Walls, temples, and palaces were razed, and the rubble was thrown into the Arakhtu

In 689 BC, its walls, temples, and palaces were razed, and the rubble was thrown into the Arakhtu, the sea bordering the earlier Babylon on the south. Destruction of the religious center shocked many, and the subsequent murder of Sennacherib by two of his own sons while praying to the god Nisroch was considered an act of atonement.