Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

Esarhaddon, son of Sennacherib, ruled the Assyrian Empire from 681 BC to 669 BC. His greatest achievement was the conquest of Egypt, and I would like to know exactly what year that happened?

Also, he re-settled significant numbers of foreign people in Samaria. (This is mentioned in Ezra 4:2)

They approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers' houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here.”

I presume this action would have happened about the same time as his Egyptian campaign, but an accurate date would be appreciated.

Dan'el Kahn in Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur, 0Bd. 34 (2006), pp. 251-267, says that after a defeat in 673 B.C.E., Esarhaddon came back in 671 and conquered at least northern Egypt in three pitched battles. Some parts of the country resisted Assyrian suzeraignty, however.