Until the middle of the last century, almost all we knew about the kings of Assyria was contained in the Bible, and in unreliable notices in the Greek historians. So mighty a monarch as Sargon was unknown to us, apart from the reference in Isaiah 20:1, and it was open for any critic to find fault with the inspired narrative without any outside means of checking his theories. But in 1842, the French explorer Botta began a dig at Khorsabad, bringing to light an immense palace, full of sculptures, including many of the famous Assyrian winged bulls, erected by Sargon.
Shortly after, Layard and others excavated the ruins of the palaces of Sennacherib and other Assyrian kings. There they found lifelike statues of the kings, and inscriptions giving the official history of their reigns. Several copies of the Assyrian Eponym Calendar were discovered, which gives the name of an officer (limmu) for every year, and often a catalog of the outstanding events of the year, giving a very accurate means of dating the history both of the Assyrians and of the Jews.
Tiglath-Pileser II (745-727 bc), a great warrior, subdued Babylonia and assumed the title of king of Babylon. He besieged Arpad, and took it, then descended on Syria, and his records state that the kings of Hamath, Damascus, Tyre, and Minihimmi of Samaria (evidently Menahem) paid him tribute (2 Ki. 15:19-20). Later, we read: “Pakaha (Pekah) their king I killed, and Ausa I placed over them.” Ahaz’ tribute is mentioned.
He also overran Galilee (2 Ki. 15:29). The annals next describe the capture of Damascus, after a long siege (cf. Isa. 7:16; 10:9; 17:1). In 727 bc, Tiglath-Pileser died. The delight which this event caused in Palestine is referred to in Isaiah 14:29-31. But it was short-lived.
The ascension of Shalmaneser IV (727-722) was the signal for a general revolt in Syria and Palestine, backed by the new Ethiopian king who exercised an overlordship over Egypt, Shabaka (the So’ of 2 Ki. 17:4). He had to lay siege to Tyre again, and also to Samaria.
Samaria was taken in the second year of the reign of Sargon (722-705) and 27,280 captives were carried off. Next year, he thoroughly chastised Shabaka of Egypt at Raphia, near Gaza. Tyre fell and Hamath was conquered by Assyrians.
The succeeding years do not concern us; he was busy fighting in the north. In his later years, he sent his Tartan or chief general to Ashdod (cf. Isa. 20:1). He claims also to be “the conqueror of the land of Judah, whose situation is remote.” His last years were spent in building and beautifying his wonderful palace at Khorsabad, where he was murdered.
Sennacherib (705-681 bc) was Sargon’s son. The monuments show him as a short, stout, powerfully built man, with the usual square-cut hair, square Assyrian beard, and a large nose. His first campaign was against Merodach-Baladan of Babylon and his allies the Elamites, and he claims complete success.
In 701, he turned his attention to Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, all of which had been conspiring against him again. The people of Ekron had expelled their king Padi, the Assyrian nominee, and he was imprisoned by Hezekiah at Jerusalem. Sennacherib marched down by way of the coast, reducing Sidon on the way, subdued Philistia, and besieged Lachish and many other Hebrew cities. There is in the British Museum a bas-relief of the siege of Lachish, from Nineveh.
The most relevant part of his inscription reads as follows: “But Hezekiah of Judah, who had not submitted to my yoke, I besieged 46 of his strong cities, fortresses, and small cities of their environs without number (and) by casting down their walls(?)…Himself I shut up like a caged bird in Jerusalem his royal city; the walls I fortified against him (and) whosoever came out of the gates of the city I turned back….”
Esarhaddon, Asshurbanipal, and several smaller kings followed. In 606 (in 1923, a tablet was discovered which seems to make the date 612), the Assyrian empire came to an end at the hands of the Medes and Babylonians.