Four Thousand years ago, the Ruby of Life, a gem of great mystical power, was kept in the temple of Asyreth, goddess of the Tiparanes. The Ruby of Life had been carved from the same stone as the gem in the Ring of Life, which has been used since the 20th Century by both the Spectre and his enemy, Kulak.

If the Ruby of lIfe was the first object a person consciously saw and touched as an infant, and if that person later spoke a certain incantation while touching the Ruby, he would gain magical power over whatever he touched.

Invading hordes stole the Ruby and carried it off to wastelands to the east, where it remained for centuries. Somehow the Ruby crossed the Pacific ocean and came into the possession of the Aztecs in Mexico. In 1917 the archaelogist Richard Biddle Sargent found the Ruby in a cache apparently dug by one of Montezuma's followers. He presented the Ruby to his fiancee, who wore it ona golden chain around her neck. Sargent married his fiancee and the first object their infant son John consciously touched was the Ruby.

Years later, John went on many archaelogical expeditions with his father. While exploring the temple of Asyreth, John learned about the power of the Ruby of Life. Reciting the incantation while touching the Ruby, Sargent gained the power through the Ruby to control whatever he touched. John Sargent wanted to use his powers to do good, but believed people might harm him or fear him if they knew he had mystical powers. Therefore he began a career as a stage magician so that people would think that the magical effects he created were merely nonmagical tricks. Sargent took the name "Sargon", the name of a Tiphranian priest-king.

Sargon became a crime fighter and was aided for a long time by his assistant Maximillian O'Leary and his most frequent foe was the Blue Lama. Many years after he began his career, the Ruby of Life somehow caused Sargon to become amoral, even evil, but he was finally freed from the Ruby's evil influence. Sargon fought alongside other mystical heroes in the Crisis on Infinite Earths and then again when the great Shadow Creature threatened heaven itself. Sargon died heroically as the creature's power incinerated his body. The Ruby of Life then went missing.