Around 700 BC, the Neo-Assyrian emperor Sargon II began building a new capital city, named after himself, in the desert of what is now Iraq. Archaeologists have long thought this grandiose project had ...

Ruler of the Neo-Assyrian empire from 721-704 BCE, Sargon II oversaw huge portions of ancient Mesopotamia, and is considered one of the era’s greatest military strategists.

More than 2,700 years ago, Assyrian king Sargon II ordered the construction of his own city in what is now Iraq. Known as Dur Sharrukin, or modern day Khorsabad, the sprawling capital city was ...