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Son of Sennacherib and grandson of Sargon. He succeeded Sennacherib as king of Assyria. He united Babylonia to Assyria without reducing it to a mere province, and resided at Nineveh and sometimes at Babylon. This will account for the captain of the Assyrians carrying Manasseh to Babylon. It was this king who sent foreigners to colonise Samaria. 2 Kings 19: 37; Ezra 4: 2; Isa. 37:
38. From the records on the monuments he appears to have been one
of the most powerful of the Assyrian kings. He calls himself "the great king, the powerful king, the king of legions, the just, the
terrible who reigned from the rising of the sun to the setting of
the sun." He says, "I counted among the vassals of my realm twelve kings of Syria, beyond the mountains: Balon, or Baal, king of Tyre; Manasseh, king of Judah," etc. About B.C. 671 he conquered Egypt, took Memphis, and captured two of the king's sons. He divided Egypt into twenty provinces, placing some of them under native princes, and others under Assyrian governors with Assyrian troops. He reigned from B.C. 681 to 668.