Biblical Archaeology Student Study Guide

Archaeology in the Holy Bible
List of Artifacts in Biblical Studies of Archaeology Student Study
Work Book

Contents
1 List of artifacts in biblical archaeology 1
1.1 Selected artifacts significant to biblical chronology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Other significant artifacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2.1 2000 BCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2.2 1500 BCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2.3 10th century BCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2.4 9th century BCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2.5 8th century BCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2.6 7th century BCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2.7 6th century BCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2.8 5th century BCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2.9 2nd century BCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.2.10 1st century BCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.2.11 1st century CE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3 Controversial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.4 Forgery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.5 Significant museums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.6 External lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.7 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.8 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2 Josiah 8
2.1 Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.2 Religious reforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.3 Foreign relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.4 Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.5 Succession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.6 Book of the Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.7 Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.8 Rabbinic Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.9 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.10 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.11 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
i

ii CONTENTS
2.12 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3 Autobiography of Weni 13
3.1 Biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.2 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.3 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
4 Sebek-khu Stele 15
4.1 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.2 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
5 Statue of Idrimi 16
5.1 Discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
5.2 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
5.3 Inscription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
5.4 Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
5.5 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
5.6 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
6 Merneptah Stele 17
6.1 Description and context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
6.2 Lines 26–28 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
6.2.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
6.2.2 Line 27 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
6.2.3 Interpretation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
6.3 Karnak reliefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
6.4 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
6.5 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
6.6 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
6.7 Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
6.8 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
6.9 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
7 Bubastite Portal 22
7.1 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
7.2 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
7.3 Transliterations and translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
7.3.1 Section One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
7.3.2 Section Two - Coastal plain, Shephelah, Meggido plain and Jezreel plain . . . . . . . . . . 23
7.3.3 Section Three - Negev area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
7.4 Biblical narrative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
7.5 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
7.6 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

CONTENTS iii
7.7 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
8 Mesha Stele 26
8.1 Description and discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
8.2 Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
8.3 Interpretation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
8.3.1 Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
8.3.2 Parallel to 2 Kings 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
8.3.3 Proposed references to David and “House of David” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
8.3.4 Authenticity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
8.3.5 Minimalist views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
8.4 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
8.5 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
8.6 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
8.7 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
9 Kurkh Monoliths 32
9.1 Discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
9.2 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
9.3 Shalmaneser III Stela inscription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
9.3.1 “Ahab of Israel” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
9.3.2 Scribal errors and disputes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
9.4 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
9.5 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
9.6 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
10 Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III 38
10.1 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
10.2 Second register . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
10.3 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
10.4 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
10.5 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
11 Saba'a Stele 40
11.1 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
11.2 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
12 Tel Dan Stele 41
12.1 Discovery and description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
12.1.1 Discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
12.1.2 Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
12.1.3 Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
12.2 Interpretation and disputes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

iv CONTENTS
12.2.1 Conﬁguration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
12.2.2 Cracks and inscription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
12.2.3 Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
12.2.4 Authorship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
12.2.5 “House of David” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
12.3 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
12.4 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
12.5 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
13 Nimrud Slab 45
13.1 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
13.2 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
14 Nimrud Tablet K.3751 46
14.1 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
14.2 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
15 Siloam inscription 47
15.1 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
15.2 Biblical references . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
15.3 Translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
15.4 Possible exhibition in Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
15.5 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
15.6 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
15.7 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
15.8 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
16 Lachish relief 50
16.1 Identiﬁcation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
16.2 Interpretation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
16.3 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
16.4 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
17 LMLK seal 52
17.1 ‫למלך‬ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
17.2 Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
17.3 Theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
17.4 Personal seals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
17.5 Incisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
17.6 Israeli postage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
17.7 Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
17.8 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
17.9 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

CONTENTS v
17.9.1 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
17.10See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
18 Azekah Inscription 56
18.1 Inscription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
18.2 Transliteration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
18.3 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
18.4 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
19 Sennacherib’s Annals 58
19.1 Description and discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
19.2 Signiﬁcance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
19.3 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
19.4 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
20 Esarhaddon’s Treaty with Ba'al of Tyre 60
20.1 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
20.2 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
21 Ekron Royal Dedicatory Inscription 61
21.1 Discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
21.2 Translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
21.3 Interpretation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
21.4 Other inscriptions from Ekron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
21.5 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
21.6 Additional reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
22 Cylinders of Nabonidus 64
22.1 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
22.2 Excavation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
22.3 Translation of Sippar cylinder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
22.4 Verse account of Nabonidus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
22.5 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
22.6 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
22.7 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
22.8 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
23 Cyrus Cylinder 68
23.1 Discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
23.2 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
23.2.1 The text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
23.2.2 Associated fragments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
23.3 Interpretations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
23.3.1 Mesopotamian and Persian tradition and propaganda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

vi CONTENTS
23.3.2 Biblical interpretations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
23.3.3 Human rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
23.4 Exhibition history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
23.5 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
23.6 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
23.7 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
23.7.1 Books and journals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
23.7.2 Media articles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
23.7.3 Other sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
23.7.4 Editions and translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
23.8 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
24 Nebuchadnezzar Chronicle 84
24.1 Carchemish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
24.2 Siege of Jerusalem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
24.3 Chronology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
24.4 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
25 Nabonidus Chronicle 86
25.1 Description of the tablet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
25.2 Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
25.3 Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
25.4 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
25.5 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
25.6 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
26 Temple Warning inscription 89
26.1 Inscription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
26.2 Other copies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
26.3 External references . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
26.4 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
27 Trumpeting Place inscription 90
27.1 Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
27.2 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
27.3 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
27.4 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
28 Arch of Titus 91
28.1 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
28.2 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
28.3 Inscription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
28.4 Signiﬁcance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

