A people called the Akkadians invaded the valley under Sargon I and established their supremacy over the Sumerians, and extended their control into Syria as far as the coast.

Displacing Ur-Zababa, Sargon was crowned king, and he entered upon a career of foreign conquest.

* 2334 BC – 2279 BC: ( short chronology ) Sargon of Akkad's conquest of Mesopotamia.

After the middle of the 12th century BC follows another long period of comparative neglect, but with the conquest of Babylonia by the Assyrian king Sargon II, at the close of the 8th century BC, we meet again with building inscriptions, and under Ashurbanipal, about the middle of the 7th century BC, we find Ekur restored with a splendour greater than ever before, the ziggurat of that period being 58 by 39 m. After the fall of the Neo Assyrian Empire Ekur appears to have gradually fallen into decay, until finally, in the Seleucid period, the ancient temple was turned into a fortress.

With the Akkadian conquest Lagash lost its independence, its ruler or ensi becoming a vassal of Sargon of Akkad and his successors ; but Lagash continued to be a city of much importance and above all, a centre of artistic development.

An Assyrian inscription of Sargon II, dated to 710 B. C. E., mentions the Arab tribe of " Ibb-Ad " and Sargon's conquest of " Adu-mu " in Arabia.

2296-2271 BC short chronology ) was the last Sumerian king before the conquest of Sumer by Sargon of Akkad and the rise of the Akkadian Empire, and was considered as the only king of the third dynasty of Uruk.

His revolt occurred roughly shortly after the conquest of the Kingdom of Israel by Sargon II and roughly simultaneously with revolts in Babylon as well as in Arpad, Damascus and elsewhere in the Levant.

The earliest historical records of Anatolia stem from the south east of the region, and are from the Mesopotamian based Akkadian Empire during the reign of Sargon of Akkad in the 24th century BC.

The earliest " year names ", whereby each year of a king's reign was named after a significant event performed by that king, date from the reign of Sargon the Great.

These alleged refugees claimed the ancestry of Sargon of Akkad ( whose dynasty died out some 15 centuries before the fall of Assyria ), they also contradictionally claimed ancestry from Nabopolassar, a Babylonian king of Chaldean extraction who played a major part in the destruction of the Assyrian Empire.

Additionally, the claimants to this ancestry also claim descendancy from Sargon of Akkad ( whose dynasty died out over 1500 years before the Assyrian dynasty fell ), and from Nabopolassar, who was a Chaldean, politically and militarily opposed to Assyria, and not in fact an Assyrian.

Two, from the Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa ( compiled in Babylon around 1700 BCE ) are reported to have been made during the reign of king Sargon of Akkad ( 2334 – 2279 BCE ).

* Alabaster bas-reliefs from the Palace of Sargon II

Although mythical elements are not so prominent in Exodus as in Genesis, the echoes of ancient legends are crucial to understanding the book's origins and purpose: for example, the story of the infant Moses's salvation from the Nile has its basis in an earlier legend of king Sargon, while the story of the parting of the Red Sea trades on Mesopotamian creation mythology.

The earliest mention of the city of Babylon can be found in a tablet from the reign of Sargon of Akkad, dating back to the 24th century BC.

The tablet, measuring, is usually dated from the dynasty of Sargon of Akkad between 2500-2300 BC ; an even earlier date for the tablet was promulgated by archeologist Leo Bagrow, placing it in the Agade Period ( 3800 BC ).

The Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Assyrian ruler Sargon II in the late 8th century BCE with many people from the capital Samaria being taken captive to Media and the Khabur River valley.

Assyrian tablets from the reign of Sargon II record attacks by a " Mita ", king of the Mushki, against Assyria's eastern Anatolian provinces.

The inscription of Sargon II records the deportation of a relatively small proportion of the Israelites from Samaria ( 27, 290, according to the annals ), so it is quite possible that a sizable population remained that could identify themselves as Israelites, the term that the Samaritans prefer for themselves.

Bas-relief from the king Sargon II's palace at Dur Sharrukin in Assyria ( now Khorsabad in Iraq ), c. 713 – 716 BC.

The origins of falconry have been traced to Mesopotamia and the earliest record comes from the reign of Sargon II ( 722 – 705 BC ).

