[VadeRetro]

On top of all that, the Assyrians were basically ruthless and when they enslaved some group of people, tended to spread them around so that they lost their identity and did not retain the cohesion to foment rebellions. That would have the missing Israelites speaking lots of new languages and not just one, if that were the case.

More good points. The whole idea was to assimilate the conquered, not send them off on a funny new career.

[#3Fan]

More good points.

More good points? LOL You've been saying all along that Hebrew would've been preserved and then nanrod said Hebrew would not have been preserved in captivity and you say "good point"? You can't remember what you're saying.

The whole idea was to assimilate the conquered, not send them off on a funny new career.

So you think it was some kind of desegregated busing? LOL Put an Israelite house between two Assyrian houses? You're funny.

[Mare Tranquilitatus]

The whole idea was to assimilate the conquered, not send them off on a funny new career.

No, I don't think so. The whole idea was to place the Northern Israelite Kingdom INTACT on the Assyrian borders between the Medes and the Persians. This was so they would act as a buffer state between them and allow the Assyrians to deploy their troops in "productive warfare" rather than domestic peackeeping.

Later on, when Assyria moved too many troops to the west in order to conquer Egypt, the Israelites joined with the Medes and Persians and attacked Assyria, and their whole empire fell apart.