Lachish Battle Reliefs

The previous videos showed King Sennacherib's decisive and destructive Assyrian expansion. The king was also constructing a palace without rival at his capital city Nineveh, where he chronicled his battlefield successes. Between 702 and 690 BCE, Sennacherib enlarged his new capital city and built palaces and temples on the citadel mound near the northwest corner of the city. The inner spaces of Sennacherib's palace without rival were accessible only to family and senior court officials. The immense guardian figures at the doorway, the battle scenes carved on the walls and the layout of the rooms were planned to remind people of the king's absolute control. For example, this alignment gives the impression of great distance, as each more distant pair of human-headed bulls is slightly smaller to exaggerate the perspective. Centered at the end of this passage are wall reliefs depicting Sennacherib's destruction of The king thus used the battlefield successes as a warning to his family and inner administrative circle. The events shown here took place in 701 BCE during the king's third campaign along the Phoenician coast and against the cities of Philistia and Judea, during which he defeated the Egyptian army and lay siege to King Hezekiah's Jerusalem. Isaiah chapter 36 chronicles this siege and Sennacherib's successes are recounted on stone and clay cylinders and prisms found at Nineveh. Providing unique correlations among the biblical texts, contemporary Assyrian documents and excavated evidence. Here rows of Assyrian archers, slingers and spearmen move toward the city. Lachish is situated on rocky terrain and depicted with a double set of walls with turrets and battlements with square windows. All these features have been verified through excavation at Lachish itself. As townspeople flee the city down the roadway leading from the town gate, Lachish is attacked by Assyrian siege engines and ramps. This huge ramp has actually been found against the walls of the ruined city. Judeans walk camels and Assyrians take spoils toward the right. These reliefs show both the battle and its aftermath, during which prisoners, deportees and captured goods are being brought before the enthroned king. The scenes are carved as if seen from the neighboring hilltop where Sennacherib strategically built his encampment. While Sennacherib oversaw the destruction of Lachish, his representatives left for Jerusalem in Isaiah 36 too. And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto King Hezekiah with a great army and he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the Fuller's Field. These unpleasant scenes show deportees leaving the city while unfortunate members of Hezekiah's local ruling government are being tortured. The cuneiform inscription tells us Sennacherib, king of the world, king of Assyria, set up a throne and the booty of Lachish passed before him. Another line of text reads, Tent of Sennacherib, king of Assyria. At the foot of the hill, the king's chariot awaits along with a line of soldiers and booty that include symbols of state such as the governor's throne, his chariot and scepter. It's perhaps from this campsite throne that Sennacherib received the message sent by Hezekiah, then huddled in a besieged Jerusalem and mentioned in 2 Kings 18, I have done wrong, withdraw from me and I will pay you whatever you demand of me. The biblical passage then tells us that Sennacherib accepts heavy tribute from Hezekiah in exchange for not destroying Jerusalem. Here we see post-battle activities at the Assyrian campsite. Isaiah 37 8 tells us, Rabshakeh returned and found the Assyrian king warring against Libna for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish. Isaiah 37 37 completes the story. So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, departed and went and returned and dwelt at Nineveh. Thus, these reliefs link together famous people and deeds chronicled in the Bible and corroborated in Assyrian inscriptions while giving vivid imagery to the actions they're described.