WI: The Assyrians take Jerusalem 701 BCE

Perhaps an earlier Babylonian Exile? Maybe a Captivity in Nineveh, and then Nebuchadnezzar becomes the TTL Cyrus the Great to the Jews, for freeing them? (that would be quite the twist:D)

Then again, this is Sennecharib and the Assyrians, who practically invented the status update, just so they could put news of all their conquests on walls from the Levant to the Gulf!

He could just as easily massacre the Jews, or convert them forcibly to paganism, and all of Israel and Judah could wind up as Samaria IOTL.

No Judaism, no Christianity, No Islam:eek:

Perhaps Zoroastrianism becomes THE monotheistic faith; or maybe Jesus still does show up, but TTL Christianity becomes OTL Manichaeism?

Besides the religious implications, a destruction of Judah now, could mean that the Egyptians show up in time to save the Assyrians asses later on, which could mean an aborted Persian and Neo-Babylonian Empire, perhaps with a weakened Assyrian empire, and a revived New Kingdom Egypt. Maybe even Croesus and the Lydian come out on top, conquering a senile Assyria in the 6th century?
 
There was a Jewish colony at in southern Egypt. I don't know if it was there at the time of Sennacherib. But unless Sennacherib conquers all of Egypt, the Jews will have a base to make a comeback. I agree that this restored Judaism would be more henotheistic , like the Falashas of Ethiopia.
 
I am having visions of sugar plums and Ashur-uballit II being forced west to make Jerusalem his new capital and managing to build a Syrian Assyrian Kingdom. The Temple of Yahweh becoming the grandest Temple of Ashur.
 
If Sennacherib takes Jerusalen and does not lose 185k men, i think, besides whats going to happen with jews, it will accelerate in some measure the Assyrian expansion. I imagine Sennacherib taking Urartu and Egypt early, instead waiting for Essarhaddon to do it, and later, butterflying the civil wars or crushing the revolts that ended with the Assyrian Empire.

Remember that Sennacherib beated the Greeks in Cilicia. With more men at his disposal well... he would want to get the Greeks under his control.
That 185,000 figure is almost certainly inflated; classical historians always exaggerated the number of their foes and the extent of their victories. Remember, Sennacherib's account depicts the campaign as a glorious victory, glossing over the whole "not taking Jerusalem" part and emphasizing the destruction of the rest of the cities.
 
If that happens, no Christianity and Islam, because the two main religions were an offshoot of Judaism..
(Hmmm, how about the Samaritans...)
 
Even if we assume that the Assyrians can actually wipe out Judaism (which not everyone here seems to agree with), that doesn't mean monotheism is also wiped out. Monotheism is featured in Atenism (which has already come and gone), Zoroastrianism, and Platonic thought.

I'm wondering the most about Zoroastrianism right now. That religion had more influence on Judaism (and through it, Christianity and Islam) than a lot of people would like to admit. And we don't know how much inspiration it took from Judaism.

And even without Christianity and Islam per sey, we can still have similar faiths with their roots in Zoroastrianism or Neo-Platonism. Not that monotheism is fated to be ascendant.
 
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