Taylor Prism (Sennacherib's Annals)
Six-sided baked clay prism recording Sennacherib's siege of Jerusalem.
A hexagonal clay prism inscribed with the annals of Assyrian king Sennacherib (r. 705–681 BCE). Describes his 701 BCE campaign in Judah, boasting that he shut up King Hezekiah "like a caged bird" in Jerusalem — but conspicuously fails to claim the city's capture.
The Taylor Prism corroborates the biblical account of Sennacherib's invasion (2 Kings 18–19; Isaiah 36–37) in remarkable detail — including the tribute Hezekiah paid — while the omission of Jerusalem's fall aligns with Scripture's report of the Assyrian army's miraculous defeat.
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