sent expeditions into SE Arabia as well as Asia Minor. The dynasty founded by Sargon lasted approximately 160 years; it was destroyed (c.2180 B.C.) by the Gutian barbarians from the Zagros Mts. Sargon's dynasty did much to spread Semitic and Sumerian civilization. His name appears also as Sharukkin.

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Sargon, king of Assyria

Sargon, 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.

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Sargon

(flourished 23rd century BC) Ancient Mesopotamian ruler (r. 2334–2279 BC). What is known of him comes from legends and tales; his capital city, Agade, has never been located. Perhaps originally a royal cupbearer, he came to prominence by defeating a Sumerian king, thereby attaining an empire in southern Mesopotamia and becoming the first emperor whose native tongue was Akkadian rather than Sumerian. He enlarged the empire from Iraq to Anatolia, and trade flourished with the Indus valley, Oman, the Persian Gulf coast, Cappadocia, and perhaps Greece.