This post is based on the episode with Yosef Garfinkel who is a Professor of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Yigael Yadin Chair in Archaeology of Israel. In 2021 he was one of the authors of a study published in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology that examined how the Assyrian army laid siege to the town of Lachish in Judah in 701 BC. The post was generated by AI but edited by a human.
In 701 BCE, the Assyrian army arrived outside the fortified city of Lachish, one of the most important cities in the Kingdom of Judah.
The army belonged to Sennacherib, ruler of an empire that dominated much of the ancient Near East.
Its soldiers had already campaigned across the Levant, confronting rebellious kingdoms and cities that had challenged Assyrian authority.
Now they faced a formidable obstacle.
Lachish stood on an elevated mound, protected by substantial fortifications. Its walls rose above the surrounding plain, making a direct assault exceptionally difficult.
To capture the city, the Assyrians needed to bring their battering rams close enough to smash through its defenses.
That required an enormous engineering project.
They constructed a siege ramp using an estimated three million stones, creating a sloping approach that allowed their siege engines to advance toward the city walls.
The remains of this ramp are still visible at Tel Lachish in modern Israel.
It is the only archaeologically identified Assyrian siege ramp known from the empire's campaigns, and it provides an extraordinary opportunity to reconstruct ancient military engineering.
But how was it built?
Where did the stones come from?
How many people were involved?
And how could the Assyrians complete such a massive construction project during a military campaign?
These are the questions I explored with archaeologist Professor Yosef Garfinkel of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who coauthored a 2021 study examining the construction of the Lachish siege ramp.
Our conversation revealed how archaeology, Assyrian palace reliefs, and biblical texts can be combined to reconstruct one of the most dramatic sieges of the ancient world.
Why Did Sennacherib Invade Judah in 701 BCE?
The Assyrian siege of Lachish was part of a much larger military campaign.
By the late eighth century BCE, the Neo-Assyrian Empire controlled or dominated much of the ancient Near East.
Its rulers extracted tribute from smaller kingdoms throughout the Levant.
These included territories in Phoenicia, Philistia, and Judah.
But imperial control depended on the continued willingness—or compulsion—of these kingdoms to meet their obligations.
Garfinkel explained that several kingdoms and cities stopped paying tribute and challenged Assyrian authority.
The political instability surrounding the death of Sennacherib's predecessor, Sargon II, helped create an opportunity for rebellion.
Sargon died during a military campaign in 705 BCE.
His death was an unsettling event for an empire whose rulers presented themselves as militarily powerful and divinely favored.
Sennacherib succeeded him and spent the early years of his reign consolidating his position.
In 701 BCE, he launched a campaign westward.
His army crossed the Euphrates and moved through the Levant, confronting rebellious cities and kingdoms.
The campaign eventually reached Judah, ruled by King Hezekiah.
Lachish became one of its most important targets.
Why Was Lachish So Important to the Kingdom of Judah?
Jerusalem was the political and religious center of Judah.
It housed the royal palace, the Temple, and the kingdom's principal institutions of government.
But Garfinkel emphasized that Jerusalem was not the kingdom's only major center.
Lachish occupied an economically vital position in the Shephelah, the lowland region west of Jerusalem.
This was an important agricultural zone.
Its productive landscape supported substantial populations and contributed significantly to Judah's economy.
Garfinkel compared the relationship between Jerusalem and Lachish to the relationship between a political capital and a major economic center.
Jerusalem was the seat of royal authority.
Lachish was a major center of the agricultural heartland.
The city was also heavily fortified.
Capturing it would have weakened Judah's defensive network and given the Assyrians control over an important regional center.
For Sennacherib, Lachish was therefore a valuable military and political objective.
Its conquest was important enough to become the subject of one of the most remarkable surviving visual records of ancient warfare.
The Lachish Reliefs: Assyria's Visual Record of the Siege
One of the extraordinary features of the siege of Lachish is that we possess an ancient depiction of the event.
The famous Lachish reliefs were discovered in the nineteenth century at Nineveh, the Assyrian imperial capital.
They decorated a room in Sennacherib's palace and depicted the assault on Lachish in elaborate detail.
The reliefs were discovered during excavations associated with the British archaeologist Austen Henry Layard and are now displayed in the British Museum.
Their imagery provides an extraordinary record of Assyrian military technology.
The reliefs show archers firing toward the defenders on the city walls.
Slingers participate in the attack.
