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

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...

of Tyre, the son of

Ithobaal I Ithobaal I ', 1 Kings 16:31; grc, Εἰθώβαλος ''Eithobalos'') is the name of a 9th-century BCE king of Tyre mentioned in the story of Jezebel from the Hebrew Bible, and in a citation by Josephus of a list of the kings of Tyre put together ...

, brother of

Jezebel Jezebel (;"Jezebel"
(US) and ) was the daughte ...

and brother-in-law of

Ahab Ahab (; akk, 𒀀𒄩𒀊𒁍 ''Aḫâbbu'' 'a-ḫa-ab-bu'' grc-koi, Ἀχαάβ ''Achaáb''; la, Achab) was the seventh king of Israel, the son and successor of King Omri and the husband of Jezebel of Sidon, according to the Hebrew Bib ...

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

Menander of Ephesus Menander of Ephesus ( grc-gre, Μένανδρος; 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 Ap ...

in ''

Against Apion ''Against Apion'' ( el, Φλαΐου Ἰωσήπου περὶ ἀρχαιότητος Ἰουδαίων λόγος α and ; Latin ''Contra Apionem'' or ''In Apionem'') is a polemical work written by Flavius Josephus as a defense of Judaism as ...

'' 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 I Attan ( ps, اتڼ) is a traditional dance originating from the tribal Pashtun regions of Afghanistan and North Western Pakistan. It is now considered the national dance of Afghanistan. Some believe it has spiritual roots connecting it to Zoro ...

his son." (see

king of Tyre The King of Tyre was the ruler of 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 history of Menander of Ephesus as quoted by Josephus in ''A ...

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

Levant The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is ...

. During his reign, his sister was queen of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and his niece

Athaliah Athaliah ( el, Γοθολία ''Gotholía''; la, Athalia) was the daughter of either king Omri, or of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel of Israel, the queen consort of Judah as the wife of King Jehoram, a descendant of King David, and later queen ...

reigned as queen of the

Kingdom of Judah The Kingdom of Judah ( he, , ''Yəhūdā''; akk, 𒅀𒌑𒁕𒀀𒀀 ''Ya'údâ'' 'ia-ú-da-a-a'' arc, 𐤁𐤉𐤕𐤃𐤅𐤃 ''Bēyt Dāwīḏ'', " House of David") was an Israelite kingdom of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. C ...

, 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 the death of his father Ashurnasirpal II in 859 BC to his own death in 824 BC. His long reign was a constant series of campaig ...

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 possi ...

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 ) as depicted on the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III , succession = King of Northern Israel , reign = c. 841–814 BCE , coronation = Ramoth-Gilead, Israel , birth_date = c. 882 BCE , death_date = c. 814 BCE , burial_place ...

of Israel paid tribute at the same time, as shown on the

Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III is a black limestone Assyrian sculpture with many scenes in bas-relief and inscriptions. It comes from Nimrud (ancient Kalhu), in northern Iraq, and commemorates the deeds of King Shalmaneser III (reigned 858 ...

.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 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 from 831 to 785 BCE and a son of King Mattan I (840–832 BCE). During Pygmalion's reign, Tyre seems to have shifted the heart of its trading empire from the Middle East to the Mediterran ...

, after which she founded the city of

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, 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 classi ...

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baal-Eser Ii 886 BC births 840s BC deaths Kings of Tyre 9th-century BC Phoenician people

See also

References