Azekah Inscription


The Azekah Inscription, is a tablet inscription of the reign of Sennacherib discovered in the mid-nineteenth century in the Library of Ashurbanipal. It was identified as a single tablet by Nadav Na'aman in 1974.
It describes an Assyrian campaign by Sennacherib against Hezekiah, King of Judah, including the conquest of Azekah.

Inscription

The inscription on the combined tablet has been translated as follows:

ed me and against the land of Ju the course of my campaign, the tribute of the kiht of Ashur, my lord, the province of iah of Judah like the city of Azekah, his stronghold, which is between my rder and the land of Judah located on a mountain ridge, like pointed iron daggers without number reaching high to heaven were strong and rivaled the highest mountains, to the sight, as if from the sky mps, mighty? Battering rams brought near, the work of , with the attack by foot soldiers, wa they had seen alry and they had heard the roar of the mighty troops of the god Ashur and he became afraid I captured, I carried off its spoil, I destroyed, I devastated, , a royal ci of the Philistines, which iah had captured and strengthed for himself

Transliteration

Na'aman's transliteration of lines 3, 4, 5 and 11 is shown below:

n-ni-ma a-na KUR Ja- me-ti-iq KASKAL II ja man-da-at-tu sa LU a?-ni sa AN.SAR EN-ja na-gu-u a-a-u KUR Ja-u-da-a-a GIM URU A-za-qa-a E tuk-la-te-su sa ina bi-ri s-ri-ja u KUR Ja-u-di LUGAL-ti sa KUR Pi-lis-ta-a-a - a-a-u e-ki-mu u-dan-ni-nu-su-ma …

Winckler suggested the [text referred not to Judah but to "Yadiya"