Tartan

Tartan is named in the UPDV as an Assyrian commander acting on behalf of two successive kings of Assyria.

Sent by Sennacherib to Jerusalem

In the campaign against Hezekiah, the king of Assyria dispatches three high officers from Lachish: "And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rab-saris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a great army to Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they had come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller's field" (2 Ki 18:17). Tartan stands at the head of the trio, leading the embassy that takes up its position outside the city walls.

Sent by Sargon against Ashdod

A separate Assyrian operation places Tartan at the siege of a Philistine city: "In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and took it" (Isa 20:1). Sargon dispatches him; Tartan fights and takes Ashdod, and the date of his arrival anchors a prophecy delivered through Isaiah.