Sargon II Destroys Samaria and the Kingdom of Israel
The northern Kingdom of Israel had been a persistent thorn in Assyria's westward expansion. Shalmaneser V began a siege of Samaria after King Hoshea was found to have sent envoys to Egypt. Shalmaneser died during the siege, and his successor Sargon II completed the conquest. Sargon's annals record the deportation of 27,290 inhabitants of Samaria, resettled in Halah, Gozan, and the cities of the Medes. Populations from other conquered territories were then moved into the depopulated region, creating the mixed population that would become known as the Samaritans. For Biblical history, the event gave rise to the tradition of the Ten Lost Tribes. Sargon II rebuilt Samaria as an Assyrian provincial capital, illustrating Assyria's mastery of demographic engineering as a tool of imperial control.
- Year: 722 BCE
- Category: Military
