View source for Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III

{{Short description|Neo-Assyrian limestone sculpture}}
{{Redirect|Black Obelisk|the band|Black Obelisk (band)|the novel|The Black Obelisk}}
{{Infobox artifact
| name          = Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III
| image         = [[File:The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III, 9th century BC, from Nimrud, Iraq. The British Museum.jpg|200px]]
| image_caption = Black Obelisk of [[Shalmaneser III]] in the British Museum. The [[White Obelisk of Ashurnasirpal I]] is located next to it
| material      = black [[limestone]]
| size          = c. 1.98 metres high, 45 cm wide
| discovered_coords = {{coord|36|05|53|N|43|19|44|E|display=inline,title}}
| map            = 
{{Location map
| Near East
| width      = 280px
| float      = center
| relief     = yes
| caption = Location of discovery
| label      = [[Nimrud]]
| lat_deg    = 36.098056
| lon_deg    = 43.328889
}}
| writing       = [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]]
| created       = 827–824 BC
| discovered_place = [[Nimrud]], [[Ottoman Iraq]]
| location      = [[British Museum]], [[London]]
| id            = 
| registration = ME 118885
}}

The '''Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III''' is a black [[limestone]] [[Assyrian sculpture|Neo-Assyrian sculpture]] with many scenes in [[bas-relief]] and inscriptions. It comes from [[Nimrud]] (ancient Kalhu), in northern [[Iraq]], and commemorates the deeds of King [[Shalmaneser III]] (reigned 858–824 BC). It is on display at the [[British Museum]] in London, and several other museums have cast replicas.

It is one of two complete Neo-Assyrian [[obelisks]] yet discovered, the other one being the much earlier [[White Obelisk of Ashurnasirpal I]], and is historically significant because it is thought to display the earliest ancient depiction of a biblical figure – [[Jehu]], King of [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Israel]]. The traditional identification of "Yaw" as Jehu has been questioned by some scholars, who proposed that the inscription refers to another king, [[Jehoram of Israel]].<ref name=McCarter>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/1356327 P. Kyle McCarter, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 216 (Dec., 1974), pp. 5–7]</ref><ref name=Thiele>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/1356296 Edwin R. Thiele, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 222 (Apr., 1976), pp. 19–23]</ref> Its reference to ''Parsua'' is also the first known reference to the Persians.

[[Tribute]] offerings are shown being brought from identifiable regions and peoples. It was erected as a public monument in 825 BC at a time of civil war, in the central square of Nimrud. It was discovered by archaeologist Sir [[Austen Henry Layard]] in 1846 and is now in the [[British Museum]].

==Description==
It features twenty relief scenes, five on each side. They depict five different subdued kings, bringing tribute and prostrating before the Neo-Assyrian king. From top to bottom they are: (1) [[Sua (king)|Sua]] of Gilzanu (in north-west [[Iran]]), (2) "Yaua of Bit [[Omri (King of Israel)|Omri]]" (Jehu of the [[House of Omri]]), (3) an unnamed ruler of [[Musri]] (in northern Iraq), (4) Marduk-apil-usur of Suhi (middle [[Euphrates]]), 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.

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.

