Bible Synapse
Esarhaddon’s Nineveh prism
Inscription · 673–672 BC · Assyria and Babylon · also called Esarhaddon Prism, Nineveh A prism of Esarhaddon, Prism of Esarhaddon naming Manasseh
See it on the map and timeline- Date
- 673–672 BC (the writing of the prisms)
- Found
- Nineveh, Iraq, 1927. The best-preserved copy (BM 121005) was found at Nineveh by Reginald Campbell Thompson’s excavations in the 1927–28 season. Many other copies and fragments are known, from Nineveh, Ashur and Susa.
- Now
- British Museum, London (BM 121005 (best copy))
- Passages
- 2 Kings 19:37, 2 Kings 21:1, 2 Chronicles 33:11
What it is
Six-sided clay prisms written in 673 and 672 BC, recording the campaigns of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, and his building of a new armoury at Nineveh. For the work he summoned 22 kings of the west and of Cyprus and made them haul cedar and cypress beams from Lebanon, stone bull colossi and paving slabs to Nineveh. The list opens with Ba’alu, king of Tyre, and Manasseh, king of Judah, and goes on to the kings of Edom, Moab, Gaza, Ashkelon, Ekron, Byblos, Arvad, Samsimuruna, Ammon and Ashdod and ten kings of Cyprus.
How it connects to the Bible
2 Kings 21 tells of the long reign of Manasseh, son of Hezekiah, and 2 Kings 19:37 names Esarhaddon as Sennacherib’s successor: “Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.” The prism shows Manasseh as one of Assyria’s vassal kings, supplying materials for the Assyrian king’s buildings. 2 Chronicles 33:11 tells of Manasseh being taken in fetters by Assyrian commanders; the prisms do not mention this.