Illustration created for this project.
Sennacherib
The Assyrian king who invaded Judah and besieged Jerusalem in Hezekiah's day, but withdrew after his army was struck.
What we know — and how we know it
Bible — stated in scripture (with verse) · 1
Archaeology — physical evidence · 1
Ancient writers — non-biblical testimony · 1
Life, role & deeds
BibleThe Assyrian king who invaded Judah and besieged Jerusalem in Hezekiah's day.
2 Kings 18:13
Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net). — CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)
ArchaeologyThe Lachish Reliefs from his palace at Nineveh depict in detail his siege of the Judean city of Lachish — the very campaign of 2 Kings 18.
Lachish Reliefs from the South-West Palace of Sennacherib at Nineveh (Room XXXVI), excavated by Austen Henry Layard (1845–47), now in the British Museum. Study: David Ussishkin, 'The Conquest of Lachish by Sennacherib' (Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, 1982).
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Nineveh
Livioandronico2013 — CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)
Ancient writersHerodotus preserves an Egyptian tale of Sennacherib's army routed overnight before Egypt — a distant echo of the disaster that turned him back from Judah, told in Kings.
Herodotus, Histories 2.141 (the tale of King Sethos, whose enemy's — Sennacherib's — army was crippled overnight by field-mice gnawing their bowstrings).
Where in scripture
2 Kings2 ChroniclesIsaiah
2 Kings 18:132 Kings 19:162 Kings 19:202 Kings 19:362 Chronicles 32:12 Chronicles 32:22 Chronicles 32:92 Chronicles 32:102 Chronicles 32:22Isaiah 20:1Isaiah 36:1Isaiah 37:17Isaiah 37:21Isaiah 37:37
Family
In their own words — 3 recorded sayings
“For he says, Are not all my captains kings? Will not the fate of Calno be like that of Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus? As my hand has come on the kingdoms of the images, whose pictured images were more in number than those of Jerusalem and Samaria;” — Isaiah 10:8-10
“So, as I have done to Samaria and her images, I will do to Jerusalem and her images.” — Isaiah 10:11
“For he has said, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my knowledge, for I am wise: and I have taken away the limits of the peoples' lands, and the stores of their wealth have become mine; and I have made towns low in the dust, sending destruction on those living in them; And I have put my hands on the wealth of the peoples, as on the place where a bird has put her eggs; and as a man may take the eggs from which a bird has gone, so I have taken all the earth for myself: and not a wing was moved, and not a mouth gave out a sound.” — Isaiah 10:13-14
Speaker attribution: Clear Bible MACULA (CC BY 4.0). Wording: Bible in Basic English (public domain).
Events
Places in their life
Photo: Omar Siddeeq Yousif — CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)