Leo Caesius
Banned
It's not for your sake, Hezekiah...
Call me old-fashioned, but I'd very very much like to see a movie detailing the Assyrian conquest of Israel and siege of Jerusalem, using details from the book of Kings. My memory is a bit fuzzy, but when I was studying epigraphy, the Lachish letters gave me chills... in the last letter, the unit commander is bitching about conditions, when he says "I'm waiting for the signal lights from Azekah, but for some reason they haven't come" (think of the scene with the signal fires from The Return of the King). Darkness had just permanently descended upon Azekah - and Lachish was next.
When we next see the Assyrian army, they are camped outside of Jerusalem, and their tents stretch all the way to the horizon. All the people of Judah are gathered into the city walls and camped on the top of the city wall, waiting to see what will happen next; the Rab Shaqeh (Assyrian Prime Minister) calls out and summons King Hezekiah. When Hezekiah appears, the Rab Shaqeh starts shouting about the destruction the Assyrians are going to cause, in Hebrew.
Hezekiah says "Relax, Rab Shaqeh - you don't need to speak our local patois. I'm educated, so go ahead and speak Aramaic," which was the official language of the Assyrian Empire at the time.
The Rab Shaqeh's response? "I'm not saying this for your benefit - Hezekiah - I'm saying it for the sake of those people hanging off the walls, who will soon be drinking their own urine and eating their own waste!" Get ready for the siege!
Little does he know, but Hezekiah had all the water he needed; he commanded his engineers to hew a tunnel into the bedrock, which went under the countryside all the way to a spring in the small village of Silwan - one of the greatest feats of engineering in the ancient world. The Judeans were prepared to wait out a very long siege.
I don't mean to spoil the ending, but a mysterious plague affects the Assyrian camp, and the Judeans awake to find the fields around the city deserted. Pure cinematic gold! Perhaps we could get Mel Gibson to play the Rab Shaqeh. Patrick McGoughan could be Hezekiah.
Call me old-fashioned, but I'd very very much like to see a movie detailing the Assyrian conquest of Israel and siege of Jerusalem, using details from the book of Kings. My memory is a bit fuzzy, but when I was studying epigraphy, the Lachish letters gave me chills... in the last letter, the unit commander is bitching about conditions, when he says "I'm waiting for the signal lights from Azekah, but for some reason they haven't come" (think of the scene with the signal fires from The Return of the King). Darkness had just permanently descended upon Azekah - and Lachish was next.
When we next see the Assyrian army, they are camped outside of Jerusalem, and their tents stretch all the way to the horizon. All the people of Judah are gathered into the city walls and camped on the top of the city wall, waiting to see what will happen next; the Rab Shaqeh (Assyrian Prime Minister) calls out and summons King Hezekiah. When Hezekiah appears, the Rab Shaqeh starts shouting about the destruction the Assyrians are going to cause, in Hebrew.
Hezekiah says "Relax, Rab Shaqeh - you don't need to speak our local patois. I'm educated, so go ahead and speak Aramaic," which was the official language of the Assyrian Empire at the time.
The Rab Shaqeh's response? "I'm not saying this for your benefit - Hezekiah - I'm saying it for the sake of those people hanging off the walls, who will soon be drinking their own urine and eating their own waste!" Get ready for the siege!
Little does he know, but Hezekiah had all the water he needed; he commanded his engineers to hew a tunnel into the bedrock, which went under the countryside all the way to a spring in the small village of Silwan - one of the greatest feats of engineering in the ancient world. The Judeans were prepared to wait out a very long siege.
I don't mean to spoil the ending, but a mysterious plague affects the Assyrian camp, and the Judeans awake to find the fields around the city deserted. Pure cinematic gold! Perhaps we could get Mel Gibson to play the Rab Shaqeh. Patrick McGoughan could be Hezekiah.
