Sargon, 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.

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.