Sanhedrin, fol. 95, col. 2.
In the immediate context of the above extract we have the following legend concerning Sennacherib:—As Rabbi Abhu has said, "Were it not for this Scripture text it would be impossible to repeat what is written (Isa. vii. 20), 'In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the feet; and it shall also consume the beard.'" The story is this:—The Holy One—blessed be He!—once disguised Himself as an elderly man and came to Sennacherib, and said, "When thou comest to the kings of the East and of the West, to force their sons into thine army, what wilt thou say unto them?" He replied, "On that very account I am in fear. What shall I do?" God answered him, "Go and disguise thyself." "How can I disguise myself?" said he. God replied, "Go and fetch me a pair of scissors and I will cut thy hair." Sennacherib asked, "Whence shall I fetch them?" "Go to yonder house and bring them." He went accordingly and observed a pair, but there he met the ministering angels disguised as men, grinding date-stones. He asked them for the scissors, but they said "Grind thou first a measure of date-stones, and then thou shalt have the scissors." He did as he was told, and so obtained the scissors. It was dark before he returned, and God said unto him, "Go and fetch some fire." This also he did, but while blowing the embers his beard was singed. Upon which God came and shaved his head and his beard, and said, "This is it which is written (Isa. vii. 20), 'It shall also consume the beard.'" Rav Pappa says this is the proverb current among the people, "Singe the face of a Syrian, and, if it pleases him, also set his beard in fire, and thou wilt not be able to laugh enough."
Sanhedrin, fol. 95, col. 2, and fol. 96, col. 1.
"He hath cut off in His fierce anger all the horn of Israel," etc. (Lam. ii. 3). These are the eighty thousand war-horns or battering-rams that entered the city of Byther, in which he massacred so many men, women, and children, that their blood ran like a river and flowed into the Mediterranean Sea, which was a mile away from the place.
Gittin, fol. 57, col. 1.
That mule had a label attached to his neck on which it was stated that its breeding cost a hundred thousand zouzim.
Bechoroth, fol. 8, col. 2.
Rabbi Yossi said, "I have seen Sepphoris (Cyprus) in the days of its prosperity, and there were in it a hundred and eighty thousand marts for sauces."
Bava Bathra, fol. 75, col. 2.
Rav Assi said three hundred thousand swordsmen went up to the Royal Mount and there slaughtered the people for three days and three nights, and yet while on the one side of the mount they were mourning, on the other they were merry; those on the one side did not know the affairs of those on the other.