sefi;g:v. - A Kabbalist walks into a bar, and the

SENNACHERIB SENNACHERIB
palace, acquiring great spoil. He then sent after Merodach-baladan
an army which searched the swamps where
he had taken refuge ; but the wily Chaldaean escaped.
Sennacherib then proceeded to conquer the country, city
by city. He seems to have had to fight with a number
of tribes, Urbi, Aramu, and Chaldaeans, who had
occupied Erech, Nippur, Kisu, HarHagkalamaand Cutha,
and boasts of having captured 89 strong cities as well
as 820 smaller cities in Chaldaea. On his retnrn to
Babylon he had to pacify the country, and rescue it from
the hordes of Aramaean and Chaldaean peoples, who
would not acknowledge him as king.
does not state the grounds of his quarrel. But doubtless
all the West had become very backward in payment
of tribute. Sennacherib says that Lull fled from Tyre
to Cyprus and that all his country fell into Assyrian
hands. Great Sidon and Little Sidon, Beth-zait, Sarepta,
Mahalliba, Ugh, Achzib, and Accho are named as
fortresses captured from Luli. Sennacherib set up
Ethobal as vassal king over a new kingdom of Sidon.
Tyre he could not reduce.
The vassal kings and semi-independent rulers of Syria
and Palestine now hastened to secure exemption from
pillage by tribute and submission. Menahem of Samsi-
Sennacherib enumerates the Tu'muna Ribihu Iadsku murCma, Abdi-li'ti of Arvad, Urumilki of Gebal, Mitinti
Uhudu Kipre Malihu, Gurumu, Ubulu bamun; 'Gambdlu: of Ashdod, Pudu-ilu of Ammon, KaniuS-nadah of
Hindak, Ru'k Pukcdu, Hanlrlnp, Uagdr3nu Nadatu Li'tau,
Aramu. The number of his captives he puts At The Moab, Airamniu of Edon, all called kings of the Martu-
208,oob.
nature of these tribes is indicated by the spoil taken from them : land, submitted. Sidka of Ashkelon stood out, was
7200 horses, 11,073 asses, 5230 camels, 80 TOO oxen, 800,500 captured and with all his belongings carried to Assyria.
sheep. The country was clearly over-run hy)nomads.
He had apparently come to the throne by a revolution
It is evident that Assyria had completely lost control
of the country. Sennacherib had to reconquer it. The
Babylonian Chronicle and a fragment of the Canon List
which had expelled Sarru-ltiddki, son of Rukipti, whom
Tiglath-pileser 111. had sei over Ashkelon, about 734
B. c. Hence he probably expected no mercy if he subplace
a conquest of Larak and Sarablnu in 704 B.C. mitted. ~anu-lhdlri was reinstated. Sennacherib then
This doubtless marked the commencement of the recon- reduced Beth-dagan, Joppa, Benebarka. and Azor which
quest. But the campaign clearly lasted beyond 702 had been under Sidka's rule.
B.C., when Sennacherib set BCl-ibni on the throne of 'The nobles and people of Ekron had rebelled against
Babylon. This prince had been brought up at the their king Padi, a faithful vassal of Assyria, put him in
Assyrian court, but was of the old Babylonian seed chains, and sent him to Hezekiah, king of Judah, to
royal, for all the sources acknowledge him as legitimate keep in prison. When Sennacherib advanced against
monarch, and the Babylonian Kings' List ascribes him Ekron, he was faced by a great army of the kings of
to ' the dynasty of Babylon,' and gives him a reign of Musur, with troops, archers, chariots, and horsemen
three years. He was, of course, a vassal king.
