Senir (Hastings' Dictionary)

The Amorite name of Mt. Ilermon (Dt 3"), and one of the few Amorite words preserved in the Bible. In 1 Ch 5^, Ca 4', Senir is apparently distinguished from Mt. Hermon, and probably desiOTated a particular part of the Hermon range (so Briver, Buhl). In Ezelviel's lamentation for Tyre (27°) the builders are said to have made planks of the ' fir trees of Senir,' and in 1 Chronicles .Senir is given as one of the limits to which the children of Manasseh over- flowed from Bashan.

In an inscription of Shal- maneser, Hazael of Damascus is said to have made Mt. Sanir, the top of the mountain opposite Lebanon, into a fortress (Schrader, KAT' 210). The Arab geo^aphers, as late as the 14th cent., also called Anti- Lebanon JcJ>d Santr, and attached the name more particularly to that portion of the range near Damascus and between Baalbek and Hums. Tliere was al.so a district of Sanir in which Baalbek was situated (Guy le Strange, Pal. under the Moslems, 32, 78, 79, 295-298).

See, further, art. Hermon. C. W. Wilson. SENNACHERIB (annjci, ttwaxvpfll^, Assyr. Sjn- akhi-erba, ' the Moon-god has increased the breth- ren,' from which we may infer that he wa.s not the eldest son of his father, Sargon). — Sennacherib succeeded Sargon on the 12th of Ab, B.C. 705. His first campaign was against Babylonia, where Merodach-baladan (or another prince of tlie same name ) had reappeared. (See, however, Merodach- BALADAN).

After a reign of six months the latter was forced to lly for his life. Sennacherib made a certain Bel-ibni king of Babylon, and then turned against the Kassi or Kossieans in the western mountains of Elam. After this he swept Ellipi, north of Elam, with fire and sword. In B.C. 701 came the campaign against Pale.stine, which had rebelled after Sargon's death.

Lulia (EUikeus), king of Tyre, Hed to Cyprus, and Sidon and other Phuinician cities were saiked by the Assyrians, Ethbaal being appointed king of the country. Ashdod, Amnion, Aloab, and Edom now Bent tribute, Judah with the dependent Philistine cities of Ashkelon and Ekron alone holding out. Ashkelon and Ekron were captured, and Hezekiah was compelled to restore to the throne of the latter city the anti-Jewish prince Padi, who had been imjirisoned in Jerusalem.

The Egyptians, now ruled by the Ethiopian Tirhakah, came to the help of Hezekiah, but they were defeated at Eltekeh and driven back. Sen. thereupon swept the country of Judah, capturing 46 fortresses and carrj-ing into exile 200,150 person.s. While he was besieging Lachish, Hezekiah sent rich presents to him, in the vain hope of buying oft' his attack.

The presents consisted of 30 talents of gold, 800 talents of silver, precious stones, couches and seats inlaid with ivory, girls and eunuchs, male and female musicians (?) But all was of no avaU: Lachish was taken and plundered, and the Rab- shakeh or Vizier sent a letter to Hezekiah de- manding the surrender of his city (2 K 19' ff.) Then came the catastrophe, which obliged Sen. to leave Judah without punishing his rebellious vassal, and over which he draws a veil of silence in his annals.

The events and the date of this campaign are fully discussed by FrASek in a series of articles in the Expos. Times, xii., xiii. (1901-2). Prdsek contends that there were two campaigns of Sennacherib to the West and against Judah. The following year he again entered Babylonia, of which he maae his son Assur-nadin-sum king, and drove Merodach-baladan out of the marshes.

A few years later he had a Heet of ships built on the Euphrates, at Til-Barsip near Birejik, which he manned with lonians and Phoenicians. They then sailed across the Persian Gulf to the moutn of the Euheus, where the followers of Merodach- baladan had taken refuge, and burnt and plun- dered the Chald:i;an colony. In return for this Assur-nadin-sum was carried off to Elam, and the Elaraites made Nergal-yusezib king in his place (B.C. 694).

The usurper was defeated and captured by the Assyrians, but with little result, since the Elamites remained all-powerful in Babylonia for a time. In B.C. 691, however. Sen. again marched into the country. At the battle of KhalulS the Bab. and Elamite forces were obliged to retreat after a hard-fought day, but two years more were required before Babylonia could be finally sub- dued. Sen.

had already attempted to invade Elam, but the winter had set in before he began his march, and the snow obliged him to return. At last, in B.C. 689, Babylon was taken and razed to the ground, and the canal Arakhtu, which flowed by it, was choked with its ruins. On the 20th of Tebet, B.C. 681, Sen. wasmnrdered by his two sons (2 K 19^). The deed seems to have been prom])ted by jealousy of their brother Esarhaddon, who was at the time conducting a campaign against Ararat.

For 42 days the con- spirators held Nineveh ; then they were compelled to Hy to the king of Ararat and seek his aid against their brother. (The subject of the assas- sination of Sennacherib, and esp. the question whether this was the work of one or of two of his sons, is treated in art. Sharezer, No. 1). Sen. was vain and boastful, with none of the military skill and endurance which distinguished his father. He built the palace of Kouyunjik at Nineveh, 1500 ft. long by 700 ft.

broad, and restored a second palace on the mound of Nebi- yunus. He constructed brick embankments along the sides of the Tigris, and repaired the ancient aqueducts which had gone to decay. To him also Avas due the great wall of Nineveh, 8 miles ia circumference. A. H. Sayce.