Sennacherib

Neo-Assyrian king (r. 704-681 b.c.e.)

• Born: c. 735 b.c.e.
• Birthplace: Unknown
• Died: January, 681 b.c.e.
• Place of death: Nineveh, Assyria (now in Iraq)

Sennacherib’s military campaign into Judah in 701 b.c.e. was a significant event in biblical history, the historical record of which has proven helpful to modern historians and archaeologists.

Early Life

Little is known concerning the early life of Sennacherib (seh-NA-kur-ihb). His father, Sargon II (r. 721-705 b.c.e.), greatly expanded the Neo-Assyrian Empire in all directions, forcing tribute from Midas, king of Phrygia; the pharaoh of Egypt; Uperi, the king of Dilmun; and several kings from Cyprus. During the final years of Sargon’s life, Sennacherib functioned as a military leader and governor in the troubled regions of the north, where he gained experience both as a soldier and as an administrator. Sennacherib inherited the Assyrian Empire when his father was killed in battle against the Cimmerians in 705 b.c.e.

Life’s Work

On his father’s untimely death, Sennacherib moved the capital from the newly established city of Khorsabad (Dur-Sharrukin) to the ancient city of Nineveh, home to the chief temple of the goddess Ishtar. Here Sennacherib spent the first two years of his reign reconstructing and enlarging the city. Previously the city had a circumference of about 8 miles (5 kilometers). Sennacherib enlarged it to include some 1,850 acres (750 hectares), surrounded by a wall whose circuit was about 20 miles (12 kilometers). On the largest hill in the city, Tel Kuyunjik, he constructed a magnificent palace for himself, the so-called Palace Without Rival. This palace comprised more than seventy rooms. Its decorations featured colossal human-headed bulls standing guard at entryways, and the walls of each room were lined with stone reliefs depicting Sennacherib’s early military campaigns in Babylonia, the Zagros mountains, and Palestine.

Sennacherib protected the city with a moat and a double wall. The outer wall was composed of a mud-brick core with a limestone facing, and incorporated a crenellated parapet and regularly spaced towers. The taller, inner wall was built completely of mud brick. More than a dozen gates pierced this massive double wall. Water was furnished to the city through a complex irrigation system that was large enough to supply water for fields and orchards in addition to the needs of the city itself. This was accomplished through an ingenious system of dams, canals, and aqueducts that brought water from multiple sources as far as 73 miles (45 kilometers) away.

Throughout his reign, Sennacherib was troubled by enemies on his southern border. This opposition centered mainly around the city of Babylon. The policy of Sargon II had been to support an independent but friendly Babylon. Sennacherib continued this policy, but it did not turn out well for him. The first challenger he had to face was Merodachbaladan, a Chaldaean prince whom Sargon II had expelled from Babylon in 721. Merodachbaladan renewed his claim to kingship in Babylon in 703. In an attempt to raise opposition to Sennacherib from several sides at once, Merodachbaladan sent envoys to Hezekiah, king of Judah (2 Kings 20:12-19; Isaiah 39), and undoubtedly to other kings, including to the king of Egypt. Sennacherib responded quickly, routing Merodachbaladan and his allies, first at Cuthah and then at Kish in 703. The following year was also spent suppressing the rebellion. A native Babylonian, Bel-ibni, was then placed on the throne in Babylon. He proved to be an incompetent ruler, unable to control the regions under his rule.

In 701 Sennacherib launched a campaign south into Syria and Palestine. This campaign was in response to the threat posed by Merodachbaladan’s allies. The Phoenician coast was Sennacherib’s first target, and his quick reduction of Sidon induced many of the lesser rulers in that area to renew their allegiance to the Assyrians through the payment of tribute. Sennacherib then moved down the coast, capturing Joppa, Ekron, and Gath.

Sennacherib’s palace reliefs in Nineveh recount his capture of the next city, Lachish. The reliefs occupied the central room in the building, indicating the importance Sennacherib attached to his conquest of this city. Lachish was better fortified than the cities Sennacherib had encountered previously, and it put up a fierce resistance. Sennacherib’s army built a large siege ramp at the southwestern corner of the city, which was protected by a double wall. The defenders built a counter-ramp inside the city wall. As indicated on the palace reliefs, the defenders attempted to burn the siege machines with torches thrown from the city walls. The excavations at Lachish produced a length of chain that may have been used in an attempt to grapple the head of the battering ram from above. Despite the strong resistance, the Assyrian battering rams eventually prevailed. Sennacherib’s palace art depicts the aftermath of the siege quite graphically—prisoners were decapitated, impaled, or flayed. Excavators at Lachish uncovered a cave on the site that contained the remains of some fifteen hundred inhabitants of the city, including men, women, and children. The remaining population of Lachish was deported to Assyria. Sennacherib’s army then met and defeated a weak Egyptian force, led by Taharqa, near Eltekeh on the Mediterranean coast.

