Sennacherib built a Palace without Rival and was killed by his sons
Sennacherib's name means the moon god has replaced the brothers, a hint that his older siblings died before he was born. He became one of Assyria's mightiest kings, rebuilt Nineveh on a colossal scale, razed Babylon, and besieged Jerusalem, only to be murdered in 681 BC by two sons angry at being passed over.
Son of Sargon II, he was probably born around 745 BC in Nimrud and trained as a scribe in Sumerian and Akkadian. As crown prince he often ran the empire from his residence at Nineveh while his father campaigned, handling governors, tribute and a vast intelligence network. His letters show a respectful son, though Sargon, for unknown reasons, never took him to war. His mother's identity is still debated; a stele found at Assur in 1913, read afresh in 2014, names a queen called Raima.
Babylonia gave him constant trouble after he took the throne in 705 BC. The Chaldean chief Marduk-apla-iddina seized Babylon, allied with Elam and likely stirred revolts in the Levant. When Babylonians and Elamites captured Sennacherib's eldest son, whom he had installed as vassal king, the Assyrian subdued Elam and in 689 BC destroyed Babylon.
His Levantine war of 701 BC is the campaign told in the Hebrew Bible, which says an angel ended the siege of Jerusalem. Historians doubt an outright Assyrian defeat, since King Hezekiah of Judah submitted afterwards and no contemporary record mentions a loss, though the siege seems inconclusive and Herodotus described it as a failure.
At Nineveh he launched one of the most ambitious building programmes of the ancient world, enlarging the city with great walls, temples and a royal garden, and building the Southwest Palace he called the Palace without Rival. He switched his chosen heir from Arda-Mulissu to Esarhaddon in 684 BC. Arda-Mulissu and a brother killed him, but Esarhaddon raised an army, took Nineveh and became king as his father had wanted.
Source: Sennacherib