CONTENTS vii
28.5 Architectural inﬂuence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
28.6 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
28.7 Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
28.8 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
28.9 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
29 List of ancient legal codes 94
29.1 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
29.2 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
30 Hittite texts 95
30.1 CTH numbering scheme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
30.2 Selected texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
30.2.1 Old Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
30.2.2 New Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
30.3 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
30.4 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
30.5 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
31 Archaeology of Israel 97
31.1 Archaeological time periods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
31.1.1 Neolithic period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
31.1.2 Bronze Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
31.1.3 Iron Age/Israelite period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
31.1.4 Persian period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
31.1.5 Hellenistic period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
31.1.6 Roman period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
31.1.7 Byzantine period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
31.2 Notable sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
31.2.1 Ashkelon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
31.2.2 Beit Alfa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
31.2.3 Carmel Caves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
31.2.4 Mamshit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
31.2.5 Old Acre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
31.2.6 Tel Rehov . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
31.2.7 Tel Be'er Sheva . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
31.2.8 Tel Megiddo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
31.2.9 Beit She'arim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
31.2.10 Gath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
31.2.11 Gezer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
31.2.12 Masada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
31.2.13 Tel Arad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

viii CONTENTS
31.2.14 Tel Dan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
31.2.15 Tel Hazor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
31.2.16 Tzippori . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
31.2.17 Gesher Bnot Ya'akov . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
31.2.18 Ain Mallaha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
31.3 Archaeological institutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
31.4 Notable Israeli archaeologists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
31.5 New technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
31.6 Politicisation of archaeology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
31.7 Damage to sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
31.8 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
31.9 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
31.10External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
32 List of biblical figures identified in extra-biblical sources 109
32.1 Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
32.2 New Testament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
32.2.1 Gospels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
32.2.2 Acts of the Apostles and Epistles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
32.3 Tentatively identified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
32.3.1 Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
32.3.2 New Testament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
32.4 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
32.5 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
32.6 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
33 List of burial places of biblical figures 118
33.1 Figures mentioned in the Torah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
33.2 Figures mentioned in the Nevi'im (Prophets) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
33.3 Figures mentioned in the Ketuvim (Writings) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
33.4 Figures mentioned in the New Testament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
33.5 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
33.6 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
33.7 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
33.7.1 Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
33.7.2 Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
33.7.3 Content license . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Chapter 1
List of artifacts in biblical archaeology
The following is a list of artifacts, objects created or
modified by human culture, that are significant to the
historicity of the Bible.
1.1 Selected artifacts significant to
biblical chronology
The table lists artifacts which are of particular signifi-
cance to the study of biblical chronology. The table lists
the following information about each artifact:
Name
Current Location: Museum or site
Discovered: Date and location of discovery
Date: Proposed date of creation of artifact
Writing: Script used in inscription (if any)
Significance: Reason for significance to bibli-
cal archeology
Refs: ANET[1]
and COS[2]
references, and
link to editio princeps (EP), if known
1.2 Other significant artifacts
1.2.1 2000 BCE
• Panbabylonian creation myths and flood myths –
recorded on the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Atra-Hasis
tablets, the Enûma Eliš, the Eridu Genesis and the
Barton Cylinder
• Law tablets – ancient Near East legal tablets: Code
of Hammurabi, Laws of Eshnunna, the Code of Ur-
Nammu, king of Ur (ca. 2050 BCE), the Laws of
Eshnunna (ca. 1930 BCE) and the codex of Lipit-
Ishtar of Isin (ca. 1870 BCE).[13]
Later codes than
Hammurabi’s include the Code of the Nesilim.[14]
Hittite laws, the Assyrian laws, and Mosaic Law /
Ten Commandments. (see Cuneiform law).
• Hittite texts (17th century BCE and later)
• Minoan Eruption – pumice found at various Tels
dated to Late Bronze Age
• Execration texts – earliest references to many Bibli-
cal locations
• Shiphrah slave list – Shiphrah was one of two mid-
wives who helped prevent the genocide of Hebrew
children by the Egyptians, according to the Book
of Exodus 1:15–21. The name is found in a list of
slaves in Egypt during the reign of Sobekhotep III.
This list is on Brooklyn 35.1446, a papyrus scroll
kept in the Brooklyn Museum.
1.2.2 1500 BCE
• Tombs of Ahmose, son of Ebana and Ahmose Pen-
Nekhebet, record the earliest records of Egyptian
control of Canaan
• Ugaritic religious texts (14th–12th century BCE) –
verifies the account of Philo, preserved by Eusebius,
regarding the Canaanite religion.
• Amarna letters (c. 13th century BCE) – correspon-
dence on clay tablets between the Egyptian admin-
istration and various Middle East kings petty sub-
rulers in Canaan during the New Kingdom.
• Midianite pottery (c. 13th century BCE) – a sug-
gested cultural product of the Midianite people,
which is mentioned in the Bible from the time of
Genesis through the Judges.[15]
• Great Hymn to the Aten is seen to possess strong
similarities to Psalm 104
• Ipuwer Papyrus (c. 13th century BCE) – ancient
papyrus manuscript describing Egypt as afflicted by
natural disasters and in a state of chaos. Statements
such as “the River is blood” have been interpreted by
some as an Egyptian account of the Plagues of Egypt
described in the Book of Exodus in the Bible.[16][17]
However, it is generally rejected by Egyptologists
(see there Parallels with the Book of Exodus).
1

