Sargon II (, "legitimate king", reigned 722 – 705 BC) was an Assyrian king. Sargon II became co-regent with Shalmaneser V in 722 BC. Shalmaneser V died in 722 BC. From then on, Sargon II was the only ruler of Assyria. It is not clear if he was the son of Tiglath-Pileser III or a usurper unrelated to the royal family. In his inscriptions, he styles himself as a new man and rarely talks about his predecessors. He nevertheless took the name "Sharru-kinu" ("true king"), after Sargon of Akkad — who had founded the first Semitic Empire in the region about 16 centuries earlier. "Sargon" is the Biblical form of the name.