Editing Sargon II (section)

=== Final campaign and death ===
[[File:Sargon seal-N 8293-IMG 8943.jpg|thumb|Impression of Sargon's royal seal, depicting the king killing a lion.|alt=Sargon's seal]]
Few sources survive describing Sargon's final campaign and death. Based on the [[Assyrian Eponym List]] and the [[Babylonian Chronicles]], the most likely course of events is that Sargon embarked to campaign against [[Tabal (region)|Tabal]], which had risen up against him, in the early summer of 705.{{Sfn|Elayi|2017|p=213}} This campaign was the last of several attempts to bring Tabal under Assyrian control.{{Sfn|Frahm|2017|p=183}} It is not clear why Sargon resolved to lead the expedition against Tabal in person, considering the large number of campaigns led by his officials and generals. Tabal was not a real threat against the Assyrian Empire. Elayi believes that the most likely explanation is that Sargon saw the expedition as an interesting diversion from the quiet court life of [[Dur-Sharrukin]].{{Sfn|Elayi|2017|p=240}}

Sargon's final campaign ended in disaster. Somewhere in [[Anatolia]], [[Gurdî of Kulumma]], an otherwise poorly attested figure, attacked the Assyrian camp.{{Sfn|Frahm|2017|p=183}} Gurdî has variously been assumed to have been a local ruler in Anatolia or a tribal leader of the [[Cimmerians]], during this time allied with the rebels in Tabal.{{Sfn|Frahm|2017|p=212}} In the ensuing battle, Sargon was killed. The Assyrian soldiers fleeing from the attack were unable to recover the king's body.{{Sfn|Frahm|2017|p=183}} Sargon died just over a year after the inauguration of Dur-Sharrukin.{{Sfn|Elayi|2017|p=210}}