The Siege of Lachish: The City Attacked

The Siege of Lachish: The City Attacked.The siege of Lachish itself is shown in the next section of the scene. Lachish is shown under attack, many siege mounds are shown up against the walls. The Assyrians are attacking with their equivalent of the modern tank, the siege engines.Below is a line drawing if the same scene giving a clearer view if what is going on.And again here is a closer view in more detail of the centre of the scene. Judean defenders are desperately trying to defend themselves against the overwhelming Assyrian forces.The scene would have been painted as well as being a carved relief. The section of the scene to the right gives an idea of what this might have looked like on the walls of Sennacherib’s palace. The colours I have used are arbitrary and have not been chosen because I know which colours were used. Archaeologists have on occasion been able to find small traces of the original colour on the stone to establish that the work was coloured and sometimes, what the colour used was.It is also clear from the fresco that the Assyrians revelled in their ability to be cruel and ruthless. Below the tower shown in the image to the left, captives are being hoisted up onto poles outside to the city walls in order to discourage the defenders of the city. This was a common tactic of the Assyrians and is depicted in other sieges.Perhaps the most fearful part of the Assyrian war machine was the siege engine. Designed to be portable and assembled on site. It is clearly made of several parts and covered with a leather “coat” which was held together with toggles. The engine attacking the tower in the images above is cut out below. It seems that the defensive tactic was to try to set the siege engine on fire. Many fire brands are being thrown down onto the engine and the attackers. In turn the engine was protected from fire by constant dowsing with water, which would have needed constant re-supply.This part of the battle scene shows many things happening at once, though this is an artistic representation. Whilst those on the tower defend and the Assyrians attack, other Jews are seen leaving the city, defeated and surrendering to the Assyrian army.