Image Details

bpk, Berlin/Vorderasiatisches Museum, Stattliche Museen/Juergen Lieppe/Art Resource, NY

EMPEROR OF ASSYRIA. Esarhaddon ruled the Assyrian empire from 680 to 669 B.C.E. and is mentioned in the Bible in 2 Kings 19:37, as well as in Isaiah 37:38 and Ezra 4:2. Uncovered at Sam‘al (modern Zincirli in Turkey), where Esarhaddon was overlord, the basalt stele (shown here) dates from 671 B.C.E. and depicts Esarhaddon in victory over the Egyptians. Towering over everyone, Esarhaddon stands with a mace in his left hand. Two attendants kneel before him, the smaller of whom is the recently conquered Egyptian Prince Ushankhuru. The stele is 11.4 feet tall.