page_title: Sennacherib
section_title: First Babylonian campaign
hierarchical_section_title: Sennacherib / Reign / First Babylonian campaign
caption_attribution_description: English: Vorderasiatisches Museum (Near East Museum), Berlin. Kudurru of the babylonian king Marduk-apla-idinna II/Merodach-baladan. Deutsch: Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin
context_page_description: Sennacherib was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from the death of his father Sargon II in 705 BC to his own death in 681 BC. The second king of the Sargonid dynasty, Sennacherib is among the most famous of all Assyrian kings due to the role he played in the Old Testament of the Bible, which describes his campaign in the Levant. Other events of his reign which secured his legacy throughout the millennia following his death include his destruction of the city Babylon in 689 BC and his construction of the last great Assyrian capital, Nineveh.
  Although Sennacherib was one of the most powerful and wide-ranging of all the Assyrian kings, he faced considerable difficulty in controlling Babylonia, which formed the southern portion of his empire. Many of Sennacherib's Babylonian troubles stemmed from the Chaldean tribal chief Marduk-apla-iddina II, who had been Babylon's king until he was defeated by Sennacherib's father. Shortly after Sennacherib inherited the throne in 705 BC, Marduk-apla-iddina retook Babylon and allied with the Elamites.
context_section_description: Sargon II's death in the battle and the disappearance of his body inspired rebellions across the Assyrian Empire. Sargon had ruled Babylonia since 710 BC, when he defeated the Chaldean tribal chief Marduk-apla-iddina II, who had taken control of the south in the aftermath of the death of Sargon's predecessor Shalmaneser V in 722 BC. As with his immediate predecessors, Sennacherib took the ruling titles of both Assyria and Babylonia when he became king, but his reign in Babylonia was less stable. Unlike Sargon and previous Babylonian rulers, who had proclaimed themselves as shakkanakku (viceroys) of Babylon, in reverence for the city's deity Marduk (who was considered Babylon's formal "king"), Sennacherib explicitly proclaimed himself as Babylon's king. Furthermore, Sennacherib did not "take the hand" of the Statue of Marduk, the physical representation of the deity, and thus did not honor the god by undergoing the traditional Babylonian coronation ritual.
  Angered by the disrespect, revolts a month apart in 704 or 703 BC overthrew Sennacherib's rule in the south. First, a Babylonian by the name of Marduk-zakir-shumi II took the throne, but was deposed after just two or four weeks by Marduk-apla-iddina, the same Chaldean warlord who had seized control of the city once before and had warred against Sennacherib's father. Marduk-apla-iddina's main strength was his ability to unite the normally infighting Chaldean tribes and the Babylonians against the Assyrians. Shutur-Nahhunte II, the king of Elam (a civilization in modern-day south-western Iran), sent aid to Marduk-apla-iddina, sending an army of 80,000 Elamite bowmen, supported by cavalry, under the command of his commander. Elam's massive support inspired the rest of the Chaldean tribes and the Arameans to join the ranks of the Babylonian king.
  Due to portions of the Assyrian army being absent in Tabal in 704 BC and Sennacherib possibly considering a two-front war too risky, he left Marduk-apla-iddina unchallenged for several months. After the Tabal expedition had been completed, Sennacherib gathered the Assyrian army at Assur in 703 BC, often used as a mustering spot for campaigns against the south. The Assyrian army, led by Sennacherib's chief commander, launched an unsuccessful attack on the coalition forces near the city of Kish, bolstering the legitimacy of the coalition. Once Sennacherib, encamped by the city of Kutha, received word of the defeat of his first army he personally led the next attack, defeating the coalition troops near Kish. At this point, the anti-Assyrian army was led by Elam as Marduk-apla-iddina, fearing for his life, had fled to the southern Sea Land (the marshlands in southernmost Mesopotamia). Among the captives taken after the victory was a stepson of Marduk-apla-iddina and brother of an Arabian queen, Yatie, who had joined the coalition.
  Sennacherib then marched directly towards Babylon. As the Assyrians appeared on the horizon, Babylon opened its gates to Sennacherib, surrendering without a fight. The Assyrians then spent five days unsuccessfully hunting for Marduk-apla-iddina in the Sea Land, destroying the fields of Chaldeans, Arameans and Babylonians who had supported the revolting regime and taking more than two hundred thousand prisoners. The city of Babylon itself was also reprimanded, suffering a minor sack, though the citizens were not harmed. Because his previous policy of reigning as king of both Assyria and Babylonia had evidently failed, Sennacherib attempted another method, appointing a native Babylonian who had grown up at the Assyrian court, Bel-ibni, as his vassal king of the south. Bel-ibni was described by Sennacherib as "a native of Babylon who grew up in my palace like a young puppy".
caption: Depiction of Sennacherib's arch-enemy Marduk-apla-iddina II (left), king of Babylon 722–710 BC and 704/703–702 BC and the instigator of many of Sennacherib's later conflicts. Exhibited at the Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin.
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