Campaigns to the North and Northwest
Probably early in his 3rd regnal year (702), Sennacherib marched into the Zagros, where he attacked the Kassites and Yasubigallians living there; this expedition was officially regarded as his second campaign.[31] The fortified city Bīt-Kilamzaḫ was captured and plundered. The insubmissive inhabitants were settled in the cities Ḫardišpu and Bīt-Kubatti and placed under the authority of the governor of Arrapḫa. Sennacherib then moved on to the land Ellipi. Ispabāra, its king, who had been a vassal of Sargon II, heard about the Assyrian advance and fled; the inscriptions do not record why Sennacherib marched against Ellipi, but it may have been because Ispabāra had thrown off Assyrian domination when Sargon died. The Assyrian army swept through the area, captured and plundered Ellipi's principal cities (including Ṣiṣṣirtu and Kummaḫlum), and annexed part of it. The city Elenzaš was reorganized as an Assyrian center. Its name was changed to Kār-Sennacherib ("Quay of Sennacherib") and the city was put under the authority of the governor of Ḫarḫar. On his return home, Median rulers paid tribute to him.
In modern scholarship, the best known and most widely discussed military expedition of Sennacherib is his third campaign, according to the official numbering. This is not surprising as the event is also recorded in the Bible, which describes this Assyrian king's invasion of Judah during the reign of Hezekiah and a siege of Jerusalem.[32] During the early years of Sennacherib's reign, rulers in the Levant renounced allegiance to Assyria, probably with the encouragement of the Nubian rulers of Egypt, and supported those opposed to Assyrian domination, including Marduk-apla-iddina II (Merodach-baladan) of Babylon.
In his 4th regnal year (701), Sennacherib mustered his troops and marched to the Levant. Lulî, the king of Sidon, was his first target. However, before Sennacherib's arrival, Lulî fled, leaving the cities and towns under his control undefended. The cities Great Sidon, Lesser Sidon, Bīt-Zitti, Ṣarepta, Maḫalliba, Ušû, Akzibu, and Acco were captured. Tu-Baʾlu, a man considered loyal to Assyria, was made king of Sidon. With a large Assyrian army on the scene, several rulers in the area quickly sought to avert battle. Minuḫimmu of Samsimuruna, Abdi-Liʾti of Arwad, Uru-milki of Byblos, Mitinti of Ashdod, Būdi-il of Bīt-Ammon, Kammūsu-nadbi of Moab, and Aya-rāmu of Edom all brought gifts and tribute before Sennacherib. The bribes worked. However, not everyone was as easily cowed into submission.
Ṣidqâ of the city Ashkelon, the nobles and citizens of the city Ekron, and Hezekiah of Judah fought back. Ṣidqâ's efforts failed. Ashkelon along with the other cities under his authority fell to the Assyrians and he together with his family was captured and deported. Sennacherib put Šarru-lū-dāri, the son of a former ruler (Rūkibtu), on the throne of Ashkelon. The nobles and citizens of Ekron — who had deposed Padî, their pro-Assyrian king, and who had handed him over to Hezekiah — became frightened and sought military support from Egypt and its Nubian rulers. The Assyrian army met the Egyptian-led coalition at the city Eltekeh and routed it. Eltekeh and the city Tamnâ were besieged, captured, and plundered, and the anti-Assyrian elements at Ekron were put to death; corpses were hung from the towers of the wall as a warning to anyone who thought of rebelling against Assyria. The turn of events must have taken Hezekiah of Judah by surprise, as he released Padî; Sennacherib returned Padî to his rightful place as ruler of Ekron.
The kingdom of Judah put up a good fight against the Assyrians, but it too suffered a heavy defeat. Sennacherib boasts that he captured forty-six Judean cities, including Lachish, which fell after an intensive siege.[33] Hezekiah and his elite forces were confined to Jerusalem, where the Judean is said to have been caged like a bird. The defenses of Jerusalem held, however, and the Assyrians returned home without taking the city. Before departing, Hezekiah appears to have struck a deal with Sennacherib, for he sent a substantial payment to Nineveh in exchange for remaining in power (as an Assyrian vassal). The Levant, having witnessed firsthand the might of Assyria, did not rebel again.[34]
In his 15th regnal year (690), possibly while Babylon was under siege, Sennacherib marched into the north Arabian desert against Teʾelḫunu, queen of the Arabs, and Hazael.[35] The city Adummatu (biblical Dumah, mod. Dūmat al-Jandal) and another city (name not preserved) were besieged and plundered. According to later sources, Teʾelḫunu was carried off to Assyria.
