Smith's Bible Dictionary (1863)
The present article is confined to the forcible deportation of the Jew; from their native land, and their forcible detention, under the Assyrian or Babylonian kings. —The kingdom of Israel was invaded by three or four successive kings of Assyria. ) upon Menahem. C. 740) the trans-Jordanic tribes, (1 Chronicles 5:26) and the inhabitants of Galilee, (2 Kings 15:29) comp. Isai 9:1 To Assyria. C. 721) after a siege of three years, and carried Israel away into Assyria. This was the end of the kingdom of the ten tribes of Israel.
C. 713) is stated to have carried into Assyria 200,000 captives from the Jewish cities which he took. C. 606-562), repeatedly invaded Judea, besieged Jerusalem, carried away the inhabitants to Babylon, and destroyed the temple. C. 606. C. 598, when that prophet, like Mordecai the uncle of Esther (Esther 2:6) accompanied Jehoiachin. The captives were treated not as slaves but as colonists. C. 445). Those who were left in Assyria, (Esther 8:9,11) and kept up their national distinctions, were known as The Dispersion.
—Many attempts have been made to discover the ten tribes existing as a distinct community; but though history bears no witness of the present distinct existence, it enables us to track the footsteps of the departing race in four directions after the time of the Captivity.