Was the Bible Right?
853 BCE·Divided Kingdom·Artifact

Kurkh Monolith: Ahab at Qarqar

Scripture: 1 Kings 16:29–22:40

The Kurkh stele of Shalmaneser III with a carved figure of the king over cuneiform text, British Museum
The Kurkh stele of Shalmaneser III with a carved figure of the king over cuneiform text, British Museum · Photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

The claim

Ahab, son of Omri, rules Israel from Samaria as a powerful but notorious king.

What archaeology found

A stele of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III, found in 1861 at Kurkh in southeastern Turkey and now in the British Museum, describes the Battle of Qarqar (853 BCE). It lists 'Ahab the Israelite' among the allied kings, contributing 2,000 chariots, the largest chariot force in the coalition.

Sources

  1. Kenneth A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament, Eerdmans (2003)

Verdict history

  • ConfirmedInitial verdict.