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Cast of the “Black Obelisk”
This is a plaster cast (or reproduction) of a black alabaster monolith (known as an obelisk) that was set up in the city of Kalhu (modern-day Nimrud) by Shalmaneser III. He was a powerful Assyrian king who oversaw the creation of a single imperial territory that stretched from the Mediterranean to the borders of Iran. The obelisk is inscribed on four sides with an account of the expeditions undertaken by Shalmaneser III during his reign, and with scenes representing the paying of tribute by the regions he conquered. In one of the reliefs on the obelisk, Jehu, King of Israel, is depicted bowing down and paying tribute to Shalmaneser III, providing a link to the biblical story of Jehu in 2 Kings.
Osiris, Isis, and Horus: Pendant Bearing the Name of King Osorkon II
Name: Cast of the “Black Obelisk”
Material: Plaster
Size: 1.40 m (4 ft 7 in) x 41 cm (1 ft 4.14 in) x 62 cm (2 ft 0.5 in)
Date: 858 BCE - 824 BCE
Place of Origin: Nimrud (ancient Kalhu), northern Iraq
Location: Oriental Institute Museum, Chicago, USA. (Original in the British Museum, London, United Kingdom.)
Registration # and Source: #: Oriental Institute Museum. OIM C217 (Original in the British Museum, London)
Link to resource
(accessed May 7, 2010).
For more information: The British Museum. Link to resource.
Jennie Myers
Research Associate, University of Chicago
