The Final Destruction of Beth Shemesh and thePax Assyriacain the Judean Shephelah

Judah and Philistia suffered different fates following Sennacherib's campaign in 701 BCE. While the Philistine coast and hinterland flourished under Assyrian rule, the Shephela of Judah was devastated and depopulated. New data unearthed at the renewed excavations at Tel Beth Shemesh illuminate the fate of the Shephelah of Judah during the 7th century BCE—the era of the pax Assyriaca in the Levant.