Sargon II and the Fall of Ashdod

Between 1842 and 1844, French archaeologist Paul-Émile Botta dug at Khorsabad, and found the royal records of an Assyrian king the Bible names.

Scripture: In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and took it;

Isaiah 20 names Sargon, king of Assyria, and says Ashdod was attacked and taken. In the same chapter, Isaiah walks barefoot for three years, a sign about Egypt and Ethiopia.

The Annals of Sargon II are cuneiform inscriptions, meaning wedge-shaped writing. Botta and fellow archaeologist Eugène Flandin published them in 1849.

Sargon's reign was full of campaigns. In 720 BCE he took Samaria and led away prisoners. Qarqar fell, and in 714 he struck Arabian tribes.

This clay cylinder from Khorsabad, now in the Iraq Museum, narrates Sargon's campaigns. It is a related object; our sources don't say it carries the Ashdod account.

In 711 BCE, the Annals say, Sargon removed Aziru, king of Ashdod, and placed Aziru's brother Ahimiti on the throne.

The Hittites revolted. Sargon laid siege to Ashdod, conquered it, and made it a vassal state, one forced to obey Assyria.

Here is another Sargon inscription: a stela, an upright carved stone, from Cyprus, late eighth century BCE. It is now in the Pergamon Museum.

On the main facts, the match is direct: same king, same city, same outcome. The Annals cover 720 to 705 BCE.

Open questions remain. Isaiah says Sargon sent Tartan, but the Annals summary we have doesn't mention him. Botta couldn't read cuneiform, so early translation relied on his copies, until Hugo Winckler's in 1889.

Where are the Annals today? Our sources don't say. They place the discovery at Khorsabad, and show related Sargon pieces in two museums.

A king's own records name Ashdod's fall, illustrating a detail in Isaiah, though not every detail. Follow for more. May the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.