2 CHAPTER 1. LIST OF ARTIFACTS IN BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY
• North Wall of the Medinet Habu temple and the
Papyrus Harris (c. 1150 BCE) – depicts the
Ramesses III's conquests in Canaan including the
Battle of Djahy
1.2.3 10th century BCE
Gezer calendar in the Istanbul Archaeology Museums.
• Early Paleo-Hebrew writing - contenders for the ear-
liest Hebrew inscriptions include the Gezer calen-
dar, Biblical period ostraca at Elah and Isbeth Sar-
tah,[18]
and the Zayit Stone
• Pim weight – evidence of the use of an ancient
source for the Book of Samuel due to the use of an
archaic term.
• Khirbet Qeiyafa pottery sherd – (10th century BCE)
inscription - both the language it was written in and
the translation are disputed. Was discovered in ex-
cavations near Israel’s Elah valley.[19]
• Tell es-Safi Potsherd (10th to mid 9th centuries
BCE) – Potsherd inscribed with the two names
“alwt” and “wlt”, etymologically related to the name
Goliath and demonstrate that the name fits with
the context of late-tenth/early-ninth-century BCE
Philistine culture. Found at Tell es-Safi, the tradi-
tional identification of Gath.
• Khirbet Qeiyafa shrines- cultic objects seen as evi-
dence of a “cult in Judah at time of King David” and
with features (triglyphs and recessed doors) which
may resemble features in descriptions of the Tem-
ple of Solomon.[20]
• Ophel inscription is a 3,000-year-old inscribed frag-
ment of a ceramic jar found near Jerusalem’s
Temple Mount by archeologist Eilat Mazar. It is the
earliest alphabetical inscription found in Jerusalem
written in Hebrew or Proto-Canaanite language.[21]
Some scholars believe it to be an inscription of the
type of wine that was held in a jar. [22]
• Amman Citadel Inscription – 9th century BCE in-
scription in the Ammonite language, one of the few
surviving written records of Ammon.
• Melqart stele – (9th–8th century BCE) William F.
Albright identifies Bir-hadad with Ben-hadad I, who
was a contemporary of the biblical Asa and Baasha.
• Ostraca House – (probably about 850 BCE, at least
prior to 750 BCE) 64 legible ostraca found in the
treasury of Ahab – written in early Hebrew.
• Balaam inscription (c. 840–760 BCE)[23]
9th or
8th century BCE inscription about a prophet named
Balaam (cf. the Book of Numbers).[24]
• Kuntillet Ajrud inscriptions – (9th - 8th century
BCE) inscriptions in Phoenician script including
references to Yahweh
• Sefire stele – (8th century BCE) described as “the
best extrabiblical source for West Semitic traditions
of covenantal blessings and curses.”[25]
• Stele of Zakkur – (8th century BCE) Mentions
Hazael king of Aram.
• Tell al-Rimah stela (c.780 BCE) - tells of the ex-
ploits of Adad-nirari III, mentioning “Joash King of
Samaria”[26]
• Shebna’s lintel inscription – (8th - 7th century BCE
?) found over the lintel or doorway of a tomb, has
been ascribed to Hezekiah's comptroller Shebna.
• King Ahaz’s Seal (732 to 716 BCE) – Ahaz was
a king of Judah but “did not do what was right in
the sight of the Lord his God, as his ancestor David
had done” (2 Kings 16:2; 2 Chronicles 28:1). He
worshiped idols and followed pagan practices. “He
even made his son pass through fire, according to the
abominable practices of the nations” (2 Kings 16:3).
Ahaz was the son and successor of Jotham.

1.2. OTHER SIGNIFICANT ARTIFACTS 3
• Bullae (c.715–687 BCE or 716–687 BCE)[27]
(clay
roundels impressed with a personal seal identifying
the owner of an object, the author of a document,
etc.) are, like ostraka, relatively common, both in
digs and on the antiquities market. The identifica-
tion of individuals named in bullae with equivalent
names from the Bible is difficult, but identifications
have been made with king Hezekiah[28]
and his ser-
vants (????? avadim in Hebrew).
• Annals of Tiglath-Pileser III (740-730 BCE):
• Layard 45b+ III R 9,1 possibly refers to [KUR
sa-me-ri-i-na-a-a] as ["land of Samaria"][29]
• The lran Stela refers to KUR sa-m[e]-ri-i-na-
a-[a] “land of Samaria”[29]
• Layard 50a + 50b + 67a refers to URU sa-me-
ri-na-a-a “city of Sarnaria”[29]
• Layard 66 refers to URU Sa-me-ri-na “city of
Samaria”[29]
• III R 9.3 50, refers to "Menahem the
Samarian”[30][26]
• Nimrud Tablet III R 10.2 28-29, refers to the
overthrown of Pekah by Hoshea.[26][30]
• one fragment refers to “Azriau” and another it
has been joined to refers to “Yaudi”. Some
scholars have interpreted this as Ahaziah /
Uzziah, although this is disputed and has not
gained scholarly consensus.[31][32][33][34]
• III R 10,2 refers to KUR E Hu-um-ri-a “land
of Bit-Humri”[29]
• ND 4301 + 4305 refers to KUR E Hu-um-ri-a
“land of Bit-Humri”[29]
• Babylonian Chronicle ABC1 - (725 BCE),
Shalmaneser V refers to URU Sa-ma/ba-ra-'-in
“city of Sarnaria”[29]
• Annals of Sargon II (720 BCE):
• Nimrud Prism, Great Summary Inscrip-
tion refers to URU Sa-me-ri-na “city of
Samerina”[29]
• Palace Door, Small Summary Inscription,
Cylinder Inscription, Bull Inscription refers to
KUR Bit-Hu-um-ri-a “land of Bit-Humri”[29]
• Bulla of Shaphan (r. 609–598 BCE) – possible link
to a figure during the reign of Jehoiakim.
• Seal of Jehucal – (7th century BCE) Jehucal or Jucal
is mentioned in chapters 37 and 38 of the Book of
Jeremiah where King Zedekiah sends Jehucal son of
Shelemiah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah
to the prophet Jeremiah saying `Please pray for us to
the Lord our God` (Jeremiah 38:3). His seal and also
one of Gedaliah, son of Pashur (also mentioned
in Jeremiah 38:1 together with Jehucal) were found
during excavation in the city of David in 2005 and
2008, respectively, by Dr. Eliat Mazar.[35]
• Khirbet Beit Lei contains oldest known Hebrew
writing of the word “Jerusalem” dated to 7th century
BCE “I am YHWH thy Lord. I will accept the cities
of Judah and I will redeem Jerusalem” “Absolve us
oh merciful God. Absolve us oh YHWH"[36]
• Mesad Hashavyahu Ostracon is an inscribed pot-
tery fragment dated to 7th century BCE and writ-
ten in ancient Hebrew language. It contains ear-
liest extra-biblical reference to the observance of
Shabbat.[37][38]
• Victory stele of Esarhaddon
• Ketef Hinnom priestly blessing – Probably the old-
est surviving texts currently known from the Hebrew
Bible – Priestly blessing dated to 600 BCE.[39]
Text
from the Book of Numbers in the Old Testament.
Described as “one of most significant discoveries
ever made” for biblical studies.[40][41]
• Jehoiachin’s Rations Tablets (6th century BCE) –
Describe the rations set aside for a royal captive
identified with Jehoiachin, king of Judah (Cf. 2
Kings 24:12,15–6; 25:27–30; 2 Chronicles 36:9–
10; Jeremiah 22:24–6; 29:2; 52:31–4; Ezekiel
17:12).[42]
• Nebo-Sarsekim Tablet – (circa 595 BCE) a clay
cuneiform inscription referring to an official at the
court of Nebuchadrezzar II, king of Babylon, possi-
bly the same official named in the Biblical Jeremiah.
• Lachish letters – letters written in carbon ink
by Hoshaiah, a military officer stationed near
Jerusalem, to Joash the commanding officer at
Lachish during the last years of Jeremiah during
Zedekiah’s reign (c.588 BCE) (see Nehemiah 12:32,
Jeremiah 42:1, 43:2). Lachish fell soon after, two
years before the fall of Jerusalem.[43]
• House of Yahweh ostracon is an ancient pottery
fragment discovered at Tel Arad probably referring
to the Temple at Jerusalem.[44]
• Elephantine papyri, ancient Jewish papyri dating to
the 5th century BCE, name three persons mentioned
in Nehemiah: Darius II, Sanballat the Horonite and
Johanan the high priest.

