1 jan 690 ano antes da era comum - Taylor Prism, Sennacherib Prism, Jerusalem Prism

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A Trio of Biblical Prisms
These artifacts depict the conquests—and almost conquests—of Assyrian King Sennacherib over the nation of Judah.
By Rachael Grellet

The most well known of Sennacherib’s three prisms is the Taylor Prism, which was found in the 1830s and named after Col. R. Taylor, Britain’s assistant political agent in Basra, Iraq. Measuring 38 centimeters (15 inches) tall, it has six sides and is made of red clay. This prism was commissioned by Sennacherib as a dedication prism, and depicts his eight major military campaigns. It was found in excavations of Nebi Yunus, the arsenal building. The British Museum acquired the artifact from Colonel Taylor’s widow in 1855.

The origins of the Oriental Institute Prism and Jerusalem Prism are hazier. The first record of each was when they were purchased by larger museums. The Oriental Institute bought the Sennacherib Prism in 1919 from an antiquities dealer in Baghdad. The Jerusalem Prism, acquired by the Israel Museum in 1970, was not deciphered and released until 1990.

All three prisms boast basically identical accounts of Sennacherib’s main military campaigns. They each reference Sennacherib’s later construction project, the “rear palace,” so archaeologists have dated their construction to around 690 b.c.e.

What is most remarkable about these prisms is the fact that the history they attest to matches the biblical account near perfectly.

The Assyrian Empire overran the northern kingdom of Israel in campaigns from 721 to 718 b.c.e. Following this victory, Sennacherib continued southward into Judah. The Taylor Prism depicts this incursion as follows:

As for the king of Judah, Hezekiah, who had not submitted to my authority, I besieged and captured 46 of his fortified cities, along with many smaller towns, taken in battle with my battering rams … I took as plunder 200,150 people, both small and great, male and female, along with a great number of animals including horses, mules, donkeys, camels, oxen and sheep.

This parallels a passage in 2 Kings 18:13 (New International Version):

In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.
King Hezekiah tried to placate Sennacherib by sending a large tribute, described in verses 14-16 (niv):

So Hezekiah king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have done wrong. Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me.” The king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace. At this time Hezekiah king of Judah stripped off the gold with which he had covered the doors and doorposts of the temple of the Lord, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

Sennacherib boasts of this tribute on the Taylor Prism also:

Fear of my greatness terrified Hezekiah. He sent to me tribute: 30 talents of gold, 800 talents of silver, precious stones, ivory and all sorts of gifts, including women from his palace.
Thus we see direct correspondence between the biblical account and Sennacherib’s records. Thirty talents of gold were requested (as per 2 Kings 18:14), and that is what he received. However, the Bible states that 300 talents of silver were requested, and Sennacherib’s inscription states he received 800.Why the apparent discrepancy? One explanation is that the 800 talents may have referred to the combined weight of the following objects in the sentence—not just silver, but also the precious stones and ivory.

Such a great tribute seemed only to fuel Sennacherib’s desire for conquest, and he marched onward to Jerusalem.

One of Sennacherib’s greatest boasts found on the Taylor Prism is also one of the most revealing statements backing the biblical account:

As for Hezekiah, I shut him up like a caged bird in his royal city of Jerusalem. I then constructed a series of fortresses around him, and I did not allow anyone to come out of the city gates. His towns which I captured I gave to the kings of Ashdod, Ekron and Gaza.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sennacherib%27s_Annals#References

It is one of three accounts discovered so far which have been left by Sennacherib of his campaign against the Kingdom of Israel and Kingdom of Judah, giving a different perspective on these events from that of the Book of Kings in the Bible.

Some passages in the Hebrew Bible (2 Kings 18–19) agree with at least a few of the claims made on the prism. The Bible recounts a successful Assyrian attack on Samaria, as a result of which the population was deported, and later recounts that an attack on Lachish was ended by Hezekiah suing for peace, with Sennacherib demanding 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold, and Hezekiah giving him all the silver from his palace and from the Temple in Jerusalem, and the gold from doors and doorposts of the temple.[10] Compared to this, the Taylor Prism proclaims that 46 walled cities and innumerable smaller settlements were conquered by the Assyrians, with 200,150 people, and livestock, being deported, and the conquered territory being dispersed among the three kings of the Philistines instead of being given back. Additionally, the Prism says that Sennacherib’s siege resulted in Hezekiah being shut up in Jerusalem "like a caged bird", Hezekiah's mercenaries and 'Arabs' deserting him, and Hezekiah eventually buying off Sennacherib, having to give him antimony, jewels, ivory-inlaid furniture, his own daughters, harem, and musicians. It states that Hezekiah became a tributary ruler.

"As for the king of Judah, Hezekiah, who had not submitted to my authority, I besieged and captured forty-six of his fortified cities, along with many smaller towns, taken in battle with my battering rams. ... I took as plunder 200,150 people, both small and great, male and female, along with a great number of animals including horses, mules, donkeys, camels, oxen, and sheep. As for Hezekiah, I shut him up like a caged bird in his royal city of Jerusalem. I then constructed a series of fortresses around him, and I did not allow anyone to come out of the city gates. His towns which I captured I gave to Mitinti, king of Ashdod; Padi, ruler of Ekron; and Silli-bel, king of Gaza."
The tribute given by Hezekiah is then mentioned but in this account, nothing is said of Sennacherib capturing the city of Jerusalem.

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