The earliest mention of the city of Babylon can be found in a tablet from the reign of Sargon of Akkad ( 2334-2279 BC ), dating back to the 23rd century BC.

Sumerian references to the Mar. tu (" tent dwellers " – considered to be Amorite ) country West of the Euphrates date from even earlier than Sargon, at least to the reign of the Sumerian king, Enshakushanna of Uruk.

A lamassu from the palace of Sargon II at Dur-Sharrukin.

* c. 720 BC — Guardian figure ( pictured, right ), from the entrance to the throne room at palace of Sargon II is made.

* Sargon the Sorcerer, comic superhero character from DC Comics, first appeared in 1941

* Sargon, left-handed guitarist of the fictional band The Mesopotamians from the They Might Be Giants song on their 2007 album The Else

There is a reference in an Assyrian inscription from Sargon II's time to Anami, a tribe located in Cyrene, Libya.

However, Sargon took this process further, conquering many of the surrounding regions to create an empire that reached westward as far as the Mediterranean Sea and perhaps Cyprus ( Kaptara ); northward as far as the mountains ( a later Hittite text asserts he fought the Hattite king Nurdaggal of Burushanda, well into Anatolia ); eastward over Elam ; and as far south as Magan ( Oman ) — a region over which he reigned for purportedly 56 years, though only four " year-names " survive.

Although the 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica reflects Herodotus, stating, " They Cimmerians probably did live in the area north of the Black Sea, but attempts to define their original homeland more precisely by archaeological means, or even to fix the date of their expulsion from their country by the Scythians, have not so far been completely successful ," in recent research academic scholars have made use of documents dating to centuries earlier than Herodotus, such as intelligence reports to Sargon, and note that these identify the Cimmerians as living south rather than north of the Black Sea.

Military intelligence reports to Sargon in the 8th century BC describe the Cimmerians as occupying territory south of the Black Sea.

From there they turned west along the coast of the Black Sea as far as Sinope, and then headed south towards Tabal, in 705 defeating an Assyrian army in central Anatolia, resulting in the death of Sargon.

Sargon took the capital Izirtu, and stationed troops in Parsuash ( the original home of the Persian tribe, on lake Urmia ) and Kar-Nergal ( Kishesim ).

Notable works in the collection include the famous Megiddo Ivories ; various treasures from Persepolis, the old Persian capital ; a collection of Luristan Bronzes ; a colossal 40-ton human-headed winged bull ( or Lamassu ) from Khorsabad, the capital of Sargon II ; and a monumental statue of King Tutankhamun.

With Naram-Sin, Sargon's grandson, this went further than with Sargon, with the king not only being called " Lord of the Four Quarters ( of the Earth )", but also elevated to the ranks of the dingir (= gods ), with his own temple establishment.

Some of the important historical Mesopotamian leaders were Ur-Nammu ( king of Ur ), Sargon ( who established the Akkadian Empire ), Hammurabi ( who established the Old Babylonian state ), Ashur-uballit II and Tiglath-Pileser I ( who established the Assyrian Empires ).

Beginning with Lugal-zage-si and the Third Dynasty of Uruk ( which was defeated by Sargon of Akkad ), a better understanding of how subsequent rulers fit into the chronology of the ancient Near East can be deduced.

* Sargon of Akkad ( 2334 BC – 2279 BC ), also known as Sargon the Great or Sargon I, Mesopotamian king

* Sargon I ( r. 1920 BC – 1881 BC ), Assyrian king

* Sargon II ( r. 722 BC – 705 BC ), Assyrian king

* Simon Sargon ( b. 1938 ), American composer and professor.

* Sargon Boulus ( 1944 – 2007 ), Assyrian-Iraqi poet.

* Sargon Dadesho ( b. 1948 ), Assyrian nationalist

* Sargon Gabriel ( b. 1951 ), Assyrian folk music singer.

* Sargon Simonsson ( b. 1982 ), Assyrian Swedish footballer.

* Sargon Duran ( b. 1987 ), Assyrian Austrian footballer.

* Sargon Cicek ( b. 1988 ), Assyrian Swedish footballer.