1.2.9 2nd century BCE
• Hasmonean coinage (164 BCE – 35 BCE)
1.2.10 1st century BCE
• Western Wall – (c. 19 BCE) is an important Jewish
religious site located in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Just over half the wall, including its 17 courses lo-
cated below street level, dates from the end of the
Second Temple period, being constructed around 19
BCE by Herod the Great. The remaining layers were
added from the 7th century onwards.
1.2.11 1st century CE
• Rock of Calvary (Golgotha), identified by
Constantine's mother Saint Helena and Macarius of
Jerusalem, within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
• Grotto of the Nativity, identified by Constantine's
mother Saint Helena and Macarius of Jerusalem,
within the Church of the Nativity
• Pilate Stone – (c. 36 CE) carved inscription at-
tributed to Pontius Pilate, a prefect of the Roman-
controlled province of Judaea from 26–36 CE.
• Erastus Inscription (Roman period, disputed)
• Judaea Capta coinage (after 70 CE)
• Nazareth Inscription bears an edict of Caesar pro-
hibiting grave robbing; relevant to claims of resur-
rection.
1.3 Controversial
• Borsippa – identified as the Tower of Babel in
Talmudic and Arabic culture, but not accepted by
modern scholarship
• Ebla tablets – once thought to have made references
to, and thus confirmed, the existence of Abraham,
David and Sodom and Gomorrah among other Bib-
lical references.
• Foundation Stone – stone also called the Well of
Souls, now located in the Dome of the Rock. Ac-
cording to the Bible, King David purchased a thresh-
ing floor owned by Araunah the Jebusite,[45]
and
some believe that it was upon this rock that he of-
fered the sacrifice mentioned in the verse. David
wanted to construct a Temple in Jerusalem, but as
his hands were “bloodied,” he was forbidden to do
so himself. The task was left to his son Solomon,
who completed the Temple in c. 950 BCE.
• Uzziah Tablet – (8th century BCE or 30–70 CE?)
controversial tablet discovered in 1931 by Professor
E.L. Sukenik of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
in a Russian convent.
• Jehoash Inscription – controversial black stone tablet
in Phoenician regarding King Jehoash's repair work.
Suspected to be a forgery, (but see: Book of Kings).
• Warren’s Shaft – possible route corresponding to the
biblical account of Joab, king David's commander,
launching a secretive attack against the Jebusites,
who controlled Jerusalem.
• Ivory pomegranate
• Pool of Bethesda – in the nineteenth century, ar-
chaeologists discovered the remains of a pool cor-
responding to a description in John’s Gospel.
• Tower of Siloam – ruins possibly mentioned in the
Gospel of Luke.[46]
• James Ossuary
• Caiaphas ossuary
• Sudarium of Oviedo
• Titulus Crucis
• Acheiropoieta (see Shroud of Turin, Image of
Edessa, and the Veil of Veronica)
• Relics attributed to Jesus, including those identified
by Constantine's mother Saint Helena and Macarius
of Jerusalem, such as the Holy Nails, Holy Tunic and
the True Cross
1.4 Forgery
• Stone Seal of Manasseh – Stone seal of Manasseh,
King of Judah c.687–642 BCE. Reportedly offered
to a private collector for one million dollars.[47]
• Shapira collection
1.5 Significant museums
• Israel Museum, Jerusalem
• Bible Lands Museum, Jerusalem[48]
• Hecht Museum
• Oriental Institute, Chicago
• British Museum
• The Louvre

