The Prisms of the Assyrian King Sennacherib
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| Photo courtesy: David Castor |
This is one of three complete known prisms of the Assyrian King Sennacherib, from the year 691 BC. It describes his conquest campaigns during the early seventh century BC.
The third campaign mentioned in the prism is the conquests of Sennacherib in Judea and in the Philistine cities in 701 BC, an event which the Bible mentions extensively in the Books of Kings, Chronicles, Isaiah, and is also mentioned by the fifth century BC Greek historian Herodotus.
The text describes the conquest of 46 cities in Judea and the great spoils being taken from those cities, along with 200 150 prisoners which fell to the hands of Sennacherib.
It goes on describing King 'Hezekiah, the Jew… (besieged) like a caged bird' in his capital Jerusalem, while his 'Arabs and mercenaries' desert him and the conquered territory being dispersed among the three kings of the Philistines.
Despite the efforts of the Assyrian army as described in the prism, Sennacherib was unable to break through the walls of Jerusalem, and he was forced to retreat while imposing a heavy tax on Hezekiah.