Sennacherib directed his attention to the north and northwest with a series of campaigns during his 8th (697), 9th (696), and 10th (695) regnal years.[36] The king personally led the first of these, but stayed at home for the other two. During his fifth campaign (697), according to the official numbering, Sennacherib attacked the inhabitants of cities located on and near Mount Nipur (mod. Judi Dagh).[37] The victories were hard earned, as the Assyrian army was not well trained in marching through and fighting in difficult, narrow mountain terrain. Official reports, including those inscribed on several rock faces in that region, record the difficulties encountered. After the Mount Nipur area was brought into submission, Sennacherib set his sights on Maniye, king of the city Ukku. As the Assyrian army approached Ukku, Maniye is reported to have abandoned the city and fled to a remote location. Ukku and thirty-three cities in its vicinity are said to have been captured, plundered, and subsequently destroyed.
In his 9th (696) and 10th (695) regnal years, Sennacherib sent expeditions to Anatolia. These campaigns were led by his officials.[38] His reluctance to personally go on these campaigns was likely rooted in the fact that Sargon II had been killed there and that his body had never been recovered. In 696, Assyrian troops were sent to Ḫilakku (Cilicia), where Kirūa, the city ruler of Illubru, had incited rebellion and blocked the road to the land Que. It has been suggested that Que may have been once again friendly towards Assyria and possibly a vassal state, and the purpose of the campaign was to assist that pro-Assyrian area. The rebel cities Illubru, Ingirâ, and Tarsus were besieged, captured, and plundered. Kirūa was captured and brought back to Nineveh, where he was flayed publicly. The next year (695), Sennacherib sent his army to the land Tabal, where Gurdî, the city ruler of Urdutu (and possibly the man responsible for Sargon II's death), had taken up arms against Assyria. Only the city Tīl-Garimme is reported to have been captured and destroyed. The campaign was far from successful, since the chief instigator remained at large.
31 Text no. 2 lines 20–33, text no. 3 lines 20–33, text no. 4 lines 18–31, text no. 15 ii 1'–37'', text no. 16 ii 6–75, text no. 17 i 78–ii 57, text no. 18 i 14''–ii 28', text no. 22 i 65–ii 36, text no. 23 i 59–ii 34, text no. 24 ii 1'–9', text no. 26 i 6'–8', text no. 34 lines 12b–13a, and text no. 36 rev. 1'– 2'. For studies, see Levine, JNES 32 (1973) pp. 312–317; Levine, JCS 34 (1982) pp. 38–40; Grayson, CAH2 3/2 p. 112; and Frahm, Sanherib p. 10.
32 Text no. 4 lines 32–58, text no. 6 lines 1'–14', text no. 15 iii 1–iv 14', text no. 16 ii 76–iv 37, text no. 17 ii 58–iii 81, text no. 18 ii 1''–iii 31, text no. 19 i' 1'–14', text no. 21 i' 1'–7', text no. 22 ii 37–iii 49, text no. 23 ii 35–iii 42, text no. 26 i 9'–13', and text no. 34 lines 13b–15. This event is also recorded in the Bible (2 Kings 18:13–19:36; Isaiah 36:1–37:37; and 2 Chronicles 32:1–22) and classical sources (Herodotus, Hist. 2 141–142; and Josephus, Ant. Jud. X 1–23). For further information, see van Leeuwen, Oudtestamentische Studiën 14 (1965) pp. 245–272; Horn, AUSS 4 (1966) pp. 1–28; Ussishkin, Conquest of Lachish; Gonçalves, L'Expédition de Sennachérib; Grayson, CAH2 3/2 pp. 109–111; Gallagher, Sennacherib's Third Campaign; Laato, VT 45 (1995) pp. 198–226; Frahm, Sanherib pp. 10–11; Cogan, BAR 27 (2001) pp. 40–45 and 69; Grabbe, 'Like a Bird in a Cage'; Ussishkin, Studies Naʾaman pp. 339–357; and Cogan, Raging Torrent pp. 111–129.
