This inscription is engraved on an obelisk of black marble, five feet in
height, found by Mr. Layard in the centre of the Mound at Nimroud, and now
in the British Museum. Each of its four sides is divided into five
compartments of sculpture representing the tribute brought to the Assyrian
King by vassal princes, Jehu of Israel being among the number.
Shalmaneser, whose annals and conquests are recorded upon it, was the son
of Assur-natsir-pal, and died in 823 B.C., after a reign of thirty-five
years. A translation of the inscription was one of the first achievements
of Assyrian decipherment, and was made by Sir. H. Rawlinson; and Dr.
Hincks shortly afterward (in 1851) succeeded in reading the name of Jehu
in it. M. Oppert translated the inscription in his "_Histoire des Empires
de Chaldée et d'Assyrie_," and M. Ménant has given another rendering of it
in his "_Annales des Rois d'Assyrie_" (1874). A copy of the text will be
found in Layard's "Inscriptions in the Cuneiform Character" (1851).