Ancient World
Battle of Qarqar (853 BC): Shalmaneser III Against a Coalition
Shalmaneser III claimed victory, but the coalition held and Assyria did not advance further south for years.
Region
Middle East
Ancient World
Tel Dan Stele: The 'House of David' Aramaic Inscription
The stele provided the first widely accepted reference to the 'House of David' outside the Bible.
Ancient World
Mesha Stele: Moabite King's Account of War with Israel
The stele gives a Moabite version of Moab's break from Israel and preserves early references to Israel, Omri and Yahweh.
Ancient World
Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III: Assyria's Tribute Monument
A royal monument recording 31 years of Assyrian campaigns and the tribute of five foreign rulers, among them Jehu of Israel.
Ancient World
Founding of Carthage: Phoenician Tyre's Colony in North Africa
Tyrian settlers founded Qart-hadasht, the 'New City', which grew into the leading Phoenician power of the western Mediterranean until its destruction by Rome in 146 BC.
Ancient World
Sammu-ramat: The Assyrian Queen Behind the Semiramis Legend
A queen mother of unusual influence in Assyria who, transformed by Greek writers, became the legendary warrior queen Semiramis.
Ancient World
Kingdom of Urartu and the Founding of Erebuni (782 BC)
Argishti I built the fortress of Erebuni, which secured Urartian rule north of Mount Ararat and gave its name to the later city of Yerevan.
Ancient World
Tiglath-Pileser III: Reforms That Built the Assyrian Empire
Assyria was reorganised into directly governed provinces backed by a strong royal army, creating the model for later Near Eastern empires.
Ancient World
Gordion and King Midas: The Phrygian Kingdom in Anatolia
Under Midas Phrygia became a major power of central Anatolia, remembered by Greeks as a kingdom of fabulous wealth; it was broken by Cimmerian raids in the early 7th century BC.
Ancient World
Fall of Samaria (722 BC): End of the Kingdom of Israel
Samaria fell to Assyria, the Kingdom of Israel ceased to exist, and much of its population was deported and replaced by settlers from elsewhere in the empire.
Ancient World
Dur-Sharrukin (Khorsabad): Sargon II's Lost Assyrian Capital
A vast planned capital completed in about a decade, abandoned soon after Sargon II's death, and in 1843 the first Assyrian palace ever excavated.
Ancient World
Hezekiah's Tunnel and the Siloam Inscription in Jerusalem
A 533 m rock-cut channel brought the waters of the Gihon Spring to the Pool of Siloam, and its Hebrew inscription became one of the most important early Hebrew texts.