Talk:Assyrian siege of Jerusalem

Disease?
Didn't they find that the claimed Assyrian deaths DID co-inside with disease that ravaged the Assyrian army outside Jerusalem? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.226.179.202 (talk • contribs)
 * I would find that very likely, given the blocking of the springs. But I don't know of any archeological evidence supporting the theory yet.  I've added a section on William McNeill's essay in What If? to the article, which covers the disease theory.  Kasreyn 19:25, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Herodotus
Article states that Herodotus based his account on the Tanakh. How is this possible — did Herodotus know Hebrew? He was born two centuries before the Septuagint was translated. Nyttend 15:35, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
 * Ah, but he traveled around the Mediterranean and Black Seas, and so he was likely in contact with people who knew Hebrew. He could reasonably have picked up Jewish stories from Jews. 204.52.215.134 (talk) 04:23, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

Added
I have added the Coords for Jerusalem. (MrNiceGuy1113 (talk) 05:25, 20 August 2012 (UTC))

A gas vent?
Another explanation that has been put forth relies on the fact that Jerusalem is "a city set on a hill" and proposes that a vent of some suffocating gas was released in the valley below the city, where the besieging army was encamped. Any epidemic disease would appear and then build over a period of days at least, while the Hebrew account insists that the destruction was the work of a night. Sennacherib and his immediate household presumably survived because the royal pavilion was pitched on an eminence overlooking the army camp. Some forty years ago such a vent destroyed all human and animal life around a lake in western Africa. J S Ayer (talk) 02:04, 2 November 2016 (UTC)

Consensus towards removal of the maintenance tag for more citations?
Thank you to whoever placed the maintenance tag requesting additional citations. At present, the article has gathered and cited

-primary source accounts from the Hebrew side of the conflict (2 Kings, from the Tanakh) -primary source accounts from the Assyrian side of the conflict (Sennacherib's prism) -and two photographic images: one of a tunnel on location from the actual conflict. Another of the prism recording the account, and dated to within 50 years (possibly much less) of the conflict.

Would that all the articles on wikipedia had such rich documentation!

(in addition there are some secondary sources cited, which are of less value, though interesting (Josephus and Herodotus))

If there is consensus, I move that the maintenance tag can now be removed. That is not to say all mystery about this event has been removed. People may believe what they want. But multiple independent primary source accounts have been supplied, from opposite sides of the conflict. You could not ask for much more. People must reach their own conclusions. The article helpfully provides the most important strands of data available.

Good work everyone! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bobwiley22 (talk • contribs) 12:08, 21 September 2017 (UTC)
 * The article needs scholarly secondary sources - not primary source interpretations by Wiki editors. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.111.25.11 (talk) 20:30, 21 November 2022 (UTC)