Sennacherib's Siege of Jerusalem

701 BC Judah Status: ended Casualties: 185,000 of the Assyrian host slain in a single night

Sennacherib took the fenced cities of Judah and shut up Hezekiah 'like a bird in a cage' (his own annals). Rabshakeh blasphemed the God of Israel beneath the walls. That night the angel of the Lord went out and smote the camp; in the morning they were all dead corpses. Sennacherib returned to Nineveh and was slain by his own sons. 2 Kings 18–19, Isaiah 36–37.

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Belligerents

Sennacherib of Assyria & Rabshakeh
Hezekiah of Judah & Isaiah

Casualties

185,000 of the Assyrian host slain in a single night

Key events

Rabshakeh stands at the conduit of the upper pool and blasphemes in Hebrew
Hezekiah spreads the letter before the Lord in the Temple
Isaiah: 'I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake'
185,000 dead in the Assyrian camp in a single night
Sennacherib returns to Nineveh; slain by his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer

Aftermath

Jerusalem stood. Hezekiah's tunnel still carries water under the City of David; Sennacherib's prism still boasts of shutting up the king 'like a bird in a cage' — but the prism does not boast of taking the cage.

Weapons & matériel

Assyrian siege engines, ramps, sappers
The angel of the Lord

Sources

2 Kings 18–19
Isaiah 36–37
2 Chronicles 32
Sennacherib's Prism
Herodotus II.141

From World at War, an interactive atlas by Jairus Pereira. Figures are approximate, drawn from Wikipedia, UCDP, ACLED and academic sources — a design artefact, not an authoritative register. Contact.