The 'ten lost tribes' concept refers to tribes that disappeared after which historical event?

• A. Roman exile
• B. Assyrian conquest
• C. Babylonian exile
• D. Egyptian exile

Answer: (B)

The main idea is that the disappearance of the ten tribes comes from the Assyrian conquest of the northern Kingdom of Israel around 722 BCE. After the conquest, many Israelites were deported to distant parts of the Assyrian Empire and others from different lands were settled in their territory. This mix and displacement broke the tribes’ distinct identities, so they largely vanish from historical records, leading to the idea of the “ten lost tribes.” The other events happened in different contexts: the Babylonian exile affected the southern kingdom of Judah, the Roman diaspora occurred centuries later, and the Egyptian exile isn’t the historical event tied to these tribes.