1.8. REFERENCES 5
1.6 External lists
• ANET: Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the
Old Testament. Third Edition with Supplement.
Ed. James B. Pritchard. Princeton: Princeton Univ.
Press, 1969
• COS: The Context of Scripture. 3 volumes. Eds.
William W. Hallo and K. Lawson Younger. Leiden:
Brill, 1997-2002
• RANE: Readings from the Ancient Near East: Pri-
mary Sources for Old Testament Study. Baker Aca-
demic. ISBN 978-0801022920.
• Indices to ANET and COS: and
• Dr. Ralph W. Klein’s tables of artifacts - 10 pages
of tables sorted by era
• Extra-biblical sources for Hebrew and Jewish his-
tory (1913)
• http://www.egyptologyforum.org/EEFtexts.html
• Bible History Daily The Biblical Archaeology Soci-
ety website, publishers of Biblical Archaeology Re-
view
1.7 See also
• Archaeology of Israel
• Assyrian Siege of Jerusalem
• Assyro-Babylonian religion
• The Bible and history
• Biblical archaeology (excavations and artifacts)
• Chronology of the Bible
• Cities of the Ancient Near East
• Hittite sites – Hittites – History of the Hittites
• Library of Ashurbanipal
• List of biblical figures identified in extra-biblical
sources
• List of burial places of Biblical figures
• List of Egyptian papyri by date
• List of megalithic sites
• Model of Jerusalem in the Late 2nd Temple Period
• Near Eastern archaeology
• Nag Hammadi library – early Christian gnostic pa-
pyri.
• Non-canonical books referenced in the Bible
• Oxyrhynchus Papyri – collection of Old and New
Testament papyri, Apocryphal works and works of
Philo
• Syro-Palestinian archaeology
• List of proposed Assyrian references to Kingdom of
Israel (Samaria)
1.8 References
[1] ANET: Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Tes-
tament. Third Edition with Supplement. Ed. James B.
Pritchard. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1969
[2] COS: The Context of Scripture. 3 volumes. Eds. William
W. Hallo and K. Lawson Younger. Leiden: Brill, 1997–
2002
[3] Petrie, WM Flinders; Spiegelberg, Wilhelm (1897), Six
temples at Thebes, 1896, London: Quaritch
[4] Taylor, J. G., Travels in Kurdistan, with Notices of the
Sources of the Eastern and Western Tigris, and Ancient
Ruins in Their Neighbourhood, 1865, Journal of the Royal
Geographical Society of London
[5] Reliefstele Adadniraris 3 aus Saba'a und Semiramis
(1916)
[6] Biran, Avraham; Naveh, Joseph (1993). “An Aramaic
Stele Fragment from Tel Dan”. Israel Exploration Jour-
nal (Israel Exploration Society) 43 (2–3): 81–98.
[7] The Philistines in Transition: A History from Ca. 1000–
730 B.C.E. By Carl S. Ehrlich P:171
[8] Discoveries Among the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon,
p128
[9] Warren, Charles (1870). “Phoenician inscription on jar
handles”. Palestine Exploration Quarterly 2 (30 Septem-
ber): 372.
[10] Clyde E. Fant, Mitchell G. Reddish, Lost Treasures of the
Bible: Understanding the Bible Through Archaeological
Artifacts in World Museums, p. 228. Wm. B. Eerdmans
Publishing, 2008. ISBN 0-8028-2881-7
[11] Sidney Smith, 1924
[12] The Writing on the Wall, Tablet and Floor
[13] Charles F. Horne, PhD (1915). “The Code of Ham-
murabi: Introduction”. Yale University. Retrieved 14
September 2007.
[14] “Code of Nesilim”. Fordham.edu. Retrieved 29 Decem-
ber 2011.
[15] Lowell K. Handy (1997). The Age of Solomon: Scholar-
ship at the Turn of the Millennium. BRILL. pp. 131–132.
ISBN 90-04-10476-3.

[16] Konig, George. "Evidence for the exodus". Christian In-
ternet Forum (accessed 8 November 2005).
[17] Becher, Mordechai. "The Ten Plagues – Live From
Egypt". Ohr Somayach (accessed 8 November 2005).
[18] http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/uncategorized/
what%E2%80%99s-the-oldest-hebrew-inscription/
[19] “Archaeology: What an Ancient Hebrew Note Might
Mean”. Christianity Today. 18 January 2010. Retrieved
29 December 2011.
[20] http://phys.org/news/
2012-05-archaeologist-evidence-cult-judah-king.html
[21] Nir Hasson, 'Israeli archaeologists dig up artifact from
time of Kings David and Solomon,' at Haaretz, 15 July
2013.
[22] http://www.timesofisrael.com/
decoded-king-solomon-era-jug-engraving/
[23] Hoftijzer, J. & van der Kooij, G. (1976) “Aramaic Texts
from Deir 'Alla”, in: Documenta et Monumenta Orientis
Antiqui 19. Leiden: Brill
[24] Stern, Philip. Balaam in scripture and in inscription. Mid-
stream (2002), (accessed 27 February 2009).
[25] Kaufman, S. A. Anchor Bible Dictionary. pp. 173–78.
[26] Text and History: Historiography and the Study of the
Biblical Text, page 168
[27] See William F. Albright for the former and for the latter
Edwin R. Thiele's, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew
Kings (3rd ed.; Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan/Kregel,
1983) 217. But Gershon Galil dates his reign to 697–642
BCE.
[28] Grena (2004), p. 26, Figs. 9 and 10
[29] Kelle, Brad (2002), “What’s in a Name? Neo-Assyrian
Designations for the Northern Kingdom and Their Impli-
cations for Israelite History and Biblical Interpretation”,
Journal of Biblical Literature 121 (4): 639–646
[30] Kalimi, Isaac (2005). The Reshaping Of Ancient Israelite
History In Chronicles. Eisenbrauns. p. 106. ISBN
9781575060583. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
[31] Eerdmans
[32] On the Reliability of the Old Testament, Kenneth Ander-
son Kitchen
[33] Bible.org, Quote: “For a defense of the idea that Azariah
of Judah headed up an anti-Assyrian coalition, see Tad-
mor, “Azarijau of Yaudi” Scripta Hierosolymitana 8
(1961): 232-271. However, Israelite and Judaean His-
tory, Old Testament Library. Edited by John H. Hayes
and J. Maxwell Miller. London: SCM Press, 1977 says,
“Recently, Na’aman [Nadav Na’aman. “Sennacherib’s
‘Letter to God’ on His Campaign to Judah,” BASOR
CCXIV (1974) 25-39] has shown conclusively that the
fragment presumably mentioning Azriau king of Yaudi
actually belongs to the time of Sennacherib and refers not
to Azariah but to Hezekiah. In Tiglath-Pileser’s annals
there are two references to an Azariah (in line 123 as Az-
ri-a-[u] and in line 131 as Az-r-ja-a-í) but neither of these
make any reference to his country. Thus the Azriau of
Tiglath-pileser’s annals and Azariah of the Bible should
be regarded as two diﬀerent individuals. Azriau’s country
cannot, at the present, be determined.” Na’aman separates
the country (Yaudi) from the name Azriau (p. 36). Also
p. 28 on line 5 where the original transcription was “[I]zri-
ja-u mat Ja-u-di” he reads “ina birit misrija u mat Jaudi”
However, Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testa-
ment (OROT), p. 18, is less dogmatic. He says “Hence we
cannot certainly assert that this Azriau (without a named
territory!) is Azariah of Judah; the matter remains open
and undecided for the present and probably unlikely.” See
Also CAH, 3:35-36.”
[34] In Search of “Ancient Israel": A Study in Biblical Ori-
gins Philip R. Davies, p.63: “The reference to az-ri-a-u (?
ANET ia-u-ha-zi) (mat)ia-u-da-a is seen by a minority of
scholars (see e.g. ANET) as a reference to Azariah of Ju-
dah; the majority, however, identify the state in question
as Y’di, mentioned in the Zinjirli inscription and located
in northern Syria.”
[35] Seals of Jeremiah’s captors discovered
[36] http://beitlehifoundation.org/history/
[37] http://cojs.org/cojswiki/The_First_Extra-Biblical_
Reference_to_the_Sabbath,_c._630_BCE
[38] http://cojs.org/cojswiki/Mezad_Hashavyahu_
Ostracon%2C_c._630_BCE
[39] “Solving a Riddle Written in Silver”. The New York Times.
28 September 2004. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
[40] “The Challenges of Ketef Hinnom: Using Advanced
Technologies to Recover the Earliest Biblical Texts and
their Context”, Gabriel Barkay et al., Near Eastern Ar-
chaeology, Vol. 66, No. 4 (Dec., 2003), pp. 162–171 (at
JSTOR).
[41] “Biblical Artifact Proven to Be Real”. Webcen-
ters.netscape.compuserve.com. Retrieved 29 December
2011.
[42] Thomas, D. Winton (1958) Documents from Old Testa-
ment Times; 1961 ed. Edinburgh and London: Thomas
Nelson and Sons; p. 84.
[43] “Lachish letters”. Formerthings.com. 10 January 1938.
Retrieved 29 December 2011.
[44] T.C. Mitchell (1992). “Judah Until the Fall of Jerusalem”.
In John Boardman , I. E. S. Edwards, E. Sollberger, N. G.
L. Hammond. The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 3,
Part 2: The Assyrian and Babylonian Empires and Other
States of the Near East, from the Eighth to the Sixth Cen-
turies BCE. Cambridge University Press. p. 397. ISBN
978-0521227179.
[45] 1 Chronicles 21:25, and 2 Samuel 24:18–25.
[46] Luke 13

