Sargon II, King of Assyria.

• Author: Melville, Sarah C.

Sargon II, King of Assyria. By JOSETTE ELAYI. Archaeology and Biblical Studies, vol. 22. Atlanta: SBL PRESS, 2017. Pp. xvi + 280. $41.95 (paper).

A prolific author whose published works touch on a wide range of topics and genres, Josette Elayi has recently turned her attention to the Neo-Assyrian Empire to write a biography of Sargon II (722-705 BCE). Ten chapters follow a brief introduction in which the author describes her multidisciplinary approach that combines "political, geographic, ethnographic, strategic, economic, along with textual studies, onomastic analyses, and other related disciplines" (p. 8). Chapters one through three treat Sargon's character, his ascent to the throne, and the Neo-Assyrian context. The next five chapters investigate the various peoples and places that Sargon encountered across the Near East. The final two chapters outline the last years of his reign and summarize his campaigns. A conclusion, selected bibliography, and indexes wrap up the volume. Illustrations include seven minimalist maps and a plan of Sargon's palace.

Elayi begins with a sketch of her subject's character. In her view Sargon was both "a megalomaniac conqueror" and a typical Assyrian king "convinced that his gods approved his policies" (p. 16). This conviction allowed him to treat his enemies with "unrestrained cruelty" (p. 17). Despite his military prowess, Sargon was "not a charismatic leader" for he "seemed to be just as terrifying to his own troops as he was to his enemies" (p. 19). In other respects, however, he fulfilled his royal duties scrupulously: he campaigned to achieve economic goals as well as personal glory; honored his gods; and undertook new construction, including a new capital city that he named Dur-Sharrukin ("fortress of Sargon") after himself.

The second chapter considers Sargon's ascent to the throne and the resulting discrepancies in the dating of his royal inscriptions. Arguing against the standard assumption that Sargon usurped the throne from his brother Shalmaneser V, Elayi favors the newer, more nuanced view that Sargon won the throne in the power struggle occasioned by Shalmaneser's natural death. In order to cover up the internecine strife and the fact that the new king did not campaign in his first complete regnal year (721 BCE), the royal scribes developed different chronologies for his campaign accounts so that some inscriptions are a year off in their numbering. For this reason, Elayi explains, she has...