The first known mention of the city of Akkad is in an inscription of Enshakushanna of Uruk, where he claims to have defeated Agade — indicating that it was in existence well before the days of Sargon of Akkad, whom the Sumerian King List claims to have built it.

Sargon is even recorded as having organised naval expeditions to Dilmun ( Bahrein ) and Magan, amongst the first organised military naval expeditions in history.

It is probable that the first collection of astronomical observations and terrestrial omens was made for a library established by Sargon.

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 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.

* 722 BC: Israel is conquered by Assyrian king Sargon II.

* 722 BC — Northern Kingdom of Israel is conquered by Assyrian king Sargon II.

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

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

Three stages may be traced in the art of these bas-reliefs: it is vigorous but simple under Ashurnasirpal II, careful and realistic under Sargon II, and refined but wanting in boldness under Ashurbanipal.

Sargon II became co-regent with Shalmaneser V in 722 BC, and became the sole ruler of the kingdom of Babylonia in 722 BC after the death of Shalmaneser V. It is not clear whether he was the son of Tiglath-Pileser III or a usurper unrelated to the royal family.

Sargon is the Biblical form of the name.

The eighth campaign of Sargon against Urartu in 714 BC is well known from a letter from Sargon to the god Ashur ( found in the town of Assur, now in the Louvre ) and the bas-reliefs in the palace of Dur-Sharrukin.

Sargon II, during the course of conquering much of what is now known as the Middle East, defeated the Kingdom of Israel in 722 BC and sent its inhabitants into exile.

Khumbanigash ( 743 – 717 ) supported Merodach-baladan against Sargon II, apparently without success ; while his successor, Shutruk-Nakhkhunte II ( 716 – 699 ), was routed by Sargon's troops during an expedition in 710, and another Elamite defeat by Sargon's troops is recorded for 708.

As many Babylonian officials as well as the Babylonian administrative system stayed in place after the transition of power, it has been surmised that this time was spent on negotiations with representatives from the city ; this is similar to what happened when the Neo-Assyrian king Sargon II and later Alexander the Great took the city.

Thus, Sargon of Akkad described himself as " deputy of Ishtar ", just as the Pope is considered the " Vicar of Christ ".

A Daiukku is mentioned several times in inscriptions from the reign of Sargon II ( late eighth century BC ); he is named as a Mannean provincial governor ( šaknu ) ruling a district bordering Assyria.

" Any connection between the governor mentioned by Sargon and the Median dynasty of later periods is thus only hypothetical ; there is not a single authentic cuneiform source to confirm that Sargon ’ s Daiukku and Herodotus ’ Deioces were the same person.

On those tablets Assyrian traders implored the help of the Akkadian king Sargon.

One legend related of Sargon in Assyrian times says that

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.

Between the death of the Assyrian king Sargon, and the succession of his son Sennacherib, Hezekiah sought to throw off his subservience to the Assyrian kings.

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.

For the unnamed " king of Babylon " a wide range of identifications have been proposed. They include a Babylonian ruler of the prophet Isaiah's own time the later Nebuchadnezzar II, under whom the Babylonian captivity of the Jews began, or Nabonidus, and the Assyrian kings Tiglath-Pileser, Sargon II and Sennacherib, Herbert Wolf held that the " king of Babylon " was not a specific ruler but a generic representation of the whole line of rulers.

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 ).

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

As the crown prince, Sennacherib was placed in charge of the Assyrian Empire while his father, Sargon II, was on campaign.

* 717 BC: Assyrian king Sargon conquers the Hittites stronghold of Carchemish.

A crystal lens, turned on the lathe, was discovered by Austen Henry Layard at Nimrud along with glass vases bearing the name of Sargon ; this could explain the excessive minuteness of some of the writing on the Assyrian tablets, and a lens may also have been used in the observation of the heavens.

* 717 BC — Assyrian king Sargon conquers the Hittites stronghold of Carchemish.

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

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

* Sargon Dadesho ( b. 1948 ), Assyrian nationalist

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

* Cindy Sargon, Assyrian Australian TV chef.

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

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

Originally a cupbearer ( Rabshaqe ) to a king of Kish with a Semitic name, Ur-Zababa, Sargon thus became a gardener, responsible for the task of clearing out irrigation canals.

* Enheduanna, daughter of Sargon, priestess and the first author known by name

In his inscriptions, he styles himself as a new man, rarely referring to his predecessors ; however he took the name Sharru-kinu (" true king "), after Sargon of Akkad — who had founded the first Semitic Empire in the region some 16 centuries earlier.

The oldest name for Anatolia, " Land of the Hatti ", was found on Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets from the period of Sargon the Great of Akkad ca.

The name ' Sargon ' means ' the king is legitimate ' in Akkadian.

The name " Sargon I " has also been used to refer to Sargon of Akkad, and the Assyrian Sargon may have been named after him.

One of Hayk's most famous scions, Aram, settled in Eastern Armenia from the Mitanni kingdom ( Western Armenia ), when Sargon II mentions a king of part of Armenia who bore the ( Armenian-Indo-Iranian ) name Bagatadi (" Theodore ").

Warpalawa is also mentioned in Assyrian texts, under the name Urballa, first in a list of tributees of Assyrian king Tiglath Pileser III and later in a letter of Sargon II.

Taking his professional name from the ancient king of the same name, Sargon has had a checkered career, acting mostly as a hero during the Golden Age aided by his cartoonish fat little comic relief sidekick / manager Maximillian O ' Leary as he battled crooks, spies and his azure-skinned archenemy the Blue Lama, Queen of Black Magic, but re-emerging in the Silver Age-as a villain, at least at first.

Historians are divided as to who destroyed the city ; some name Sargon of Akkad ( who stated that he had passed through Mari on his famous campaign to the west ), while others say it was the Eblaites, Mari's traditional commercial rivals.

After the demise of Hayden Software, later chess programs were also released under the name Sargon, including Sargon IV ( Spinnaker Software ), Sargon V ( Activision ) and a CD-i title simply named Sargon Chess.

* Sargon, an Assyrian envoy: name of two Assyrian kings, the first being the founder of one of history's first empires.