Sennacherib assigns to this period the submission of
from Melubha. This army he defeated at Eltekeh.
capturing the sons of the kings of Musur and the generals
Nabti-Ml-lumlte, klpu of Hararlti, and the destruction sent from Meluhba. He then stormed Eltekeh and
of Hirimmu. Some of Sennacherib's inscriptions follow Timnath. Ekron soon submitted. After wiping out
the plan of presenting together the events connected the conspirators and enslaving their supporters Sennawith
one district. Thus we learn that after Bel-ibnl cherib reinstated Padl, whom he says he ' brought forth
had proved faithless or inefficient, Sennacherib once out of Jerusalem.'
more marched to Babylon and deposed him, setting Sennacherib then proceeded to ravage Judah, captur-
Alur-nldin-Sum. his own son, on the throne. The Baby- ing forty-six great fortresses and smaller cities ' without
lonian Chronicle places the pillage of Hararlte and
Hirimmu in 702 B. c., and associates the accession of
number,' ' counting as spoil ' 200,150 people. He does
not claim to have captured Jerusalem. He says of
ASur-nldin-Sum with Sennacheribs pillage of Akkad, Hezekiah, 'him, like a caged bird, within Jerusalem,
or Northern Babylonia. Bl-ibnl was called away to his capital, I shut in, forts against him I raised, and I
Xssyria. It was probably during Sennacherib's absence
in the West that Bel-ibnl became disgraced. ASurnadin-5uni
was acknowledged king in Babylon according
to all sources ; but the Kings' List assigns him to the
dynastyof Habigal. He reigned six years, 699-693 B.C.
Sennacherib owed Elam a grudge for supporting
Merodach-baladan against him. In his second campaign,
as he calls it, before September 702 B.C., when
the Bellino Cylinder is dated, he marched an army
towards Elani. The KaHB, who had once furnished
the ruling dynasty of Babylonia, about 1725-1155 B.C.,
and a neighbouring tribe, the Iasubigalli, on the borders
of Babylonia and Elam, who had never been subjected
to Assyrian rule, were now ravaged. The neighbouring
kingdom of Ellipi. once subject to Sargon, was also
pillaged. As in Sargon's case, some distant tribes of
the Medes sent presents. Sennacherib boasts that his
predecessors had not even heard the names of these
peoples. But although Ekm was threatened, it does
not seem that Sennacherib made any direct attack this
time. His hands were soon full in another quarter.
How long the West had been in rebellion does not
appear ; but Sennacherib calls the campaign in which
he proceeded to bring the West to submission his third.
This is ascribed by general consent to 701 B.C. Belibni
was settled in Babylon, and Sennacherib was free
repulsed whoever came out of his city gate and tore it
up' ; but there is no mention of capture. The captured
cities were annexed to the dominions of Metinti of
Ashdod, Padi of Ekron, and Silli-bC1 of Gaza. What
caused Sennacherib to leave Judah we are not told : but
it is nearly certain that troubles in Babylon were again
pressing. The army left behind under the Tartan and
Rabshakeh would be well able to carry on a siege ; but
Hezekiah would not push matters to the point of standing
a long siege. He did submit, as is evident from
the tribute which, Sennacherib says, was sent after him
to Nineveh. It amounted to 30 talents of gold, 800
talents of silver, and an enormous amount of precious
stones and palace furniture,besides Hezekiah's daughters,
his eunuchs, musicians, etc. Sennacheribs account of
the submission seems to imply that it was the IJrbi,
Arabs whom Hezekiah had received into the city to
strengthen it, who really gave in, and so forced the
king to submit. They may have been a garrison from
Melukha. These events are recorded on Cylinder B,
which is dated in the Eponymy of Mitunn, 700 B.C.
That the account is complete no one can pretend. It
makes no mention of Lachish, although the celebrated
scene of Sennacherib receiving the submission of that
city shows the great importance attached by him to its
capture. Whether Lachish was one of the forty-six
to attend to the West at that time; but we have no great fortresses, or not, it seems probable, as it was
explicit statement of date from cuneiform sources. The only IO m. or so from Eltekeh, that it was captured in
first move was against Tyre. Eululaeus, whom Sennacherib
calls Lull king of Sidon, according to Menander,
as quoted by Josephus, had gone to Citium in Cyprus
to establish his authority. He was thus committing a
technical act of war against Sennacherib. The latter
this expedition.
What was the exact nature of Bel-ibnl's fault we do
not know ; but Merodach-baladan's activity in the Sealand
and the unrest of Marduk-uWih in Chaldaea
caused Sennacherib to attack the southern portion of
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