1.8. REFERENCES 7
[47] “Biblical artifacts”. Athenapub.com. Retrieved 29 De-
cember 2011.
[48] http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/
CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3484474,00.html

Chapter 2
Josiah
For other people of the same name, see Josiah (given
name).
Josiah or Yoshiyahu (/dʒoʊˈsaɪ.ə/ or /dʒəˈzaɪ.ə/;[1][2]
Hebrew: ּ‫ו‬‫ָה‬ּ‫י‬ִׁ‫ֹאש‬‫י‬, Modern Yoshiyyáhu, Tiberian Yôšiyyāhû,
literally meaning “healed by Yah" or “supported of Yah";
Latin: Josias; c. 649–609 BC) was a king of Judah (641–
609 BC), according to the Hebrew Bible, who instituted
major reforms. Josiah is credited by most historians with
having established or compiled important Hebrew Scrip-
tures during the Deuteronomic reform that occurred
during his rule.
Josiah became king of Judah at the age of eight, after the
assassination of his father, King Amon, and reigned for
thirty-one years, from 641/640 to 610/609 BC.[3]
He is also one of the kings mentioned in the genealogy of
Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew.
2.1 Family
Josiah is only known through biblical texts. No reference
to him exists in surviving texts of the period from Egypt
or Babylon, and no clear archaeological evidence, such as
inscriptions bearing his name, has been found.[4]
According to the Bible, Josiah was the son of King Amon
and Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath.[5]
His
grandfather Manasseh was one of the kings blamed for
turning away from the worship of Yahweh. Manasseh
adapted the Temple for idolatrous worship. Josiah’s
great-grandfather was King Hezekiah who was a noted
reformer.
Josiah had four sons: Johanan, and Eliakim (born c. 634
BC) by Zebudah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah;
(Eliakim had his name changed by Pharaoh Necho of
Egypt to Jehoiakim 2 Kings 23:34) and Mattanyahu (c.
618 BC) and Shallum (633/632 BC) both by Hamutal,
the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.[6]
Shallum succeeded Josiah as king of Judah, under the
name Jehoahaz.[7]
Shallum was succeeded by Eliakim,
under the name Jehoiakim,[8]
who was succeeded by his
own son Jeconiah;[9]
then Jeconiah was succeeded to
the throne by Mattanyahu, under the name Zedekiah.[10]
Zedekiah was the last king of Judah before the kingdom
was conquered by Babylon and the people exiled.
2.2 Religious reforms
Closer view of the inner court and House of the Temple of
Solomon as depicted in a 3-D computer model.
In the eighteenth year of his rule, Josiah ordered the High
Priest Hilkiah to use the tax money which had been col-
lected over the years to renovate the temple. It was dur-
ing this time that Hilkiah discovered the Book of the Law.
While Hilkiah was clearing the treasure room of the Tem-
ple he discovered a scroll described as “the book of the
Law”[5]
or as “the book of the law of Yahweh by the hand
of Moses". The phrase “the book of the Torah” (‫ספר‬
‫)התורה‬ in 2 Kings 22:8 is identical to the phrase used in
Joshua 1:8 and 8:34 to describe the sacred writings that
Joshua had received from Moses. The book is not iden-
tiﬁed in the text as the Torah and many scholars believe
this was either a copy of the Book of Deuteronomy or a
text that became a part of Deuteronomy.[11]
Hilkiah brought this scroll to Josiah’s attention, and the
king was greatly alarmed lest the calamities threatened
in the book for non-observance of its commands should
come upon him and his people. He sent to consult the
prophetess Huldah, who assured him that the evil fore-
told would indeed come, but not in his day; “because,”
she said, “thine heart was tender and thou didst humble
thyself before the Lord.”[5]
An assembly of the elders of
Judah and Jerusalem and of all the people was called, and
the ancient covenant with Yahweh was renewed.
8

