AbstractIn spite of the important information contained in the various accounts of Sennacherib's third campaign and the reliefs of his conquest of Lachish, their absence would have little effect upon the recreation of the events of the reign of Hezekiah by historians of Judah. The results of excavations at Tell ed-Duweir/ Lachish and Tel Miqne/Ekron suggest that sometime in the last decades of the eighth century or in the opening decades of the seventh century bce, there was an Assyrian military presence in the Judean shephelah and a ceding of control over the olive yield in the shephelah and highlands of Judah to the Philistines to fuel a newly established regional olive oil industry. When information about the kings who ruled Judah in the period in question is considered, Hezekiah remains the most logical candidate under whom the ceding of territorial control, which would have required Assyrian consent and agency, can be plausibly posited. The main outlines of the history of the period can nevertheless be posited; only the specific nature of the interregional conflict between Judah and Philistia and the specific Assyrian resolution of the conflict cannot be established.
