Siege of Lachish

Part of Sennacherib's campaign in Judah

Lachish relief

Date

701 BCE

Location

Lachish, Israel

Result

Assyrian victory

Lachish captured

Belligerents

Neo-Assyrian Empire

Kingdom of Judah

Commanders and leaders

Sennacherib

Unknown

Strength

Unknown

Casualties and losses

Unknown

Heavy

Assyrian victory

The siege of Lachish is the name given to the Assyrian siege and conquest of the town of Lachish in 701 BC. The siege is documented in several sources including the Hebrew Bible, Assyrian documents and in the Lachish relief, a well-preserved series of reliefs which once decorated the Assyrian king Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh.

Several kingdoms in the Levant ceased to pay taxes for the Assyrian King, Sennacherib, as a result, he set out on a campaign to once again subjugate the rebelling Kingdoms, among them the Jewish King, Hezekiah. After defeating the rebels of Ekron in Philistia he set out to subjugate Judah and in his way to Jerusalem he came across Lachish, the second most important among the Jewish cities.

The Hill

City Gate

Lachish Fortress as seen in the Lachish relief

The battlefield was the walled city of Lachish, situated on a hill. The northern part of the hill is steeper than the southern side and due to that the gate is situated there. On top of the fact that the hill as of itself is quite high, the wall further makes the city hard to breach. Inside the city itself there was a castle with significant walls.

Sennacherib at the head of his army

Modern drawing of Assyrian troops as seen in Assyrian reliefs

Assyrian troops with a siege engine

The Assyrian Army was the most effective force of its time and was divided mostly into three different categories:

Modern depiction of a Jewish King and troops

The Jewish military force was insignificant compared to the professional and massive Assyrian army and mostly included local militias and mercenaries. There were barely any cavalrymen and chariots in the Jewish army which mostly included infantry, either for close combat (spearmen) or long range combat (archers), they were also significantly less organized.

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Wikipedia