Sennacherib

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…