Shalmaneser V in the context of "Tribe of Manasseh"

Sargon II (Neo-Assyrian Akkadian: 𒈗𒁺, romanized: Šarru-kīn, meaning "the faithful king" or "the legitimate king") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 722 BC to his death in battle in 705. Probably the son of Tiglath-Pileser III (r. 745–727), Sargon is generally believed to have become king after overthrowing Shalmaneser V (r. 727–722), probably his brother. He is typically considered the founder of a new dynastic line, the Sargonid dynasty.

Modelling his reign on the legends of the ancient rulers Sargon of Akkad, from whom Sargon II likely took his regnal name, and Gilgamesh, Sargon aspired to conquer the known world, initiate a golden age and a new world order, and be remembered and revered by future generations. Over the course of his seventeen-year reign, Sargon substantially expanded Assyrian territory and enacted important political and military reforms. An accomplished warrior-king and military strategist, Sargon personally led his troops into battle. By the end of his reign, all of his major enemies and rivals had been either defeated or pacified. Among Sargon's greatest accomplishments were the stabilization of Assyrian control over the Levant, the weakening of the northern kingdom of Urartu, and the reconquest of Babylonia. From 717 to 707, Sargon constructed a new Assyrian capital named after himself, Dur-Sharrukin ('Fort Sargon'), which he made his official residence in 706.

The Assyrian captivity, also called the Assyrian exile, is the period in the history of ancient Israel and Judah during which tens of thousands of Israelites from the Kingdom of Israel were dispossessed and forcibly relocated by the Neo-Assyrian Empire. One of many instances attesting Assyrian resettlement policy, this mass deportation of the Israelite nation began immediately after the Assyrian conquest of Israel, which was overseen by the Assyrian kings Tiglath-Pileser III and Shalmaneser V. The later Assyrian kings Sargon II and Sennacherib also managed to subjugate the Israelites in the neighbouring Kingdom of Judah following the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem in 701 BCE, but were unable to annex their territory outright. The Assyrian captivity's victims are known as the Ten Lost Tribes, and Judah was left as the sole Israelite kingdom until the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 587 BCE, which resulted in the Babylonian captivity of the Jewish people. Not all of Israel's populace was deported by the Assyrians; some of those who were not expelled from the former kingdom's territory eventually became known as the Samaritan people.

Shulmanu or Shulman (Assyrian Akkadian: Salmānu, Babylonian Akkadian: Šulmānu) was an ancient Mesopotamian deity. The deity is only ever recorded as having been worshipped by the ancient Assyrians, in contrast to many other deities of the Mesopotamian pantheon which were more universal, and was particularly popular in the Middle Assyrian period. The deity's name was incorporated into the name Shalmaneser, assumed as a regnal name by five Assyrian kings from Shalmaneser I (r. 1274–1245 BC) to Shalmaneser V (r. 727–722 BC). The literal translation of the name Salmānu is "friendly one"; it is possible that Shulmanu was a friendly manifestation of the Assyrian national deity Ashur.