was King of Assyria from 705 B.C. to
681 B.C. He was a very proud and warlike ruler,
but also a
great builder, and during his reign Assyria became
famous for her art and architecture. He seized and
destroyed Babylon, conquered Chaldea, and marched into
Egypt. City after city of Judah fell before his arms,
and Hezekiah, Prince of Judah, was forced to retreat
into Jerusalem. The Assyrian king pursued, wasting the
land with fire and sword, and taking the people for
slaves. As Sennacherib swept up to Jerusalem the Prince
of Judah tried to ransom his city with gold, but the
invader would not listen to his offer, and prepared to
attack the walls. Then suddenly a plague fell upon the
great Assyrian host. It is said that 185,000 men died
in a single night. The rest, terrified at what seemed
retribution for their destruction of Babylon, fled in a
panic, pursued by their enemies. The king himself
escaped, but was killed in 681 B.C. in the temple at
Nineveh by two of his sons.
Byron wrote a number of poems dealing with Hebrew
history, and this is one of the most spirited of them.
It describes how the great Assyrian army, flushed with
scores of victories, came to Jerusalem, ready to
conquer on the morrow. That night came the plague, and
the
army melted away before its breath. The widows of
Ashur, which means Assyria, bewailed the lost soldiers,
and the priests who tended the altars of the god Baal
broke the idols in despair, for the Gentiles, or
heathens, who had been so powerful before, had fallen,
not by men's swords, but at the will of the God of
Jerusalem.
by George Gordon Noel, Lord Byron