Sennacherib's campaign in the Levant | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of Sennacherib's campaigns | |||||||
Lachish relief showing the Siege of Lachish. Assyrian siege-engine attacking the city wall of Lachish, part of the ascending assaulting wave. Detail of a wall relief dating back to the reign of Sennacherib, 700-692 BCE. From Nineveh, Iraq, currently housed in the British Museum. | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Supported by Kushite Egypt | Neo-Assyrian Empire | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
King Hezekiah Isaiah Ben-Amotz Eliakim Ben-Hilkiah Joahe Ben-Asaph Shebna Supported by Taharqa |
Sennacherib Rabshakeh Rabsaris Tartan | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Many killed 200,150 Judeans exiled, 46 walled cities and many other towns destroyed[1] |
Sennacherib's campaign in the Levant in 701 BCE was a military campaign undertaken by the Neo-Assyrian Empire to bring the region back under control following a rebellion against Assyrian rule in 705 BCE. After the death of Sargon II, Sennacherib’s father, a number of states in the Levant renounced their allegiance to Assyria. The rebellion involved several small states: Sidon and Ashkelon (which were taken by force) and Byblos, Ashdod, Ammon, Moab, and Edom who then submitted to the payment of tribute to Assyria. Most notably, Hezekiah of Judah, encouraged by Egypt, joined the rebellion and was subsequently invaded by the Assyrians who captured most of the cities and towns in the region. Hezekiah was trapped in Jerusalem by an Assyrian army and the surrounding lands were given to Assyrian vassals in Ekron, Gaza, and Ashdod, however, the city was not taken and Hezekiah was allowed to remain on his throne as an Assyrian vassal after paying a large tribute. The events of the campaign in Judah are famously related in the Bible (2 Kgs 18–19; Isa 36–37; and 2 Chr 32) which culminate in an “angel of the Lord” striking down 185,000 Assyrians outside the gates of Jerusalem prompting Sennacherib’s return to Nineveh.