Assyrian soldiers advance under the protection of military equipment.
Siege engines approach the walls.
And battering rams strike the fortifications.
The reliefs depict multiple siege engines operating near the city.
Garfinkel noted that nine are represented.
He does not assume that this number must be an exact record of the machines used in the battle.
But he argues that the imagery strongly suggests the Assyrians employed several engines rather than relying on a single battering ram.
The reliefs also reveal something about the importance of the campaign.
Sennacherib chose to commemorate the conquest of Lachish in a prominent palace setting.
The victory was clearly significant to the king's presentation of his military achievements.
And unlike many ancient battle scenes, the Lachish reliefs can be compared with physical remains at the site itself.
How Archaeologists Discovered the Assyrian Siege Ramp
Although Lachish was an important biblical city, identifying its archaeological location was not straightforward.
The breakthrough came when Israeli archaeologist Yigael Yadin visited the proposed site and suggested that an accumulation of stones at the southwest corner might represent the remains of an Assyrian siege ramp.
David Ussishkin subsequently excavated the area and confirmed the identification.
The excavation revealed an enormous accumulation of stones associated with the siege.
It also uncovered evidence of combat.
Arrowheads, slingstones, and other objects provided material evidence for the battle that had taken place in 701 BCE.
Among the discoveries was an iron chain whose function remains debated.
The identification of the ramp was particularly important because it connected the archaeological remains with the famous Assyrian reliefs.
For the first time, researchers could examine both a visual depiction of an Assyrian siege and a surviving ramp associated with that campaign.
The Engineering Challenge: Building a Ramp to Lachish
The city of Lachish stood approximately 20–30 meters above the surrounding plain.
The Assyrians needed to overcome this elevation before their siege engines could reach the fortifications.
Garfinkel explained that the ramp would have extended roughly 80–100 meters from its lower end toward the city wall.
Its purpose was to create a manageable slope for heavy wheeled siege engines.
But constructing such a ramp required enormous quantities of material.
The archaeological remains indicate that the Assyrians used stones rather than simply piling up earth.
Garfinkel and his colleagues estimated that approximately three million stones were needed.
To better understand the scale of the project, they weighed a sample of roughly 200 stones.
The average weight was approximately six to seven kilograms.
Individually, the stones were manageable.
Collectively, however, they represented a massive undertaking.
At six kilograms each, three million stones would amount to approximately 18,000 metric tons of material.
How could an ancient army move so much stone quickly enough to complete the siege?
Garfinkel's reconstruction begins with the location of the quarry.
Where Did the Assyrians Get Three Million Stones?
One possibility is that the Assyrians gathered loose stones from the surrounding countryside.
But Garfinkel argues that this would have been inefficient.
A large army could quickly exhaust the stones available immediately around the site.
Workers would then have to travel increasingly long distances to gather additional material.
Transporting millions of stones over such distances would have consumed enormous amounts of time and labor.
Instead, Garfinkel proposes that the Assyrians quarried stones immediately adjacent to the developing ramp.
In this reconstruction, workers extracted stones near the construction area and transferred them directly onto the ramp.
This minimized transportation distances.
It also allowed the quarrying and construction processes to operate simultaneously.
The proposed quarry location is supported by its relationship to the ramp, but Garfinkel acknowledged that further excavation would be valuable.
Identifying quarrying activity is not always straightforward.
The inhabitants of Lachish also quarried stones for buildings and fortifications.
Distinguishing an Assyrian military quarry from other ancient quarrying activity therefore requires careful archaeological investigation.
Why the Assyrians May Have Used Human Chains
One of the most fascinating parts of Garfinkel's reconstruction concerns the movement of stones.
Previous explanations imagined laborers carrying stones in baskets between the quarry and the ramp.
But Garfinkel identified a logistical problem.
Baskets would experience considerable wear.
They would require replacement.
And workers would have to carry them back to the quarry after depositing each load.
That meant additional movement and wasted time.
Garfinkel proposed a more efficient system.
Instead of having laborers travel back and forth, the Assyrians could have arranged workers in lines.
Stones would pass from hand to hand.
Only the stones would move.
The workers would remain in place.
In this reconstruction, a line could deliver stones at a rapid and relatively consistent rate.
Multiple lines operating simultaneously could transport enormous quantities of material.
Garfinkel suggested that the quarry itself could have operated continuously, with workers divided into shifts.
Hundreds of laborers would extract stones while others passed them toward the ramp.
