Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III

The scenes continue around all four sides of the Black Obelisk. Follow one horizontal band and notice the people, animals and goods brought before the king. There are five of these bands, with writing identifying the tribute. The monument was made in 825 BC for Shalmaneser III, an Assyrian ruler. Receiving tribute let a king present distant territories and their resources as part of his authority. The sculptors arranged people and offerings in a repeated, orderly form. This was an image of power made to be read in public. One inscription names tribute associated with Jehu, king of Israel. That helps identify the event the monument claims to record. It does not make every face a securely identified portrait. Shalmaneser III was a different king from Ashurnasirpal II, whose palace had the great protective lions, and from Ashurbanipal of the lion-hunt reliefs. Read this monument as one ruler’s account of his own reign, in words and carefully organised pictures.