==Second register==
[[File:Black Obelisk Yehu in front of Shalmaneser III.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Jehu]], bows before [[Shalmaneser III]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kuan |first1=Jeffrey Kah-Jin |title=Neo-Assyrian Historical Inscriptions and Syria-Palestine: Israelite/Judean-Tyrian-Damascene Political and Commercial Relations in the Ninth-Eighth Centuries BCE |date=2016 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-4982-8143-0 |pages=64–66 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zMOqCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA65 |language=en}}</ref> This is "the only portrayal we have in ancient Near Eastern art of an Israelite or Judaean monarch".<ref name="AD">{{cite book |last1=Cohen |first1=Ada |last2=Kangas |first2=Steven E. |title=Assyrian Reliefs from the Palace of Ashurnasirpal II: A Cultural Biography |date=2010 |publisher=UPNE |isbn=978-1-58465-817-7 |page=127 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uRKU0YXBWtgC&pg=PA127 |language=en}}</ref>]]
[[File:I-a-ú-a-mar Hu-um-ri-i.jpg|thumb|300px|''Ia-ú-a mar Hu-um-ri-i'' ({{langx|akk|𒅀𒌑𒀀 𒈥 𒄷𒌝𒊑𒄿}}): "[[Jehu]], son of [[Omri (King of Israel)|Omri]]".]]
The second [[Register (sculpture)|register]] from the top is thought to include the earliest surviving picture of a biblical figure. The name appears as ''<sup>m</sup>Ia-ú-a mar <sup>m</sup>Hu-um-ri-i''. [[Sir Henry Rawlinson, 1st Baronet|Rawlinson's]] original translation in 1850 seminal work "On the Inscriptions of Assyria and Babylonia" stated: "The second line of offerings are said to have been sent by Yahua, son of Hubiri, a prince of whom there is no mention in the annals, and of whose native country, therefore, I am ignorant"<ref>[https://archive.org/details/jstor-25228628 On the Inscriptions of Assyria and Babylonia], 1850</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=U5f4EO5t8BYC&pg=PA14&lpg=PA14 The Bible in the British Museum: Interpreting the Evidence], [[T. C. Mitchell]], page 14</ref> Over a year later, a connection with the bible was made by Reverend [[Edward Hincks]], who wrote in his diary on 21 August 1851: "Thought of an identification of one of the obelisk captives — with Jehu, king of Israel, and satisfying myself on the point wrote a letter to the Athenaeum announcing it".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=6dkyAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA159&lpg=PA159 Studies on the Text and Versions of the Hebrew Bible in Honour of Robert Gordon, edited by Geoffrey Khan, Diana Lipton], p. 159</ref> Hincks' letter was published by [[Athenaeum (British magazine)|Athenaeum]] on the same day, entitled "Nimrud Obelisk".<ref>"Nimrud Obelisk, Athenaeum, 1251, 1384-85</ref> Hincks' identification is now the commonly held position by biblical archaeologists.

The identification of "Yahua" as [[Jehu]] was questioned by contemporary scholars such as [[George Smith (Assyriologist)|George Smith]]<ref name=Smith>[https://archive.org/stream/assyrianeponymca00smitiala#page/189/mode/1up Assyrian Eponym Canon], [[George Smith (Assyriologist)|George Smith]], 1875, page 190, "There is another supposed Hebrew king in the annals of Shalmaneser, b.c. 842, Extracts VIII. and X., called "Jehu son of Omri," who is generally identified with "Jehu son of Nimshi," the king of Israel. The country ruled by Jehu, son of Omri, is not stated in the inscriptions; and it appears unlikely that Jehu, king of Israel, who exterminated the family of Omri, should call himself son of that king. Without advancing any theory for the identification of the monarch mentioned in the Neo-Assyrian inscriptions, I would urge that the identity of the Jehu of the Bible with the Jehu of the inscriptions is not proved, and that these notices are not enough to force us to alter all our Bible dates."</ref> as well as in more recent times by P. Kyle McCarter and [[Edwin R. Thiele]],<ref name="McCarter"/><ref name="Thiele"/> based on the fact that Jehu was not an Omride, as well as transliteration and chronology issues. However, the name read as "Yaw, son of Omri (Bit-Khumri", see [[House of Omri]]), is generally accepted to follow Hincks as the Biblical [[Jehu]], king of [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Israel]].

The stele describes how Jehu brought or sent his tribute in or around 841 BC.<ref>Millard, Alan (1997) Discoveries from Bible Times, Oxford, Lion, p121</ref> The caption above the scene, written in Assyrian cuneiform, can be translated:<ref name="AD"/>

<blockquote>''"I received the tribute of Iaua ([[Jehu]]) son of (the people of the land of) [[Omri (King of Israel)|Omri]] ({{langx|akk|𒅀𒌑𒀀 𒈥 𒄷𒌝𒊑𒄿}}): silver, gold, a golden bowl, a golden vase with pointed bottom, golden tumblers, golden buckets, tin, a staff for a king [and] spears."''<ref name="AD" /></blockquote>
{{clear}}

