Assyrian Warfare and Sennacherib
Iron Age IIB (900 - 700 B.C.)
Following Solomon, the united kingdom was divided. Judah remained in the South with
Rehoboam, Solomon's son, ruling in Jerusalem. The northern 10 tribes broke off and
formed a new coalition. Jeroboam ruled from Samaria and established pagan centers
of worship at Dan and Bethel. Beginning in the ninth century B.C., Assyria began a
period of major expansion that culminated in the campaign of Sennacherib in 701 B.C.
The campaign of the Assyrian king Sennacherib is one of the most widely recorded events
in history. The descriptions in Isaiah, Kings, and Chronicles are confirmed by (1)
pictorial reliefs of his siege against Lachish, found in Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh,
the capitol of Assyria; (2) by several prisms written in cuneiform recording his campaigns
against Judah; and (3) excavations at the city of Lachish, which uncovered hundreds
of sling stones and arrowheads around the only siege ramp discovered in the ancient
Near East.