33 Lachish is not mentioned by name in reports of the third campaign, but it is named in an epigraph on a relief depicting the siege and conquest of that city. Archaeological excavations at Lachish confirm that the city did in fact succumb to an Assyrian siege. See Ussishkin, Conquest of Lachish for a detailed study of the relief and the archaeological evidence.
34 What happened in the Levant between 688 and 681 is unclear as there are very few extant inscriptions of Sennacherib for the post-689 period. It has been suggested that Judah rebelled a second time during this period. For the opinion that Sennacherib campaigned twice to the Levant, once in 701 and again after 689, see Shea, JBL 104 (1985) pp. 401–418; Grayson, JSSEA 11 (1981) pp. 85–88; and Grayson, CAH2 3/2 pp. 110–111. This issue falls outside the scope of this volume and thus it will not be examined here.
35 Text no. 35 lines 53'–9''. This event is also recorded in inscriptions of Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal. See for example Leichty, RINAP 4 p. 19 Esarhaddon 1 iv 1–5 and p. 30 Esarhaddon 2 ii 46–50; and Borger, BIWA pp. 69–70 K 3087 // K 3405 // Rm 2,558 lines 1b–4 (and 12). Teʾelḫunu is called Apkallatu in the inscriptions of Esarhaddon. As R. Borger (Orientalia NS 26 [1957] pp. 9–10) has already pointed out, Apkallatu is not a proper name, but rather a title which Esarhaddon's scribes mistook as a personal name, and thus Apkallatu is the same woman as Teʾelḫunu. For studies, see Ephʿal, Arabs pp. 118–125; Grayson, CAH2 3/2 pp. 112–113; and Frahm, Sanherib p. 16.
36 The Eponym Chronicle records for his 1st regnal year (704) that officials of the king were sent against the Kulummians in Tabal to avenge his father's death. Because the text is badly damaged, the outcome of the campaign is not known. E. Frahm (PNA 3/1 p. 1118 sub Sīn-aḫḫē-erība II.3b-2') suggests that the expedition was probably not a great success since it was not mentioned in Sennacherib's royal inscriptions.
37 Text no. 16 iv 70–v 32, text no. 17 iv 18–60, text no. 18 iii 1''–iv 10, text no. 19 ii' 1'–13'a, text no. 22 iii 75–iv 31, text no. 23 iii 66–iv 25, text no. 26 i 14'–17', and text no. 34 lines 16–17a. For studies, see Grayson, CAH2 3/2 p. 112; Frahm, NABU 1994 pp. 48–50 no. 55; and Frahm, Sanherib p. 13.
38 Text no. 17 iv 61–v 14, text no. 26 i 18', and text no. 34 lines 17b–19. The Babyloniaca of Berossus (Burstein, SANE 1/5 [1978] p. 24) also records events of the 696 campaign. Relying on Abydenus and Polyhistor, Berossus states that the Assyrians defeated a group of Ionian warships. Polyhistor states that Sennacherib left an inscribed stele on the battlefield and that he built (rebuilt?) the city Tarsus. Abydenus records that he built (rebuilt?) the temple of Sandes (= Heracles) and that he built (rebuilt?) the city Tarsus. For studies on the 696 and 695 campaigns, see King, CT 26 pp. 9–16; Tallqvist, OLZ 14 (1911) cols. 344–345; Haider in Ulf, Wege zur Genese griechischer Identität pp. 82–91; Hawkins, CAH2 3/1 pp. 426–427; Grayson, CAH2 3/2 p. 112; and Frahm, Sanherib p. 14.
A. Kirk Grayson & Jamie Novotny
A. Kirk Grayson & Jamie Novotny, 'Military Campaigns, Part 3', RINAP 3: Sennacherib, The RINAP 3 sub-project of the RINAP Project, 2019 [http://oracc.org/rinap/rinap3/RINAP31Introduction/MilitaryCampaigns/Part3/]