One island of resistance remained. Jerusalem was the capital of Judah. It was located in the hills east of Lachish and was ruled by King Hezekiah. Hezekiah had not been idle in the preceding months. Archaeological evidence indicates he made preparations for Sennacherib in a variety of ways. He provisioned Jerusalem and other key cities with emergency rations. Especially prominent were four-handled wine jars, each specially marked with the royal stamp lamelek (Hebrew “belonging to the king”). These wine jars have been found in numerous locations throughout Judah, including in the destruction level at Lachish that resulted from Sennacherib’s attack. Hezekiah also made preparations at Jerusalem for a secure water supply. His workmen cut a tunnel some 1,777 feet (542 meters) long through the hill beneath Jerusalem, the ancient Jebusite city known as the City of David (1 Kings 20:20). This tunnel diverted water from the Gihon spring on the east to the Siloam pool, located within the city wall on the west. This served the dual purpose of securing the water supply for the city and denying water to those besieging it. Also, recent excavations have revealed an additional city wall built by Hezekiah that ran further down the eastern slope of the City of David than the former wall. This provided both a secondary defensive wall for the city and additional, walled space for an influx of Judaean refugees. It is also likely that the city wall was extended and strengthened on the western side of the city in preparation for Sennacherib’s imminent attack. In the end, however, these defenses proved unnecessary. According to the Bible, the angel of the Lord struck down a large contingent of his army (2 Kings 19:35-36). Sennacherib himself simply recorded that, having exacted tribute from Hezekiah and “shut him up in his capital Jerusalem like a bird in a cage,” he decided to return home.

The remainder of Sennacherib’s reign was given over to three additional campaigns in the south, once again concentrated mainly around Babylon. The first of these campaigns came in 700. It was a fairly limited action in response to a revolt by Chaldean tribes. Sennacherib then placed the crown prince of Assyria, Ashur-nadin-shumi, on the throne of Babylonia. This worked well, and there were about six years of peace. In 694 Sennacherib launched another attack against Elam, presumably to root out rebels who had fled there after the campaign in 700. Ashur-nadin-shumi was captured by the Elamites in the early phase of the ensuing campaign, which lasted more than a year. A Chaldean, Mushezib-Marduk, replaced him on the throne at Babylon in 693. In 691 Sennacherib returned again. After several battles and a protracted siege, Babylon was captured in 689. This time the city was looted and sacked, and Sennacherib took for himself the title “King of Sumer and Akkad,” indicating a change in policy. He no longer attempted to support the city as an independent kingdom but became its king himself. The city was then an Assyrian vassal with an Assyrian ruler, and the succeeding years were quiet.

Sennacherib’s death came at the hands of his sons on the 20th of Tebet (January), 681 b.c.e. According to the biblical account (2 Kings 19:37), he was slain as he worshiped in the house of his god in Nineveh. The annals of Ashurbanipal implicate Babylonians, which may be taken to indicate that an elder son attempted to take the throne that had already been promised to the younger son Esarhaddon.

Significance

Sennacherib’s reign can be characterized as a time of relative stability for the Assyrian Empire. He did not gain new territory beyond what had been conquered by his father, but he was able to retain most of the territory his father had acquired. He wisely restrained himself from taking more territory than he would have been able to hold, even when he had been victorious in battle. Sennacherib was cautious in both his soldiering and his policies.

Sennacherib’s greatest significance is related to his campaign into Palestine in 701 b.c.e. The destruction he left at the forty-six fortified cities he conquered, and especially at Lachish, has provided valuable chronological evidence for the archaeology of the area. This event is one of the rare instances in which archaeological, biblical, and Assyrian records converge. This convergence has provided a chronological benchmark that is helpful for archaeology by pinpointing the precise date of a destruction layer in many cities. The convergence is also helpful for constructing an accurate chronology of Judah, as the biblical account records that Sennacherib’s campaign took place in Hezekiah’s fourteenth year (2 Kings 18:13). Finally, the detailed reliefs that decorated Sennacherib’s Palace Without Rival, which centered on the conquest of Lachish, are a rich source of information on Assyrian culture, warfare, and life.

Bibliography

Bates, Robert D. “Assyria and Rebellion in the Annals of Sennacherib: An Analysis of Sennacherib’s Treatment of Hezekiah.” Near East Archaeological Society Bulletin 44 (1999): 39-61. Argues that accounts of Sennacherib’s treatment of Hezekiah, recorded in both the Assyrian annals and the Bible, are consistent with his treatment of other rebellious cities.

Kuhrt, Amelie. The Ancient Near East c. 3000-330 B.C. Vol. 2. New York: Routledge, 1995. A detailed account of Mesopotamian history with an emphasis on primary texts, especially court documents and royal inscriptions. Includes bibliography and index.

Levine, Louis D. “Sennacherib’s Southern Front: 704-689 b.c.” Journal of Cuneiform Studies 34, no. 1/2 (1982): 28-55. Provides a detailed account of Sennacherib’s campaigns to the south against the Babylonians, Chaldeans, and Elamites.

Roaf, Michael. Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East. 1966. Reprint. New York: Facts on File, 2000. Provides a short overview of Sennacherib’s accomplishments in the greater context of Assyrian history. Contains a diagram of the capital city of Nineveh. Includes bibliography, glossary, and index.

Russell, John. “Nineveh.” In Royal Cities of the Biblical World, edited by Joan Westenholz. Jerusalem: Bible Lands Museum, 1996. Traces the history of Nineveh, Sennacherib’s capital city, from prehistoric times to its fall in 612 b.c.e.

Ussishkin, David. The Conquest of Lachish by Sennacherib. Tel Aviv: The Institute of Archaeology, 1982. An oversized book that focuses on the excavation of the city conquered by Sennacherib. Contains a lengthy section on the Lachish reliefs from Sennacherib’s palace. Includes maps, illustrations, and bibliography.