(Posted by Michael J. Caba)Esarhaddon was an Assyrian king noted in Biblical passages such as 2 Kings 19:37. He erected the monument shown in the picture to commemorate a military victory in Egypt. The dolerite monument is over ten feet high and was made in the 7th century BC. It was found in 1881 in the modern city of Zinjirli, Turkey, and the text is written in the Akkadian language using the cuneiform script. Esarhaddon himself is depicted in the carving, which is now located in the Museum of the Ancient Near East, Pergamum Museum, Berlin.
Esarhaddon was a powerful Assyrian king during the 7th century BC, and King Manasseh of Judah was a vassal ruler under his sovereignty. In the royal inscriptions of Esarhaddon (not shown here) reference is made to “Manasseh, King of Judah,” who was required to help provide building material to Esarhaddon for the construction of the Assyrian ruler’s palace.
For information on similar artifacts related to the Bible, see Bible and Archaeology – Online Museum.
(Photo: BiblePlaces.com. Significant resource for further study: Lost Treasures of the Bible, by Fant and Reddish, pages 177-81.)
