LACHISH  . a

town of great importance in S . Palestine, often mentioned in the Tell el-Amarna tablets . It was destroyed by Joshua for joining the league against the Gibeonites (Joshua x 31-33) and assigned to the tribe of Judah (xv . 39) . Rehoboam fortified it (2 Chron. xi . 9) . King Amaziah having fled hither, was here murdered by conspirators (2 Kings xiv . 19) . Sennacherib here conducted a campaign (2 Kings xviii . 13) during which Hezekiah endeavoured to make terms with him: the campaign is commemorated by bas-reliefs found in Nineveh, now in the British Museum (see G . Smith's History of Sennacherib, p . 69) .

It was one of the last cities that resisted Nebuchadnezzar (Jer. xxxiv . 7) . The meaning of

Micah's denunciation (i . 13) of the city is unknown . The Onomasticon places it 7 M. from Eleutheropolis on the S. road, which agrees with the generally received identification, Tell el-Hesi, an important mound excavated for the Palestine Exploration Fund by Petrie and Bliss, 189o-1893 . The name is preserved in a small Roman site in the neighbourhood, Umm Lakis, which probably represents a later dwelling-place of the descendants of the ancient inhabitants of the city . See W . M . Flinders Petrie, Tell el-Hesy, and F . J . Bliss, A Mound of many Cities, both published by the Palestine Exploration Fund . (R A .