Sennacherib Sîn-aḫḫī-erība
King of Assyria: the siege of Jerusalem and the rebuilding of Nineveh
The siege of 701 is a rare case of one event described from both sides: 2 Kings 18–19, Isaiah 36–37, 2 Chronicles 32—and Sennacherib's prism, the king's own boastful report. They agree on the campaign, the subjugation of forty-six cities of Judah, and the heavy tribute. They differ in that Scripture reports the destruction of the Assyrian army in a single night, while the prism says nothing of taking Jerusalem. His birth year is recorded nowhere and is inferred from the assumption that he acceded at about thirty-five.
On the Seder Olam reckoning this period is displaced: on the Jewish track Hezekiah reigns 3199–3228 AM, while his adversary here stands by the academic count.
On the timeline
Sources
Tanakh
- 2 Kings 18–19 — the siege, the speech of the Rabshakeh and the Assyrian withdrawal
Documents of the period
- The Sennacherib (Taylor) Prism, British Museum — “I shut him up like a bird in a cage”; no capture of Jerusalem is claimed
Basis: documents and evidence.