The system would have transformed an enormous engineering project into a series of relatively simple, repetitive tasks.
Could the Siege Ramp Really Have Been Built in 20 Days?
Garfinkel argues that the ramp could have been constructed in approximately twenty days.
That is an extraordinary estimate.
Three million stones would need to be extracted, transported, and deposited in less than three weeks.
The reconstruction depends on several assumptions.
First, the stones were relatively small and manageable.
Second, the quarry was close to the construction area.
Third, laborers could work in organized teams.
Fourth, construction could continue through multiple shifts.
And fifth, the Assyrian army could mobilize a sufficiently large workforce.
Garfinkel suggested that the Assyrians may have drawn on imperial manpower, prisoners of war, and laborers from territories already under their control.
He also proposed that the army was under significant seasonal pressure.
Assyrian campaigns had to account for weather, river crossings, and the difficulty of maintaining military operations through the winter.
By the time Sennacherib reached Judah, he may have needed to complete the campaign quickly.
In Garfinkel's reconstruction, these circumstances help explain the speed and intensity of the work.
A workforce operating around the clock could theoretically complete the ramp in approximately twenty days.
That estimate should not be confused with a documented construction schedule.
It is a model of what may have been technically possible.
Nevertheless, it offers a plausible explanation for how the Assyrians could complete such a formidable project during a military campaign.
Why Build the Ramp from the Outside Toward the City?
Garfinkel also considered where construction would begin.
Building directly against the city wall would expose workers to the defenders.
Soldiers on the walls could shoot arrows, throw stones, and attack the construction crews.
The more efficient solution, he argues, was to begin farther away.
The Assyrians could start approximately eighty meters from the fortifications.
They would then extend the ramp toward the city.
As construction progressed, the ramp would rise.
The workers at its leading edge would gradually approach the height of the defenders.
This method reduced exposure during the earliest stages.
But it created another challenge.
How could the workers be protected as the ramp approached the walls?
Garfinkel proposes that the Assyrians used large protective shields near the advancing edge.
The shields would protect the workers from missiles launched by the defenders.
As the ramp grew, the protective barrier would move forward.
For the people inside Lachish, the sight must have been terrifying.
Day after day, the Assyrian construction project would advance closer to the walls.
And the defenders could do little to stop its progress.
Garfinkel connects this reconstruction with a striking passage from the book of Isaiah.
Isaiah 37:33 and the Assyrian Siege of Jerusalem
One of the most interesting parts of the interview was Garfinkel's discussion of Isaiah 37:33.
The verse describes what the king of Assyria will not do against Jerusalem.
In the biblical account, God declares that the Assyrian king will not enter the city, shoot an arrow there, advance against it with a shield, or construct a siege ramp.
The passage is also paralleled in 2 Kings 19:32.
Garfinkel argues that the language reflects recognizable stages of Assyrian siege warfare.
First, archers suppress the defenders on the walls.
Second, the attackers construct a siege ramp.
Third, protective shields advance toward the fortifications.
These elements correspond to his reconstruction of the assault on Lachish.
The reference to advancing a shield is especially interesting.
Shields are normally understood as defensive equipment.
But in Garfinkel's interpretation, the passage describes a large protective shield advancing with the construction crews.
The shield is part of the attack because it enables the siege ramp to approach the city.
This offers a vivid way to understand the biblical imagery.
Isaiah describes the kinds of military actions that the Assyrians would not carry out against Jerusalem.
At Lachish, however, the Assyrians did construct a siege ramp and attack the fortifications.
The passage therefore provides an intriguing literary comparison with the archaeological remains.
It does not independently prove every element of Garfinkel's reconstruction, but it demonstrates how the biblical text and archaeological evidence can illuminate one another.
How Did Assyrian Battering Rams Reach the City Walls?
Once the ramp was completed, the Assyrians still faced another problem.
Their siege engines were heavy wheeled machines.
The ramp was constructed from rough stones.
How could the engines be moved over such an uneven surface?
Garfinkel proposes that the Assyrians placed wooden beams over the ramp to create a more suitable track.
The engines could then be pushed forward.
Workers could remove beams from behind the advancing machines and place them ahead, allowing the same materials to be reused.
This would reduce the amount of timber required.
The siege engines themselves contained large battering rams.
A heavy wooden beam with a reinforced metal tip swung backward and forward.
Repeated impacts would damage the city wall.
