Overview
A continuous series of carved wall panels from a single room in Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh, showing the Assyrian assault on the Judahite city of Lachish, the surrender of its people, and the king receiving the spoil and captives. Layard found them late in his second expedition and described them in 1853: thirteen slabs, some almost entire though cracked by fire, with the epigraph 'complete'.
The scenes show a hilly country of figs and vines, a city with double walls and towers, ten ramps built against the walls, seven battering rams, massed archers and slingers, defenders throwing torches, impaled prisoners, families leaving with carts, and Sennacherib enthroned before a tent while prisoners and spoil pass before him.
A short cuneiform caption above the king names Sennacherib and Lachish. The same campaign is described in Sennacherib's annals and in 2 Kings 18-19; the Assyrian siege ramp was later excavated at Tel Lachish itself (Ussishkin).
In its own words
Sennacherib, king of the universe, king of Assyria, sat upon a house chair (while) the booty of Lachish passed before him.D. D. Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia, vol. II (Chicago, 1927), §489, p. 198 (epigraph; after Paterson, The Palace of Sennacherib, pls. 74-76)
What the evidence shows
- 13 carved slabs from one room (Room XXXVI, 38 x 18 ft) of the South-West Palace at Nineveh (Layard 1853, pp. 148-151).
- Epigraph above the enthroned king naming Sennacherib and Lachish (Layard 1853, p. 152; Luckenbill 1927, §489).
- City shown with double walls, towers and outworks; ten ramps and seven battering rams against it (Layard 1853, p. 149).
- Defenders wear a pointed helmet with a fringed lappet over the ears; some captives wear a turban with a hanging end (Layard 1853, p. 149).
- Captives and spoil: furniture, arms, shields, chariots, metal vessels, camels, ox-carts carrying women and children; prisoners impaled below the walls (Layard 1853, p. 149).
- The series ends with a plan of the Assyrian camp with tents, a fire-altar and two chariots bearing standards (Layard 1853, p. 151).
- British Museum dates the South-West Palace panels to 700-681 BCE and displays them in Room 10b with a prism of Sennacherib's campaign account.
Open questions
- What exactly does the epigraph say? Layard (1853, p. 152), using the young decipherment of his day, translated: 'Sennacherib, the mighty king, king of the country of Assyria, sitting on the throne of judgment, before (or at the entrance of) the city of Lachish (Lakhisha). I give permission for its slaughter.' Luckenbill (1927, §489), working from Paterson's plates, reads: 'sat upon a house chair (while) the booty of Lachish passed before him'; Barton (1917, p. 373, from Winckler 1892) likewise has 'sat on his throne, and the spoil of the city of Lachish passed before him'. The later readings contain no permission to slaughter; the 1853 wording should not be quoted as the text.
- Is it the biblical Lachish? Henry Rawlinson (Outlines of Assyrian History, p. xxxvi) placed the caption's city on the coast between Gaza and Rhinocolura; Layard (1853, p. 153 n.), 'supported ... by Dr. Hincks', rejected this and placed it among the cities of Judah listed in Josh 15:39. The epigraph's Lakisu and the excavated siege remains at Tel Lachish (Ussishkin, Journal for Semitics 24/2, 2017) now tie the reliefs to Tel Lachish.
- How literal is the picture? Ussishkin (2017) treats the reliefs as one of five complementary sources for the siege, alongside the Bible, the annals, the excavated city level and the battle remains; comparing the carved city with the excavated site is his method. Where the relief and the ground disagree in detail is argued in his work; the full article is not summarized here.
Sources
- A. H. Layard, Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon (London: John Murray, 1853), ch. VI, pp. 148-153 link excavation report
- D. D. Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia, vol. II: Historical Records of Assyria from Sargon to the End (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1927), §489, p. 198 link translation
- G. A. Barton, Archaeology and the Bible (Philadelphia: American Sunday-School Union, 1916; 2nd ed. 1917), p. 373, 'Inscription under Lachish-picture, 701 B.C.' link translation
- British Museum, 'Assyria: Siege of Lachish (Room 10b)' gallery page link museum record
- D. Ussishkin, 'Sennacherib's Campaign in Judah: The Conquest of Lachish,' Journal for Semitics 24.2 (2017): 719-758. DOI 10.25159/1013-8471/3477 link study
Corrected from the earlier edition of this page
- Old entry: 'discovered ... in the mid-19th century' / '1845-1851' as one span. Layard found them in the latter part of his residence at Mosul on the second expedition, reported in his 1853 book; his first expedition (from 1845) did not produce them.
- Old location 'British Museum, Iraq Museum'. The series is in the British Museum, Room 10b; no published source places Lachish-relief panels in the Iraq Museum.
- Old 'Inscription: N/A'. There is a cuneiform epigraph over the king naming Sennacherib and Lachish (Luckenbill 1927 §489).
- Old 'Date: c. 701 BCE' for the reliefs. 701 BCE is the siege; the carving belongs to the South-West Palace, 700-681 BCE (British Museum).
- Old 'Approximately 2 meters tall' - not confirmed in the sources cited here; left out.
- Old tie 'Jeremiah 52 (Babylonian aftermath)' is about Nebuchadnezzar's conquest a century later, not this siege; replaced by 2 Kgs 18-19, 2 Chr 32:9, Isa 36:1-2.
- Old wording: the reliefs provide 'concrete evidence of the historical accuracy of the biblical accounts'. They show Sennacherib at Lachish, as the Bible says; they do not show anything about Jerusalem.
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