The "Black Obelisk" of Shalmaneser III (reigned 858-824 BC) is a black limestone Neo-Assyrian bas-relief sculpture from Nimrud (ancient Kalhu), in northern Iraq. Height: 197.85 cm. Width: 45.08 cm. Currently displayed in the British Museum. Shalmaneser III (Šulmānu-ašarēdu, the god Shulmanu is pre-eminent) was king of Assyria (858 BC - 823 BC), and son of the previous ruler, Ashurnasirpal II. His long reign was a constant series of campaigns against the eastern tribes, the Babylonians, the nations of Mesopotamia and Syria... Limey shale overlaid by limestone. ... Bas relief is a method of sculpting which entails carving or etching away the surface of a flat piece of stone or metal. ... Ancient Greeks depiction of ideal form of the body is expressed through sculpture such as this one. ... Nimrud is a ancient Assyrian city located south of Nineveh on the river Tigris. ... The main entrance to the British Museum The British Museum is one of the worlds largest and most important museums of ancient history. ...

It is the most complete Assyrian obelisk yet discovered, and is historically significant because it displays the earliest ancient depiction of an Israelite. The Luxor obelisk in the Place de la Concorde in Paris An obelisk is a tall, thin, four-sided, tapering monument which ends in a pyramidal top. ...

It was erected as a public monument in 825 BCE at a time of civil war. It was discovered by archaeologist Sir Henry Layard in 1846.

The obelisk features twenty reliefs, five on each side. They depict five different subdued kings, bringing tribute and prostrating before the Assyrian king. From top to bottom they are: (1) Sua of Gilzanu (in north-west Iran), (2) Jehu of Bit Omri (ancient northern Israel), (3) an unnamed ruler of Musri (probably Egypt), (4) Marduk-apil-usur of Suhi (middle Euphrates, Syria and Iraq), and (5) Qalparunda of Patin (Antakya region of Turkey). Each scene occupies four panels around the monument and is described by a cuneiform script above them. Cuneiform (from the Latin word for wedge-shaped) can refer to: an ancient writing system originating in Mesopotamia in the 4th millennium BC three bones in the human foot a record label, Cuneiform Records. ...

The second register from the top includes the earliest surviving picture of an Israelite: the Biblical Jehu, king of Israel. It describes how Jehu brought or sent his tribute in or around 841 BCE. Jehu (יְהוּא The LORD is he, Standard Hebrew Yəhu, Tiberian Hebrew Yəhû) was king of Israel, and the son of Jehoshaphat (2 Kings 9:2), and grandson of Nimshi. ...

Jehu severed Israel’s alliances with Phoenicia and Judah, and became subject to Assyria. The caption above the scene, written in Assyrian cuneiform, can be translated: Phoenicia was an ancient civilization in the north of ancient Canaan, with its heartland along the coastal plain of what is now Lebanon and Syria. ... Judah (יְהוּדָה Praise, Standard Hebrew YÉ™huda, Tiberian Hebrew YÉ™hûḏāh) is the name of several Biblical and historical figures. ... Assyria in earliest historical times referred to a region on the Upper Tigris river, named for its original capital, the city of Asshur (or Ashshur). ... Cuneiform (from the Latin word for wedge-shaped) can refer to: an ancient writing system originating in Mesopotamia in the 4th millennium BC three bones in the human foot a record label, Cuneiform Records. ...

“The tribute of Jehu, son of Omri: I received from him silver, gold, a golden bowl, a golden vase with pointed bottom, golden tumblers, golden buckets, tin, a staff for a king [and] spears."

On the top and the bottom of the reliefs there is a long cuneiform inscription recording the annals of Shalmaneser III. It lists the military campaigns which the king and his commander-in-chief headed every year, until the thirty-first year of reign. Some features might suggest that the work had been commissioned by the commander-in-chief, Dayyan-Assur.

External link

• The finding of the Black Obelisk