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This tablet describes the defeat of Darius III by Alexander the Great at the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC, and Alexander's triumphant entry into Babylon.

King Pekah of Israel formed a coalition with Damascus, resulting in the return of the Assyrian army in 733 BC. Tiglath-pileser annexed Damascus as far as Gilead. "In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and captured, Ijon ... Hazor, Gilead and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali and he carried the people captive to Assyria. "(2 Kg 15:29)

This carved stone relief from Tiglath-pileser's palace in Nimrud dates from this time. Tiglath-pileser III (744-727 BC) stands in his chariot beneath a parasol. Above him stands a fortified city on a mound (tell), with double walls and a citadel at one end. Assyrian soldiers drive out prisoners and herds of fat-tailed rams. A band of cuneiform across the middle forms part of Tiglath-pileser's annals (not any relation to the relief) describing his campaigns in the north of Assyria. Above the city is inscribed "Astartu", which probably refers to Ashtaroth in the northern Trans-Jordan, or Gilead, where King Og of Bashan ruled from.

This Babylonian tablet fragment lists the rations allocated to exiles from Judah, including King Jehoiachin

] ... to Ia-'-u-kin (Jehoiachin), king ... to the qîpûtu-house of ... for Shalamiamu, the ... for 126 men from Tyre ... for Zabiruam the Ly[dian] ... 10 sila of oil to ... [Ia]-'-kin, king of Ia-[a-hu-du] (Judah) 2½ sila of oil to the [five so]ns of the king of Ia-a-hu-du (Judah) 4 sila to eight men from Ia-a-hu-da-a-a ... 1½ sila for three carpenters from Arvad, ½ sila each 11½ sila for eight ditto from Byblos, 1 sila each ... 3½ sila sila for seven ditto, ½ sila each ½ sila for Nabû-êtir the carpenter 10 sila to Ia-ku-ú-ki-nu, the son of the king of Ia-ku-du (Judah) 2½ sila for the five sons of the king of Ia-ku-du (Judah) through Qana'a

The Black Obelisk has five rows of reliefs, showing conquered people bringing tribute to Shalmaneser III around 841 BC. Each tributary is portrayed on four panels round the obelisk, with a line of script above. On the stepped top and lower part, on all four sides there is 190 lines of text in Assyrian cuneiform, describing the principle events of 31 of Shalmaneser's military campaigns to the Mediterranean to the West, to Cilicia in the North-west, to Media in the East and to Babylonia in the South. It also has a chronological list of king's reigns, including two kings found in the Bible: Hazael and Benhadad, both kings of Aram.

The second set of panels from the top shows King Jehu of Israel paying tribute to Shalmaneser. Above the panel it is inscribed Jehu (Yaw-hu) or Jehoram (Yaw-ram) son of Omri

This is a carving of an Egyptian pharaoh worshipping the calf god, Apis, who was represented by a bull calf, and was thought to carry the sun across the sky. The golden calf built by Aaron and later by Jeroboam would have been like this. Aaron: “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt” (Ex 32:4). Later, Jeroboam made two golden calves for his shrines in Bethel and Dan, and said,“ Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt” (1 Kg 13:28)

Not currently on display

Darius became ruler of the empire of the Medes and Persians in 522 BC. He had two capital cities, Ecbatana and Susa (as in the Book of Esther).

This official cylinder seal made with agate was discovered in Egypt, was used for rolling an impression on clay tablets. The seal shows the king hunting a lion from his chariot, inscribed, "Darius the great king", in Old Persian, Elamite and Babylonian cuneiform, the three official languages of the Persian empire. Ezra chapters 5-6 describe that the governor of Jerusalem wrote to Darius in 520 BC, about building the wall of Jerusalem, and received a reply.

On the ground near the city theatre in the runis of ancient Corinth is a block of marble with this inscription "Erastus, for the office of Aedile, laid at his own expense". It is very likely that this is the same Erastus as the city treasurer mentioned by Paul in the Book of Romans (Rom 16:23) who is sending greetings to the church in Rome. The Aedile had many duties, including being the city treasurer. Perhaps in gratitude to his promotion, he donated a pavement to the city, with this inscription.

This stele commemorated the return of Esarhaddon after his army's second battle and victory over Pharaoh Taharqa in northern ancient Egypt in 671 BC

The stele shows Esarhaddon standing on the left holding a mace club in his left hand, together with a rope ending in a ring that passes through the lips of the two conquered kings kneeling before him. His right hand is addressing the gods.

This is one of a series of eleven tablets which describe the search by Gilgamesh for immortality. The eleventh tablet is a story told by Utnapishtim, a hero in a distant land, who gained immortality. The gods became angry at the nuisance caused on earth by men, so decided to destroy them with a flood. Utnapishtim was favoured by the god Ea, who warned him to build a ship and bring into it all his family, his treasures and living creatures of every kind. He does this and so escapes the great storm leading to a flood which destroys the rest of mankind. The storm ended on the seventh day and on the twelfth day the land emerges. The boat came to rest on Mt Nisir in Kurdistan. Utnapishtim first sent out a dove, then a swallow and finally a raven, which does not return, showing that the water had receded and land was revealed. Utnapishtim emerges from the boat and offers sacrifices to the gods, who though angry at his escape, were persuaded to grant him divine honours and a dwelling place a the mouth of the River Euphrates.

The story has close similarities with the Biblical account of the flood, but the main difference is the polytheism in this account. It is probably a pagan distortion of the memories of Noah's flood.