2.3. FOREIGN RELATIONS 9
A sketch of the Temple of Solomon based on descriptions in the
Tanakh.
The king then set himself to the task of cleansing the
land from idolatry. Josiah encouraged the exclusive wor-
ship of Yahweh and outlawed all other forms of worship.
The Temple in Jerusalem was purged by the removal of
the instruments and emblems of the worship of Baal and
“the host of heaven,” introduced by Manasseh. Then the
corrupt local sanctuaries, or High Places, were destroyed,
from Beer-sheba in the south to Beth-el and the cities of
Samaria in the north.[5]
Josiah had living pagan priests
executed and even had the bones of the dead priests of
Bethel exhumed from their graves and burned on their al-
tars, which was viewed as an extreme act of desecration.
Josiah also reinstituted the Passover celebrations.
View of the Temple of Solomon with ceiling removed as depicted
in a 3-D computer model.
According to 1 Kings 13:1-3 an unnamed “man of God”
(sometimes identified as Iddo) had prophesied to King
Jeroboam of Israel, approximately three hundred years
earlier, that “a son named Josiah will be born to the
house of David” and that he would destroy the altar at
Bethel. And the only exception to this destruction was
for the grave of an unnamed prophet he found in Bethel
(2 Kings 23:15-19), who had foretold that these religious
sites Jeroboam erected would one day be destroyed (see
1 Kings 13). Josiah ordered the double grave of the “man
of God” and of the Bethel prophet to be let alone as these
prophecies had come true.
According to the later account in 2 Chronicles, Josiah
even destroyed altars and images of pagan deities in cities
of the tribes of Manasseh, Ephraim, “and Simeon, as
far as Naphtali" (2 Chronicles 34:6-7), which were out-
side of his kingdom, Judah, and returned the Ark of the
Covenant to the Temple.[12]
2.3 Foreign relations
When Josiah became king of Judah in about 641/640 BC,
the international situation was in flux. The Assyrian Em-
pire was beginning to disintegrate, the Babylonian Em-
pire had not yet risen to replace it, and Egypt to the west
was still recovering from Assyrian rule. In this power vac-
uum, Jerusalem was able to govern itself for the time be-
ing without foreign intervention.
In the spring of 609 BC, Pharaoh Necho II personally
led a sizable army up to the Euphrates River to aid the
Assyrians against the Babylonians.[13]
Taking the coast
route Via Maris into Syria at the head of a large army,
consisting mainly of his mercenaries, and supported by
his Mediterranean fleet along the shore, Necho passed the
low tracts of Philistia and Sharon. However, the passage
over the ridge of hills which shuts in on the south of the
great Jezreel Valley was blocked by the Judean army led
by Josiah, who may have considered that the Assyrians
and Egyptians were weakened by the death of the pharaoh
Psamtik I only a year earlier (610 BC), who had been ap-
pointed and confirmed by Assyrian kings Esarhaddon and
Ashurbanipal.[13]
Josiah attempted to block the advance
at Megiddo, where a fierce battle was fought and Josiah
was killed.[11]
Necho then joined forces with the Assyrian
Ashur-uballit II and together they crossed the Euphrates
and lay siege to Harran. The combined forces failed to
capture the city, and Necho retreated back to northern
Syria.
2.4 Death
There are two accounts of Josiah’s death in the Bible. The
Books of Kings merely state that Necho II met Josiah at
Megiddo and killed him (2 Kings 23:29). The Book of
Chronicles (2 Chronicles 35:20-27) gives a lengthier ac-
count and states that Josiah was fatally wounded by Egyp-
tian archers and was brought back to Jerusalem to die. His
death was a result of “not listen[ing] to what Necho had
said at God’s command...” when Necho stated: “What
quarrel is there between you and me, O king of Judah? It
is not you I am attacking at this time, but the house with

10 CHAPTER 2. JOSIAH
Pharaoh Necho II
which I am at war. God has told me to hurry; so stop
opposing God, who is with me, or he will destroy you.”
(NIV)
Josiah did not heed this warning and by both accounts
his death was caused by meeting Necho at Megiddo. All
Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. According to
2 Chronicles 35:25, Jeremiah wrote a lament for Josiah’s
passing.[14]
2.5 Succession
After the setback in Harran, Necho left a sizable force
behind, and returned to Egypt. On his return march, Ne-
cho found that Jehoahaz had been selected to succeed his
father, Josiah. (2 Kings 23:31) Necho deposed Jehoahaz,
who had been king for only three months, and replaced
him with his older brother, Jehoiakim. Necho imposed
on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver (about 33
⁄4
tons or about 3.4 metric tons) and a talent of gold (about
75 pounds or about 34 kilograms). Necho then took Je-
hoahaz back to Egypt as his prisoner. The defeat of Josiah
at Megiddo essentially represents the end of the rule of
the Davidic line, since not only were Josiah’s successors
short-lived, but also Judah’s relative independence had
crumbled in the face of a resurgent Egypt bent on regain-
ing its traditional control of the region, and the imminent
rise of the Babylonian empire which also sought control.
Necho had left Egypt in 609 BC for two reasons: one was
to relieve the Babylonian siege of Harran, and the other
was to help the king of Assyria, who was defeated by the
Babylonians at Carchemish. Josiah’s actions suggest that
he was aiding the Babylonians by engaging the Egyptian
army.
2.6 Book of the Law
The biblical text states that the priest Hilkiah found a
“Book of the Law” in the temple during the early stages
of Josiah’s temple renovation. For much of the 19th
and 20th centuries it was agreed among scholars that this
was an early version of the Book of Deuteronomy, but
recent biblical scholarship sees it as largely legendary
narrative about one of the earliest stages of creation of
Deuteronomistic work.[15]
According to the Bible Hilkiah
gave the scroll to his secretary Shaphan who took it to
king Josiah. Historical-critical biblical scholarship gener-
ally accepts that this scroll — an early predecessor of the
Torah — was written by the priests driven by ideological
interest to centralize power under Josiah in the Temple in
Jerusalem, and that the core narrative from Joshua to 2
Kings up to Josiah’s reign comprises a "Deuteronomistic
History" (DtrH) written during Josiah’s reign.[16]
On the
other hand, recent European theologians posit that most
of the Torah and Deuteronomistic History was composed
and its form ﬁnalized during the Persian period, several
centuries later.[17]
According to George E. Mendenhall, King Josiah then
changed his form of leadership entirely, entering into a
new form of covenant with the Lord. Because of what
was known as the “book of the law” he wiped out all
of the pagan cults that had formed within his land. He,
along with his people, then entered into this new covenant
with the Lord to keep the commandments of the Lord.
According to Mendenhall, in this covenant the Lord was

