The Kurkh Stele

The Kurkh Stele


The Kurkh Stele was discovered in south eastern Turkey at Kurkh on the river Tigris. It shows a relief of Shalmaneser III and details the first six years of his reign. There are images of Assyrian gods curling away from Shalmaneser’s raised hand. These are Sin, Anu, Ishtar and Assur. (See the image below)
From a biblical point of view the interest comes in the record of Shalmaneser’s sixth year. He details a battle against an alliance of kings from the Levant area at Qarqar on the river Orontes. As you would expect the Assyrian king recounts a famous victory against the alliance with whom he fought. One of the kings in the alliance was “Adad-idri” who is identified as the biblical Ben-Hadad of Syria (2Kings 6v24 and 8v7), Of greater Biblical interest is his ally “Ahaabbu sir ilaaa”, Ahab the Israelite. It seems that Ahab was a significant force in the battle. The Assyrian account claims almost total annihilation of the allied forces, however this seems to be an exaggeration as later monuments show that Shalmaneser III needed to return on several occasions and fight the alliance in one form or another over the next several years. The battle at Qarqar is not mentioned in the Bible, what is interesting however is that this battle must have marked the final year of Ahab’s life. The Bible chronology when combined with this monument and the Black Obeliskimply that this is the case. It is possible that Ahab returned with his forces in somewhat better shape than those of Hadadezer. The Biblical record shows that once the battle was over Ahab took the opportunity to fight with Hadadezer and try to recover the territory of Ramoth-Gilead which his “ally of convenience” had taken from Israel at a previous time. Ahab called on his long time ally, Jehoshaphat of Judah for help:


1Ki 22:1-4 Now three years passed without war between Syria and Israel. Then it came to pass, in the third year, that Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went down to visit the king of Israel. And the king of Israel said to his servants, "Do you know that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, but we hesitate to take it out of the hand of the king of Syria?" So he said to Jehoshaphat, "Will you go with me to fight at Ramoth Gilead?" Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, "I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses."










1Ki 22:29-35 So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth Gilead. And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "I will disguise myself and go into battle; but you put on your robes." So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle. Now the king of Syria had commanded the thirty-two captains of his chariots, saying, "Fight with no one small or great, but only with the king of Israel." So it was, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, "Surely it is the king of Israel!" Therefore they turned aside to fight against him, and Jehoshaphat cried out. And it happened, when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing him. Now a certain man drew a bow at random, and struck the king of Israel between the joints of his armor. So he said to the driver of his chariot, "Turn around and take me out of the battle, for I am wounded." The battle increased that day; and the king was propped up in his chariot, facing the Syrians, and died at evening. The blood ran out from the wound onto the floor of the chariot.


A translation from a part of the Kurkh Stele.


From the sixth year of
Shalmaneser III (853 BC)






…I approached the city of Qarqar.
I razed, destroyed and burned the city of Qarqar , his royal city.
1,200 chariots, 1,200 cavalry, and 20,000 troops of Hadad-ezer of Damascus; 700 chariots, 700 cavalry, 10,000 troops of Irhuleni, the Hamathite;2,000 chariots, and 10,000 troops of Ahab, the Israelite;
500 troops of Byblos;
1,000 troops of Egypt;
10 chariots and 10,000 troops of the land of Irqanatu;
200 troops of Matinu-ba'al of the city of Arvad;
200 troops of the land of Usanatu;
30 chariots and X,000 troops of Adon-ba'al of the land of Shianu, 1,000 camels of Gindibu of Arabia; X hundred troops of Ba'asa, the man of Bit ruhubi, the Ammonite--these twelve kings he took as his allies....






I decisively defeated them from the city of Qarqar to the city of Gilzau. I felled with the sword 14,000 troops, their fighting men. Like Adad, I rained down upon them a devastating flood. I spread out their corpses and I filled the plain. I felled with the sword their extensive troops. I made their blood flow in the wadis. The field was too small for laying flat their bodies; the broad countryside had been consumed in burying them. I blocked the Orontes River with their corpses as with a causeway. In the midst of this battle I took away from them chariots, cavalry, and teams of horses.