Was the Bible Right?
701 BCE·Divided Kingdom·Artifact

Sennacherib's Prism: Hezekiah 'Like a Bird in a Cage'

Scripture: 2 Kings 18:13–19:37; Isaiah 36–37; 2 Chronicles 32

The six-sided clay Taylor Prism inscribed with Sennacherib's annals
The six-sided clay Taylor Prism inscribed with Sennacherib's annals · Photo: David Castor · Public domain · Source

The claim

Assyria's King Sennacherib invades Judah and besieges Jerusalem, but the city is not taken.

What archaeology found

Clay prisms recording Sennacherib's annals (the Taylor Prism in the British Museum and copies in Chicago and Jerusalem) describe his 701 BCE campaign. He claims to have taken 46 walled cities of Hezekiah and shut him up in Jerusalem 'like a bird in a cage', then received heavy tribute.

Sources

  1. Mordechai Cogan, The Raging Torrent: Historical Inscriptions from Assyria and Babylonia Relating to Ancient Israel, Carta (2008)

Verdict history

  • ConfirmedInitial verdict.