Tiglath-Pileser II. 950 Assur-dan II. 930 Rimmon-Nirari II. 911 Tiglath-Uras II. 889 Assur-natzu-pal 883 Shalmaneser II. 858 Assur-dain-pal (a rebel) 825 Samsi-Rimmon II. 823 Rimmon-Nirari III. 810 Shalmaneser III. 781 Assur-dan III. 771 Assur-Nirari 753 Tiglath-Pileser III. (Pul) 745 Shalmaneser IV. (an usurper) 727 Sargon (Jareb?) (usurper) 722 Sennacherib 705 Esar-haddon I. 681 Assur-bani-pal 668 * * * * * * Destruction of Nineveh under Esar-haddon II., or Sarakos 606
INSCRIPTION OF SHALMANESER II. ON THE BLACK OBELISK IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM[919]
It begins with an invocation to the gods Rimmon, Adar, Merodach, Nergal, Beltis, Istar, and proceeds:--
"I am Shalmaneser, the strong king, king of all the four Zones of the Sun, the marcher over the whole world, ... who has laid his yoke upon all lands hostile to him, and has swept them like a whirlwind."
It tells of his campaigns against the Hittites etc., etc.
The allusion to Jehu runs as follows:--
"The tribute of Yahua, son of Khumri, silver, gold, bowls of gold, vessels of gold, goblets of gold, pitchers of gold, lead, sceptres for the king's hand, staves, I received."
This inscription is supplemented by another on a monolith found at Karkh, twenty miles from Diarbekr (_Records_, iii 81-100), which mentions the battle of Karkar, with its slaughter of fourteen thousand of the enemy, among whom was Sirlai--_i.e._, Ahab of Israel.
In his Records he mentions no less than five Hebrew kings--Azariah, Jehoahaz (Ahaz), Menahem, Pekah, Hoshea--as well as Rezin of Damascus, Hiram of Tyre, etc. His name perhaps means "He who puts his trust in Adar." See _Records of the_ _Past_, v. 45-52; Schrader, _Keilinschr._, pp. 149-151; G. Smith, _Assyrian Discoveries_, pp. 254-287.
Unfortunately the inscriptions are very mutilated and fragmentary.