Once a breach opened, Assyrian soldiers could enter.
The Lachish reliefs depict multiple siege engines near the fortifications.
Garfinkel argues that the Assyrians probably used several machines simultaneously.
He also suggests that the ramp may have widened near the city wall to accommodate more than one engine.
The exact number and arrangement of engines remain uncertain.
But the general principle is clear.
The siege ramp transformed a steep and difficult approach into a route along which the Assyrians could bring their most powerful siege equipment directly against the city's defenses.
Did the Defenders of Lachish Fight Back?
The people of Lachish did not simply wait for the Assyrians to breach their walls.
Archaeological evidence reveals an extraordinary defensive response.
Inside the city, the defenders constructed a counter-ramp.
This accumulation of material reinforced the area behind the threatened wall.
Its purpose was to resist the impact of the Assyrian battering rams and make it harder for attackers to break through.
Garfinkel described the situation as two opposing ramps.
Outside the city, the Assyrians built their siege ramp toward the wall.
Inside the city, the defenders accumulated material to strengthen the fortifications.
The result was a remarkable contest of military engineering.
The Assyrians attempted to create a breach.
The defenders attempted to prevent one.
The remains of these opposing constructions provide rare physical evidence of the tactics employed by both sides.
The Mystery of the Iron Chain
Among the objects discovered near the siege ramp was an iron chain.
Its original purpose has been debated.
One interpretation connects it with the defenders.
Assyrian reliefs depict defenders lowering chains or hooks toward attacking siege engines.
Such devices could be used to interfere with the battering rams or damage the machines.
But Garfinkel and his colleagues propose another explanation.
They suggest that the chain may have belonged to the Assyrian siege engine itself.
A battering ram required a suspension system that allowed its heavy beam to swing repeatedly.
Ropes could wear out under constant strain.
An iron chain would be more durable.
Garfinkel therefore argues that the excavated chain may have been part of the mechanism supporting the battering ram.
This remains an interpretation rather than a settled identification.
But it illustrates the kind of questions archaeologists can investigate when material evidence survives from an ancient battlefield.
Even a single object can help reconstruct the technology used during the siege.
Why Haven't Archaeologists Found More Assyrian Siege Ramps?
Given the scale of the Assyrian Empire and its reputation for siege warfare, the rarity of surviving siege ramps is surprising.
Garfinkel explained that the problem may lie partly in what happened after a city was conquered.
Lachish was destroyed in 701 BCE.
But it was subsequently rebuilt.
The new inhabitants had little reason to preserve an enemy's siege ramp intact.
A surviving ramp could provide future attackers with a ready-made approach to the walls.
Removing or reshaping it would therefore make defensive sense.
Garfinkel suggests that much of the original ramp at Lachish was dismantled during later rebuilding.
What archaeologists discovered was not a perfectly preserved slope leading directly to the city wall.
It was a large accumulation of stones that required careful interpretation.
Other Assyrian ramps may have suffered similar fates.
They may have been dismantled, buried, reused, or obscured by later construction.
Some may remain unidentified at sites already excavated.
The absence of additional confirmed examples does not necessarily mean the Assyrians rarely used siege ramps.
It may instead reflect the difficulty of recognizing and preserving these structures archaeologically.
Conclusion: Reconstructing One of Antiquity's Greatest Sieges
The Assyrian siege of Lachish is one of the best-documented military confrontations of the ancient Near East.
We possess the remains of the city.
We have the Assyrian siege ramp.
We have battlefield objects.
We have the famous palace reliefs depicting the assault.
And we have biblical texts that describe the Assyrian campaign against Judah.
Together, these sources allow archaeologists to investigate not only what happened, but how it may have happened.
Professor Yosef Garfinkel's reconstruction offers a striking possibility.
By organizing a large workforce, quarrying stones close to the ramp, moving them through human chains, and maintaining continuous construction, the Assyrians may have been able to complete their siege ramp in approximately twenty days.
The model remains open to testing.
But it provides a compelling explanation for how an ancient empire could mobilize its resources to overcome one of Judah's strongest fortified cities.
The siege of Lachish was more than a military victory.
It was a demonstration of Assyrian engineering, organization, and imperial power.
And more than 2,700 years later, its remains still allow us to reconstruct the extraordinary effort required to conquer a city in the ancient world.
