The site of the Black Obelisk, Assyrian monument of King Shalmaneser III (reigned 859-824 BC). It is the most complete Assyrian obelisk yet discovered, decorated with cuneiform inscriptions and reliefs recording military campaigns and other triumphs, including payment of tribute by King Jehu of Israel (reigned 842-815). The 6-foot (1.8-meter) black basalt piece was discovered in 1845 at ancient Kalhu, south of Mosul, Iraq, by Austen Henry Layard and is now in the British Museum. Kalhu was an imperial Assyrian city on the River Tigris with a citadel (Nimrud) and arsenal at Fort Shalmaneser. Middle Assyrian texts found there established the existence of the town in the later 2nd millennium BC. It was made the imperial seat by Assurnasirpal II (883-859 BC). Sargon II (721-705 BC) moved the imperial seat to Khorsabad and after that, Kalhu was a provincial capital. Occupation continued until the Hellenistic period.