Siege of Lachish
701 BCE · Lachish, Judah (modern Israel)
The Siege of Lachish was fought in 701 BCE in Lachish, Judah (modern Israel) between Neo-Assyrian Empire vs the Kingdom of Judah; Assyrian victory; the city was stormed and its people deported, as shown on the Lachish reliefs.
Siege of Lachish: quick facts
- Date
- 701 BCE
- Location
- Lachish, Judah (modern Israel)
- Belligerents
- Neo-Assyrian Empire vs the Kingdom of Judah
- Commanders
- Sennacherib vs the garrison of King Hezekiah
- Result
- Assyrian victory; the city was stormed and its people deported, as shown on the Lachish reliefs.
- Era
- 🏛️ Ancient Egypt & Mesopotamia
- Quiz difficulty
- hard
What happened at the Siege of Lachish?
The Assyrian king Sennacherib besieged Lachish, the second most important city in the Kingdom of Judah, as part of his campaign against King Hezekiah. The Assyrians constructed a massive siege ramp, still visible today, and used battering rams to breach the walls. The city fell after fierce resistance, and its inhabitants were killed or deported. Sennacherib was so proud of this conquest that he commissioned elaborate stone reliefs depicting the siege for his palace at Nineveh, providing one of the most detailed visual records of ancient warfare.
Did you know?
The Assyrian siege ramp at Lachish, built of thousands of tons of stone and earth, is still visible today and is one of the best-preserved examples of ancient siege engineering anywhere in the world.
Sources and further reading
- Siege of Lachish on Wikipedia for the full account, historiography and primary sources.
- How BattleGuess compiles and checks battle facts: see the About page.
Entry last reviewed 26 September 2026.