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Sennacherib's Prism (Taylor, Chicago and Jerusalem Prisms)

Assyrian annals: 'Hezekiah the Judean I shut up like a bird in a cage'

Judah, Babylon & Exile · royal annal, inscription · Accepted by scholars · found 1830

Six-sided clay prism covered in cuneiform
Photo: Gary Todd · CC0 · via Wikimedia Commons — The Taylor Prism of Sennacherib, British Museum.

Found 1830 — Colonel Robert Taylor, British resident at Baghdad (Taylor Prism, Nineveh); the Chicago prism was bought by James Henry Breasted in 1919; the Jerusalem prism was bought at Sotheby's in 1970

Where Nineveh (Kuyunjik), near Mosul (Iraq)

Dates from c. 691–689 BCE (recording the 701 BCE campaign) · Neo-Assyrian · Sennacherib's invasion of Judah under Chizkiyahu (Hezekiah)

Now at British Museum, London (Taylor Prism); ISAC Museum, University of Chicago; Israel Museum, Jerusalem

Names a biblical person Hezekiah, Sennacherib

How Sennacherib's Prism (Taylor, Chicago and Jerusalem Prisms) was found

The Taylor Prism came from the ruins of Nineveh and was sold by Taylor's widow to the British Museum in 1855. Three nearly identical six-sided prisms survive.

What it is

Hexagonal baked-clay prisms about 38 cm tall, covered in some 500 lines of Akkadian cuneiform recording eight campaigns of Sennacherib. The third campaign describes the 701 BCE attack on Judah: 46 walled cities taken, 200,150 people carried off, and Hezekiah shut up in Jerusalem 'like a bird in a cage', then sending heavy tribute.

Why it matters for the Bible

This is the Assyrian side of 2 Kings 18–19. It agrees with the Bible that Sennacherib overran Judah's towns, that Hezekiah paid tribute (the Bible gives 300 talents of silver, the prism 800), and — strikingly — that Jerusalem itself was not taken. Sennacherib never claims to have captured the city, which fits the biblical account of a sudden Assyrian withdrawal.

The Hebrew word: mah-TSOHR

מָצוֹר

מָצוֹר is pronounced mah-TSOHR and means siege (Strong's H4692).

People this discovery connects to

Places

Events

Sennacherib's third campaign and the siege of Jerusalem (701 BCE)

Sennacherib's Prism (Taylor, Chicago and Jerusalem Prisms) in Scripture

2 Kings 18:13-14 Sennacherib takes the fortified cities of Judah and Hezekiah pays tribute — both recorded on the prism. (First mention of Sennacherib.)

2 Kings 19:35-36 The Assyrian army withdraws without taking Jerusalem; the prism, tellingly, claims no capture of the city.

Isaiah 36:1 Isaiah's parallel account of the same invasion.

Questions people ask

What is Sennacherib's Prism (Taylor, Chicago and Jerusalem Prisms)?
Hexagonal baked-clay prisms about 38 cm tall, covered in some 500 lines of Akkadian cuneiform recording eight campaigns of Sennacherib. The third campaign describes the 701 BCE attack on Judah: 46 walled cities taken, 200,150 people carried off, and Hezekiah shut up in Jerusalem 'like a bird in a cage', then sending heavy tribute.

When was Sennacherib's Prism (Taylor, Chicago and Jerusalem Prisms) discovered?
It was found in 1830 by Colonel Robert Taylor, British resident at Baghdad (Taylor Prism, Nineveh); the Chicago prism was bought by James Henry Breasted in 1919; the Jerusalem prism was bought at Sotheby's in 1970, at Nineveh (Kuyunjik), near Mosul.

Where is Sennacherib's Prism (Taylor, Chicago and Jerusalem Prisms) today?
British Museum, London (Taylor Prism); ISAC Museum, University of Chicago; Israel Museum, Jerusalem.

Which Bible verses does Sennacherib's Prism (Taylor, Chicago and Jerusalem Prisms) relate to?
2 Kings 18:13-14, 2 Kings 19:35-36, Isaiah 36:1.

Related discoveries

Sources

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