Cast of the "Black Obelisk"

Cast of the "Black Obelisk"

This is a plaster cast (or reproduction) of a black alabaster monolith (known as an obelisk) that was set up in the city of Kalhu (modern-day Nimrud) by Shalmaneser III. He was a powerful Assyrian king who oversaw the creation of a single imperial territory that stretched from the Mediterranean to the borders of Iran. The obelisk is inscribed on four sides with an account of the expeditions undertaken by Shalmaneser III during his reign, and with scenes representing the paying of tribute by the regions he conquered. In all, there are twenty small reliefs divided into five series, each containing four portions of a scene in which the payment of tribute of a certain country is represented.