Updated Perspectives on Sennacherib’s Siege at Tel Lachish

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

From gypsum reliefs that once decorated the walls of the Assyrian capital at Nineveh, archaeologists know that Sennacherib’s army laid waste to the city of Lachish, Judah (now Israel) in 701 BC. There remains no consensus on how these events unfolded, but many researchers agree that the Lachish reliefs were intended to serve as both historical record and propaganda. The reliefs have informed differing explanations regarding how the city fell. Computer modeling and simulation allow for the evaluation of competing hypotheses regarding the tactical choices of the Assyrians. Using a virtual landscape reconstructed digitally from aerial drone imagery, it becomes clear that the reliefs depict choices that make little tactical sense in the way the siege of Lachish is portrayed in stone. Updated explanations for the Assyrian victory are presented.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37623.0