Our chief knowledge of SARGON is from the great inscription in the Palace of Khorsabad. It is translated by Prof. Dr. Jules Oppert, _Records of the Past_, ix. 1-21. The king's inscription at Bavian, north-east of Mosul, is in the same volume, pp. 21-28, translated by Dr. T. G. Pinches. See, too, _id._, vii. 21-56, xi. 15-40.
The Khorsabad inscription has these passages:--
"The great gods have made me happy by the constancy of their affection; they have granted me the exercise of my sovereignty over all kings."
He says:--
"I besieged and occupied the town of Samaria; I took twenty-seven thousand two hundred and eighty of its inhabitants captive. I took from them fifty chariots, but left them the rest of their belongings. I placed my lieutenants over them; I renewed the obligations imposed upon them _by one of the kings who preceded me_." [Tiglath-Pileser, whom Sargon does not choose to name.]
"Hanun, King of Gaza, and Sabaco, Sultan of Egypt, allied themselves at _Raphia_ to oppose me. I put them to flight. Sabaco fled, and no one has seen any trace of him since. I imposed a tribute on Pharaoh, King of Egypt."
He tells us that he defeated the usurper Ilubid of Hamath, who had been a smith; burnt Karkar; and flayed Ilubid alive.
He defeated Azuri and Jaman of Ashdod, and his most persistent enemy, Merodach-Baladan, son of Jakin, King of Chaldæa.
He ends with a prayer that Assur may bless him.
Bellino's Cylinder comprises the first two years of SENNACHERIB. It is translated by Mr. H. F. Talbot, _Records of the Past_, i. 22-32. It was published by Layard in the first volume of _British Museum Inscriptions_, pl. 63. The facsimile of it was made by Bellino.
It begins:--
"SENNACHERIB, the great king, the powerful king, the king of Assyria, the king unrivalled, the pious monarch, the worshipper of the great gods, ... the noble warrior, the valiant hero, the first of all kings, the great punisher of unbelievers who are breakers of the holy festivals.
"Assur, my lord, has given me an unrivalled monarchy. Over all princes he has raised triumphantly my arms.
"In the beginning of my reign I defeated Marduk-Baladan, King of Babylon, and his allies the Elamites, in the plains near the city of Kish. He fled alone; he got into the marshes full of reeds and rushes, and so saved his life."
(He proceeds to narrate the spoiling of Marduk's camp, and his palace in Babylon, and how he carried off his wife, his harem, his nobles.)
We see here an illustration of the vaunting tones of this king which are so faithfully reproduced in 2 Kings xviii.
His Bull Inscription, chiefly relating to his defeats of Merodach-Baladan, is translated by Rev. J. M. Rodwell (_Records of the Past_, vii. 57-64).