Baal-Eser II (846–841 BC), also known as Balbazer II and Ba'l-mazzer I was a

king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

of Tyre, the son of Ithobaal I, brother of

Jezebel Jezebel ()"Jezebel"
(US) and

and brother-in-law of Ahab. The primary information related to Baal-Eser II comes from Josephus's citation of the Phoenician author

Menander of Ephesus Menander of Ephesus (; fl. c. early 2nd century BC) was the historian whose lost work on the history of Tyre was used by Josephus, who quotes Menander's list of kings of Tyre in his apologia for the Jews, '' Against Apion'' (1.18). "This Menan ...

in '' Against Apion'' i.18. Here it is said that "Ithobalus, the priest of Astarte...was succeeded by his son Badezorus aal-Eser who lived forty-five years, and reigned six years; he was succeeded by Matgenus attan Ihis son." (see

king of Tyre The King of Tyre is Lucifer the ruler of Tyre (Lebanon), Tyre, the ancient Phoenician city in what is now Lebanon. The traditional list of 12 kings, with reigns dated to 990–785 BC, is derived from the Lost literary work, lost history of Menander ...

) Baal-Eser reigned at the height of Tyrian influence in the affairs of the

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

. During his reign, his sister was queen of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and his niece Athaliah reigned as queen of the

Kingdom of Judah The Kingdom of Judah was an Israelites, Israelite kingdom of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. Centered in the highlands to the west of the Dead Sea, the kingdom's capital was Jerusalem. It was ruled by the Davidic line for four centuries ...

, creating a zone of Tyrian influence unrivaled at any period in its history. Tyre is not mentioned as an opponent of

Shalmaneser III Shalmaneser III (''Šulmānu-ašarēdu'', "the god Shulmanu is pre-eminent") was king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 859 BC to 824 BC. His long reign was a constant series of campaigns against the eastern tribes, the Babylonians, the nations o ...

at the

Battle of Qarqar The Battle of Qarqar (or Ḳarḳar) was fought in 853 BC when the army of the Neo-Assyrian Empire led by Emperor Shalmaneser III encountered an allied army of eleven kings at Qarqar led by Hadadezer, called in Assyrian ''Adad-idir'' and possib ...

in 853 BC, but twelve years later, in 841, Ithobaal's son Baal-Eser II (Ba'l-mazzer) gave tribute to the Assyrian monarch, in the latter's 18th year of reign (841 BC).

Jehu Jehu (; , meaning "Jah, Yah is He"; ''Ya'úa'' 'ia-ú-a'' ) was the tenth king of the Kingdom of Israel (Samaria), northern Kingdom of Israel since Jeroboam I, noted for exterminating the house of Ahab. He was the son of Jehoshaphat (father ...

of Israel paid tribute at the same time, as shown on the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III.James B. Pritchard, ed.: ''Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament'' (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969) 280. The mention of Baal-Eser's tribute to Shalmaneser has played an important role in revising upwards by 11 years the reigns of Baal-Eser's successors, Mattan I and Pygmalion, from previously accepted dates for these kings. Consequently, the dates given here are according to the work of

Frank Moore Cross Frank Moore Cross Jr. (July 13, 1921 – October 16, 2012) was the Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages at Harvard University, notable for his work in the interpretation of the Dead Sea Scrolls, his 1973 '' magnum opus'' ''Ca ...

and other scholars who take 825 BC as the date of Dido's flight from her brother,

Pygmalion of Tyre Pygmalion (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) was king of Tyre, Lebanon, Tyre from 831 to 785 BCE and a son of King Mattan I (840–832 BC). During Pygmalion's reign, Tyre seems to have shifted the heart of its trading empire from the Middle East to the ...

, after which she founded the city of

Carthage Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classic ...

in 814 BC. (See the chronological justification for these dates in the Pygmalion article.) For those who date the seventh year of Pygmalion to 814 BC, thereby placing the founding of Carthage in the same year that Dido left Tyre, the dates of Baal-Eser's successors will be 11 years later. The dates used for Baal-Eser in the present article also accept the six years of reign given in the best texts of Menander/Josephus. It is only in some extracts of

Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (30 May AD 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilius, was a historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian polemicist from the Roman province of Syria Palaestina. In about AD 314 he became the bishop of Caesarea Maritima. ...

's ''Chronography'' that a reign of 18 years is given.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baal-Eser Ii 9th-century BC births 840s BC deaths 9th-century BC kings of Tyre Jezebel

See also

References