The annals are notable for describing Sennacherib's siege of Jerusalem during the reign of king Hezekiah.

This event is recorded in several books contained in the Bible including Isaiah 36 and 37; 2 Kings 18:17; and 2 Chronicles 32:9.

Although the prism remained in Ottoman Iraq until 1846, in 1835 a paper squeeze was made by the 25-year-old Henry Rawlinson, and a plaster cast was taken by Pierre-Victorien Lottin in c.1845.

[3] The original was later thought to have been lost, until it was purchased from Colonel Taylor's widow in 1855 by the British Museum.

The Hebrew Bible recounts a successful Assyrian attack on Israel-Samaria, as a result of which the population was deported, and later recounts that an attack on Lachish was ended by Hezekiah suing for peace, with Sennacherib demanding 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold.

[10] Compared to this, the Taylor Prism proclaims that 46 walled cities and innumerable smaller settlements were conquered by the Assyrians, with 200,150 people, and livestock, being deported.