Sargon II was considered a Biblical myth throughout modern history until the archaeological excavations of the French scholar, Paul Emile Botta. Botta unearthed Sargon’s mighty palace at Dur Sharrukin (Khorsabad), just north of Nineveh near the Tigris river. This remarkable discovery had inscriptions on palace walls which proved many events in history and those mentioned in the Bible.
One of the inscriptions reads:
"At the beginning of my rule, in the very first year I reigned…I set siege to and conquered Samaria…I carried away into captivity 27,290 persons who lived there; I took fifty fine chariots for my royal equipment."