Late in the Second Age, Ar-Pharazôn, the 25th monarch of Númenor, sailed to Middle-earth to challenge Sauron, known to the Númenóreans as Zigûr, who had claimed to be the King of Men and overlord of Middle-earth. Ar-Pharazôn landed at Umbar to do battle, but seeing the might of Númenor, Sauron's armies fled, and Sauron surrendered without a fight. He was brought back to Númenor as a prisoner, but he soon seduced the king and many other Númenóreans, promising them eternal life if they worshipped his master Melkor. With Sauron as his advisor, Ar-Pharazôn had a tall temple erected in Armenelos, the capital. In this temple human sacrifices were offered to Melkor. During this time, the White Tree Nimloth, which stood before the King's House in Armenelos and whose fate was tied to the line of kings, was cut down and burned as a sacrifice to Melkor, at Sauron's direction. Isildur rescued a fruit of the tree which became an ancestor of the White Tree of Gondor.