In 701 B.C.E., after capturing 46 cities in Judah, Sennacherib implemented a uni-directional deportation of thousands of Judahites to Assyria. By that time, the waves of earlier immigrants were beginning to have a noticeable effect on Assyrian society. Personal names with likely Israelite roots were mentioned in Assyrian annals, and even Sennacherib’s ambassador, the Rabshakeh (see “The Rabshakeh Comes to Jerusalem”;), was very possibly an Israelite himself.