Sennacherib

King of Assyria

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Lived -745–-681, aged 64

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Era
-745–-681
Aged 64

Summary

Updated 2026-06-08

King of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 705 to 681 BC, he destroyed Babylon after it cost him his eldest son, besieged Jerusalem in a campaign the Hebrew Bible memorializes, and was stabbed to death by two of his own sons in a succession dispute.

Biography

About

Sennacherib inherited the throne in 705 BC as the second king of the Sargonid dynasty and immediately faced rebellion: the Chaldean chief Marduk-apla-iddina II retook Babylon and allied with Elam. He reclaimed the south by 700 BC, but the troubles spread—probably at Marduk-apla-iddina's instigation—to the Levant, where in 701 BC he invaded Judah and besieged Jerusalem under King Hezekiah, who eventually submitted though the siege itself remained inconclusive. When Babylonians and Elamites captured and executed his eldest son and designated heir Aššur-nādin-šumi, whom he'd installed as vassal k…

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In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Sennacherib

Sennacherib

saidundated

(Hezekiah) himself, like a caged bird, I shut up in Jerusalem, his royal city.

— From the Taylor prism, Column 3. Adapted from Luckenbill (1924), pp. 27-31

Sennacherib

saidundated

Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.

— Isaiah, 66:8 (KJV)

Sennacherib

saidundated