Sennacherib and the Campaign against Judah

Sennacherib swept through Judah, took—by his own inscription—forty-six fortified cities, and besieged Lachish; the storming of that fortress he had depicted on the reliefs of his palace in every detail. Jerusalem, in his own words, he shut up like a bird in a cage—but of taking the city he says nothing: the siege was lifted. Sennacherib made Nineveh the capital of the empire, rebuilding it with canals and gardens. Later he destroyed rebellious Babylon, and a few years afterwards was killed in a temple by his own sons.