Wednesday, September 13 | 8:00 PM | Free | Open to the Public

Join Professor Christopher Rollston of The George Washington University for an evening of archaeology. The 9th century BCE was a period of great tumult in the world of the Bible. For example, King Omri of Israel had battled against, and subjugated, King Mesha of Moab…until Mesha successfully revolted after Omri’s death!  King Ahab of Israel (Omri’s son and successor) was sometimes at war with the Arameans of Damascus, but then Ahab of Israel, Hadad-ezer of Damascus, and Irhuleni of Hamat formed a coalition against the rising and powerful threat from Assyria:  King Shalmaneser III. Battles soon ensued!  And not long after this, Jehu of Israel slew the regnal kings Jehoram of Israel and Ahaziah of Judah, thereby usurping the throne of Israel and wreaking havoc in Judah.

Jehu seems to have been assisted by King Hazael of Damascus, who according to the Bible, had assassinated his predecessor by smothering him with wet bed sheets.  But not long after this, King Jehu himself bows as a humiliated vassal before King Shalmaneser.

The best textual sources for this “century of strife” are written in Hebrew, Aramaic, Moabite, and Akkadian, and they can be stitched together quite nicely to tell the story of a century that was packed full of wars and rumors of wars!