The primary information related to Baal-Eser II comes from Josephus's citation of the Phoenician author Menander of Ephesus in Against Apion i.18.
(see king of Tyre) Baal-Eser reigned at the height of Tyrian influence in the affairs of the Levant.
Tyre is not mentioned as an opponent of Shalmaneser III at the Battle of Qarqar in 853 BC,[1] 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).
[2] Jehu of Israel paid tribute at the same time, as shown on the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III.
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.