The relief of the fact and speech: Northern Israel in the “Black Obelisk” of Shalmaneser III and Its Contexts in the Iron Age II

Abstract

The present article aims to investigate the submission of the Israeli military Jehu to King Shalmaneser III, analyzing the event as a political program for that little Levantine kingdom. Because it occurred shortly after perpetrating a coup d’état in Northern Israel (“Northern Kingdom”) in about 841 B.C.E., Jehu’s submission demonstrates interest in a compromise in which the Neo-Assyrian empire protects him against the claims of the kingdom united of Aram-Damascus. With this research, whose source is the Black Obelisk of King Shalmaneser III, we try to demonstrate that Jehu made irreversible any deal between the small kings of the Levant, in view of the military disputes of Transjordan territories, besides making possible the extension of borders for the Assyrian military advance.

Keywords:
Black Obelisk; Shalmaneser III; Assyria; ancient Israel; cultural memory