Image Details

Werner Forman/Art Resource, NY

TRIBUTE FROM A KING? The ninth-century B.C.E. Black Obelisk glorifies the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III with images of the payment of tribute from subjugated kings. A cuneiform caption mentions “the tribute of Jehu, son of Omri.” Recent scholarship suggests that the figure shown here is a generic representation of a tribute bearer rather than Jehu. Like the Tel Dan inscription, this Assyrian reference to Jehu as “son of Omri” (meaning Omri’s successor) reflects foreign knowledge of the Hebrew monarchy.