Image Details

The British Museum

By the beginning of Tiglath-pileser’s reign, Assyria had conquered lands to the west of Assyria proper all the way to the Levantine coast, as far south as Tyre. Tiglath-pileser proceeded to add more territory to this already sizable empire. In 733–732 B.C.E. he campaigned through Israel, causing widespread destruction; this wall-relief depicts his terrifying army—including archers, lancers, and a battering ram—attacking a city and impaling its defenders. The victorious king then deported “the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh” to Assyria (1 Chronicles 5:26). In the accompanying article, author K. Lawson Younger tracks the Israelite deportations and explores what became of the Israelites in exile.