The Assyrian Siege of Lachish: Frequently Asked Questions
1. What was the Assyrian siege of Lachish?
The siege of Lachish was an Assyrian military assault on the fortified Judahite city in 701 BCE, during King Sennacherib's campaign in the Levant.
2. Who conquered Lachish in 701 BCE?
The Neo-Assyrian king Sennacherib conquered Lachish during his campaign against rebellious kingdoms and cities, including the Kingdom of Judah.
3. Why did Sennacherib attack Judah?
Judah and other Levantine kingdoms challenged Assyrian authority and stopped paying tribute. Sennacherib's campaign sought to reassert imperial control.
4. Who was king of Judah during the siege?
Hezekiah was king of Judah during Sennacherib's campaign in 701 BCE.
5. Why was Lachish important?
Lachish was a major fortified city in the Shephelah, an economically important agricultural region of Judah. Garfinkel describes it as the kingdom's second most important city.
6. Where is ancient Lachish located?
Ancient Lachish is identified with Tel Lachish, also known as Tell ed-Duweir, in the Shephelah region of modern Israel.
7. What is the Assyrian siege ramp at Lachish?
It is a massive stone structure constructed outside the city to allow Assyrian siege engines to approach the fortifications. Its remains were identified and excavated at Tel Lachish.
8. How old is the Lachish siege ramp?
The ramp dates to Sennacherib's campaign in 701 BCE, making it more than 2,700 years old.
9. How many stones were used to build the siege ramp?
Garfinkel and his colleagues estimate that approximately three million stones were required.
10. How much did the stones weigh?
A sample of roughly 200 stones indicated an average weight of approximately six to seven kilograms per stone.
11. How long did it take the Assyrians to build the ramp?
Garfinkel proposes that construction could have been completed in approximately twenty days. This is an engineering reconstruction, not a directly documented construction duration.
12. How did the Assyrians transport the stones?
Garfinkel suggests that workers may have formed human chains, passing stones from person to person between a nearby quarry and the ramp.
13. Why did the Assyrians build the ramp from stone?
The use of relatively small stones may have made transportation easier and allowed workers to move material without baskets. The local availability of stone was also important.
14. How tall was the city of Lachish?
The fortified mound rose approximately 20–30 meters above the surrounding plain, creating a substantial obstacle for attacking siege engines.
15. What were Assyrian battering rams?
Assyrian battering rams were heavy wooden beams, often reinforced with metal, mounted inside siege engines and repeatedly swung against city walls to create breaches.
16. What are the Lachish reliefs?
The Lachish reliefs are carved stone panels from Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh depicting the Assyrian conquest of Lachish. They are now in the British Museum.
17. What does Isaiah 37:33 say about Assyrian siege warfare?
The verse declares that the Assyrian king will not shoot an arrow, advance with a shield, or build a siege ramp against Jerusalem. Garfinkel connects this language with the military methods used at Lachish.
18. How did the defenders of Lachish resist the siege?
The defenders constructed a counter-ramp inside the city to reinforce the fortifications against Assyrian battering rams.
19. What was the iron chain discovered at Lachish used for?
Its purpose is debated. One interpretation associates it with the defenders' attempts to damage siege engines. Garfinkel proposes that it belonged to the suspension mechanism of an Assyrian battering ram.
20. Why haven't archaeologists found other Assyrian siege ramps?
Garfinkel suggests that ramps may have been dismantled during rebuilding, reused as construction material, or obscured by later activity. Other examples may remain unidentified.
21. How does the Lachish siege ramp compare with Masada?
Both ramps allowed attacking armies to overcome steep terrain. The Assyrians used stones at Lachish, while the Roman ramp at Masada was constructed largely from local earth and sediment.
22. Who discovered the Assyrian siege ramp at Lachish?
Yigael Yadin recognized the possibility that a large stone accumulation represented the siege ramp. David Ussishkin subsequently excavated the area and confirmed its identification.
23. What happened to Lachish after the Assyrian conquest?
The Assyrians destroyed the Iron Age city associated with Level III. Lachish was subsequently rebuilt and later experienced another major destruction during the Babylonian period.
24. Is the siege of Lachish mentioned in the Bible?
Yes. The Assyrian campaign against Judah and the presence of Sennacherib's forces at Lachish appear in passages including 2 Kings 18, Isaiah 36, and 2 Chronicles 32.
25. Can visitors see the Lachish siege ramp today?
The archaeological site of Tel Lachish preserves the remains of the siege area. Visitors should check current site access and visitor information before planning a visit.