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="4">
File:Black Obelisk, four faces.jpg|The four illustrated faces of the Black Obelisk. The second row of reliefs illustrates the Israelite delegation of King [[Jehu]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Delitzsch|first1=Friedrich|last2=McCormack|first2=Joseph|last3=Carruth|first3=William Herbert|last4=Robinson|first4=Lydia Gillingham|title=Babel and Bible;|date=1906|publisher=Chicago, The Open court publishing company|page=78|url=https://archive.org/stream/babelbibl00deli/babelbibl00deli#page/78/mode/1up}}</ref>
File:The Assyrian king Shalmaneser III receives tribute from Sua, king of Gilzanu, The Black Obelisk..JPG|The Neo-Assyrian king [[Shalmaneser III]] receives tribute from Sua, king of Gilzanu, The Black Obelisk.
File:Black Obelisk side 4 Jewish delegation.jpg|Part of the gift-bearing Israelite delegation of King Jehu, Black Obelisk, 841–840 BCE.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Delitzsch|first1=Friedrich|last2=McCormack|first2=Joseph|last3=Carruth|first3=William Herbert|last4=Robinson|first4=Lydia Gillingham|title=Babel and Bible;|date=1906|publisher=Chicago, The Open court publishing company|page=78|url=https://archive.org/stream/babelbibl00deli/babelbibl00deli#page/78/mode/1up}}</ref>
File:Jehu on the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III.jpg|upright|{{center|Jehu on the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kuan|first1=Jeffrey Kah-Jin|title=Neo-Assyrian Historical Inscriptions and Syria-Palestine: Israelite/Judean-Tyrian-Damascene Political and Commercial Relations in the Ninth-Eighth Centuries BCE|date=2016|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|isbn=978-1-4982-8143-0|pages=64–66|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zMOqCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA65|language=en}}</ref> This is "the only portrayal we have in ancient Near Eastern art of an Israelite or Judaean monarch".<ref name="AD" />}}
</gallery>

==Casts and replicas==
Replicas can be found at the [[University of Chicago Oriental Institute|Oriental Institute]] in [[Chicago, Illinois]]; Harvard's [[Semitic Museum|Museum of the Ancient Near East]] in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]]; the ICOR Library in the Semitic Department at [[The Catholic University of America]] in [[Washington, D.C.]]; [[Corban University]]'s [[Prewitt–Allen Archaeological Museum]] in Salem, Oregon; the [[Siegfried Horn|Siegfried H. Horn]] Museum at [[Andrews University]] in [[Berrien Springs, MI]]; Kelso Museum of Near Eastern Archaeology in Pittsburgh, PA; [[Canterbury Museum, Christchurch | Canterbury Museum]] in Christchurch, New Zealand; the [[Museum of Ancient Art, Aarhus|Museum of Ancient Art]] at Aarhaus University in Denmark, and in the library of the [[Theological University of the Reformed Churches]] in [[Kampen, Overijssel|Kampen]], the Netherlands.
{{clear}}
[[File:Jewish_delegation_to_Shalmaneser_III_on_the_Black_Obelisk,_circa_840_BCE.jpg|thumb|center|upright=4|Israelite delegation to Shalmaneser III, composed of the four friezes of the second tier. Black Obelisk, 841–840 BCE.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Delitzsch |first1=Friedrich |last2=McCormack |first2=Joseph |last3=Carruth |first3=William Herbert |last4=Robinson |first4=Lydia Gillingham |title=Babel and Bible; |date=1906 |publisher=Chicago, The Open court publishing company |page=78 |url=https://archive.org/stream/babelbibl00deli/babelbibl00deli#page/78/mode/1up}}</ref>]]

==See also==
*[[Kurkh Monoliths]]
*[[List of artifacts significant to the Bible]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{commons category|Black Obelisk}}
*[https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/me/t/the_black_obelisk_of_shalmanes.aspx British Museum page on the Black Obelisk]
*[http://www.arthistory.upenn.edu/spr03/422/April22/15.JPG Photo]; [http://www.arthistory.upenn.edu/spr03/422/April22/422April22.html Article]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927015229/http://www.greatcommission.com/london/2003031.jpg Photo]; [https://web.archive.org/web/20130304090935/http://www.greatcommission.com/london/ Article]
*[http://truthchasers.com/Photos/assyrian/DSCF0009.jpg Jehu Panel]; [http://truthchasers.com/assyria.htm Article]
*[http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/nimrud/images/obelisk/BM-118885-register2-large.jpg Photos of the four panels of the Black Obelisk dealing with Jehu and his tribute]

{{British Museum}}
[[Category:9th-century BC steles]]
[[Category:1846 archaeological discoveries]]
[[Category:Assyrian art and architecture]]
[[Category:Ancient obelisks]]
[[Category:Victory steles]]
[[Category:Middle Eastern sculptures in the British Museum]]
[[Category:Sculpture of the ancient Near East]]
[[Category:Nimrud]]
[[Category:Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)]]
[[Category:Omrides]]
[[Category:Assyrian inscriptions]]
[[Category:Archaeological discoveries in Iraq]]
[[Category:Reliefs in the United Kingdom]]