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Records of the Past, 2nd Series, Vol. IV

By A. H. Sayce

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Introduction- The Monolith Inscription of Shalmaneser II

The inscription of which a translation is here given is engraved on a monolith found at Kurkh, and now in the British Museum. Kurkh, which is probably the Karkathiokerta of classical geography, is upon the right bank of the Tigris, about 20 miles to the south of Diarbekir. The monument was erected to commemorate the exploits of the Assyrian king, Shalmaneser II, during the first four and a half years of his reign (B.C. 858–854). It gives in detail an account of the campaigns which are briefly noticed in the annals of the Black Obelisk.

The inscription has been translated by Ménant in the Annales des Rois d’Assyrie (1874), pp. 1051–113; by Sayce in the Records of the Past, 1st series, iii. pp. 81-100 (1874); by Craig in Hebraica, iii. pp. 201 sqq. (i 887); and by Peiser in the Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek, i. pp. 151-175 (1889). The geographical and historical information contained in it makes it a peculiarly valuable document, especially when studied in connection with the inscription of the Black Obelisk, and the long standard inscription of Assur-natsir-pal. It contains the first mention found in an Assyrian text of an Israelitish king, and proves that the death of Ahab could not have taken place until after B.C. 854.