The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III

This is the Black Obelisk, a super old, tall, black stone pillar! It's like a giant ancient comic book, carved with pictures and words. It was made a super long time ago, even before your grandparents' grandparents were born!

It tells us about a powerful king named Shalmaneser III and all the amazing things he did. Think of it as a history book that you can see and touch, standing tall like a statue.

This amazing stone came from a place called Nimrud, which is now in a country called Iraq. It was built to stand in the middle of a busy city square, where everyone could see it. It's made of a special black rock called limestone.

It’s so old that it was buried for a very, very long time until a brave explorer found it. Now, it lives in a big museum in London, England, where lots of people can visit it.

The Black Obelisk is super important because it shows us the earliest picture of a king from the Bible! His name was Jehu. It also shows us people bringing gifts to the king from different places, like a parade of presents.

One of these places is the very first time we ever hear about the Persians, who are famous today! It's like finding a secret message from the past that helps us understand history better.

The pictures on the obelisk show people bringing all sorts of treasures to King Shalmaneser III. Imagine bringing a lion, a camel, or shiny gold! These pictures tell us about the different people and lands that were part of the king's kingdom.

It also has writing all over it, telling us exactly who these people were and what they were giving. It's like a giant photo album from thousands of years ago!