Assuming that Sargon had been born by 765 (see above), he would have been at least sixty years old at the time of his death in 705. In that year he led his troops to the land of Tabal to deal with Gurdî, the Kulummian (presumably the ruler of the city Til-Garimme).[153] Although damaged, the Assyrian Eponym Chronicle states that "the king was killed; the camp of the king of Assyria [was] sei[zed ...]; Sennacherib [ascended the throne] on the 12th day of the month Abu (V)." Thus, Sargon was likely killed early in 705 while on campaign against Tabal. The later "Sin of Sargon" text states: "the death of Sargon, [my father, who was killed in enemy country and] not buried in his house" and "[... Sargon, my father], was killed [in enemy country] and not b[uried] in his house" (Livingstone, SAA 3 no. 33 lines 8´–9´ and 19´–20´). It appears that his body had not been recovered after the battle and could not be brought back to Assyria for burial. This was a great disaster since a proper burial was essential for an individual to have a good afterlife and, as an angry ghost, Sargon might haunt his living descendants until they provided him with one. It was likely because of this disaster and in an attempt to distance himself from it that Sennacherib abandoned Sargon's capital of Dūr-Šarrukīn[154] and created a new one at Nineveh. It is not known if Sennacherib ever tried to discover the reason the gods allowed this tragedy to occur, but it is likely that Sargon's grandson Esarhaddon did and that it was under his reign that the "Sin of Sargon" text was composed. Although damaged, this text appears to be trying to determine if Sargon had met his sad fate because he had not treated the gods of Babylonia as well as those of Assyria and had not kept a treaty sworn by the "king of the gods."[155]
153 See below for translations of the Assyrian Eponym Chronicle and the Babylonian chronicle (recension B) for 705.
154 There is in fact evidence that Dūr-Šarrukīn was not totally abandoned following the death of Sargon; see Brinkman, Prelude p. 54 n. 254 and Dalley, Kaskal 11 (2014) pp. 176–179. A prism inscription of Esarhaddon and several economic texts dated to post-canonical eponyms were found during the Oriental Institute excavations at Khorsabad; these will be published by J.A. Brinkman and S. Parpola.
155 With regard to the death of Sargon, note Frahm, JCS 51 (1999) pp. 73–90, in particular pp. 74–76. Part of the motivation in determining if the tragedy had been connected with the Assyrian king's not having honored Babylonian gods sufficiently may have been in connection with Esarhaddon's decision to rebuild Babylon and Marduk's temple Esagila, following their destruction in the time of Sennacherib.
Grant Frame
Grant Frame, 'Death', RINAP 2: Sargon II, Sargon II, The RINAP 2 sub-project of the RINAP Project, 2021 [http://oracc.org/rinap/rinap2/rinap2introduction/death/]