Fall of Samaria

In 722 BCE, the Assyrians captured Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, after besieging it for three years. Sargon II claimed credit in his palace inscriptions, recording the deportation of 27,290 Israelites to distant regions of the empire. Foreign peoples were resettled in the land, creating the mixed population later known as the Samaritans. The ten northern tribes effectively vanished from history.