The next great Assyrian name is that of Sargon II., whose origin is not clear.  And the incidents of the revolution which raised him to the throne are also unknown.  The first few years of his reign, which commenced in 722 B.C., were harassed by revolts among many of the border tribes, but these he resolutely faced at all points, inflicting overwhelming defeats on the Medes and the Armenians.  The Philistines were cowed by the storming of Ashdod, and Sargon subdued Phoenicia, carrying his arms to the sea.  This great monarch, while wars raged round him, found time for extensive works of a peaceful character, completing the system of irrigation, and erecting buildings at Calah and Nineveh, and raising a magnificent palace at Dur-Sharrukin.

And here he intended in peace to build a great city, but he was, in 105 B.C., assassinated by an alien soldier.  Sennacherib, his son, fighting on the frontier, was recalled and proclaimed immediately.  He either failed to inherit his father’s good fortune, or lacked his ability.  Instead of conciliating the vanquished, he massacred entire tribes, and failed to re-people these with captive exiles from other nations.  So, towards the end of his reign—­which terminated in 681 B.C.—­he found himself ruling over a sparsely inhabited desert where his father had left him flourishing and populous cities.  Phoenicia and Judah formed an alliance with each other and with Egypt.  Sennacherib bestirred himself and Tyre perished.  The Assyrian invader then attacked Judah and besieged Jerusalem, where Hezekiah was king and Isaiah was prophesying.  Whatever was the cause, half the army perished by pestilence, and Sennacherib led back the remnants of his force to Nineveh.

The disaster was terrible, but not irreparable, for another and an equal host could be raised.  And it was needed to quell a great Babylonian revolt led by Merodachbaladan, who had given the signal of rebellion to the mountain tribes also.  After a series of terrible conflicts, Babylon was taken.  And now Sennacherib, who had shown leniency after two previous revolts, displayed unbounded fury in his triumph.  The massacre lasted several days, none being spared of the citizens.  Piles of corpses filled the streets.  The temples and palaces were pillaged, and finally the city was burnt.

In the midst of his costly and absorbing wars we may well wonder how Sennacherib found time and means for building villas and temples; yet he is, nevertheless, the Assyrian king who has left us the largest number of monuments.

His last years were embittered by the fierce rivalry of his sons.  One of these he nominated his successor, Esarhaddon, son of a Babylonian wife.  During his absence from Nineveh, on the 20th day of Teleth, 681, his father, Sennacherib, when praying before the image of his god, was assassinated by two other sons, Sharezer and Adrammelech.  Esarhaddon, hearing of this tragedy, gathered an army, and in a battle defeated Sharezer and established himself on the throne.