2.9. SEE ALSO 11
merely a witness to the covenant instead of an actual par-
ticipant. This deﬁnes the covenant as a vassal treaty - a
treaty in which the suzerain owes something to its vassals.
Because this covenant had just been discovered, it had
to be formed into coalition with the covenant that King
Josiah’s people were already serving under, the Abra-
hamic covenant.[18]
2.7 Sources
The only textual sources of information for Josiah’s reign
are from the Bible,[4]
notably 2 Kings 22-23 and 2 Chron-
icles 34-35. No archaeological evidence for Josiah as a
person exists. Seals and seal impressions from the pe-
riod stated in the Bible to be that of Josiah’s reign show
a transition from those of an earlier period which bear
images of stars and the moon, to seals that carry only
names, a possible indication of Josiah’s reforms enforc-
ing monotheism.[19]
No other archaeological evidence for
the religious reforms attributed to Josiah in the Bible has
been discovered.[19]
The date of Josiah’s death can fairly well be established.
The Babylonian Chronicle dates the battle at Harran be-
tween the Assyrians and their Egyptian allies against
the Babylonians from Tammuz (July–August) to Elul
(August–September) 609 BC. On that basis, Josiah was
killed in the month of Tammuz (July–August) 609 BC,
when the Egyptians were on their way to Harran.[20]
2.8 Rabbinic Literature
According to Rabbinic interpretation, Huldah said to the
messengers of King Josiah, “Tell the man that sent you to
me,” etc. (2 Kings 22:15), indicating by her unceremoni-
ous language that for her Josiah was like any other man.
The king addressed her, and not Jeremiah, because he
thought that women are more easily stirred to pity than
men, and that therefore the prophetess would be more
likely than Jeremiah to intercede with God in his behalf
(Meg. 14a, b; comp. Seder 'Olam R. xxi.). Huldah was
a relative of Jeremiah, both being descendants of Rahab
by her marriage with Joshua (Sifre, Num. 78; Meg. 14a,
b). While Jeremiah admonished and preached repentance
to the men, she did the same to the women (Pesiḳ. R.
26 [ed. Friedmann, p. 129]). Huldah was not only a
prophetess, but taught publicly in the school (Targ. to 2
Kings 22:14), according to some teaching especially the
oral doctrine. It is doubtful whether “the Gate of Huldah”
in the Second Temple (Mid. i. 3) has any connection with
the prophetess Huldah; it may have meant “Cat’s Gate";
some scholars, however, associate the gate with Huldah’s
schoolhouse (Rashi to Kings l.c.).E. C. L. G.
The prophetic activity of Jeremiah began in the reign of
Josiah; he was a contemporary of his relative the prophet-
ess Hulda and of his teacher Zephaniah (comp. Mai-
monides in the introduction to “Yad"; in Lam. R. i. 18
Isaiah is mentioned as Jeremiah’s teacher). These three
prophets divided their activity in such wise that Hulda
spoke to the women and Jeremiah to the men in the street,
while Zephaniah preached in the synagogue (Pesiḳ. R.
l.c.). When Josiah restored the true worship, Jeremiah
went to the exiled ten tribes, whom he brought to Pales-
tine under the rule of the pious king ('Ar. 33a). Although
Josiah went to war with Egypt against the prophet’s ad-
vice, yet the latter knew that the pious king did so only in
error (Lam. R. l.c.); and in his dirges he bitterly laments
the king’s death, the fourth chapter of the Lamentations
beginning with a dirge on Josiah (Lam. R. iv. 1; Targ. II
Chron. xxxv. 25).
2.9 See also
• List of artifacts in biblical archaeology
2.10 References
[1] Josiah deﬁnition - Bible Dictionary - Dictionary.com. Re-
trieved 25 July 2011.
[2] Wells, John C. (1990). Longman pronunciation dictio-
nary. Harlow, England: Longman. p. 386. ISBN 0-582-
05383-8. entry “Josiah”
[3] Edwin Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew
Kings, (1st ed.; New York: Macmillan, 1951; 2d
ed.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965; 3rd ed.; Grand
Rapids: Zondervan/Kregel, 1983). ISBN 0-8254-3825-
X, 9780825438257, 217.
[4] Alpert, Bernard; Alpert, Fran (2012). Archaeology and
the Biblical Record. Hamilton Books. p. 74. ISBN 978-
0761858355.
[5] “Josiah”, Jewish Encyclopedia
[6] 1 Chronicles 3:15, 2 Kings 23:36, 24:18, 23:31
[7] 1 Chronicles 3:15, Jeremiah 22:11
[8] 2 Chronicles 36:4
[9] 2 Chronicles 36:8
[10] 24:17&verse=NIV&src=! 2 Kings 24:17 NIV
[11] Sweeney, Marvin A. King Josiah of Judah, Oxford Uni-
versity Press, 2001, ISBN 9780195133240]
[12] 2 Chronicles 35:1-4
[13] Coogan, Michael David. The Oxford History of the
Biblical World, Oxford University Press, 2001, ISBN
9780195139372
[14] Hill, Andrew E., 1 and 2 Chronicles, The NIV Application
Commentary, Zondervan, 2010, ISBN 9780310865612

12 CHAPTER 2. JOSIAH
[15] “The Book of Josiah’s Reform” - Bible.org. Retrieved 24
July 2011.
[16] Friedman 1987, Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silber-
man: The Bible Unearthed; Archeology’s New Vision of
Ancient Israel and the Origin of its Sacred Texts, Touch-
stone, New York, 2002
[17] Konrad Schmid, The Persian Imperial Authorization
as a Historical Problem and as a Biblical Construct,in
G.N.Knoppers and B.M.Levison(eds.): The Pentateuch as
Torah, New Models for Understanding its Promulgation
and Acceptance, Eisenbrauns 2007
[18] Mendenhall, George (September 1954). “Covenant
Forms in Israelite Tradition”. The Biblical Archaeologist
17 (3): 73–76.
[19] Finkelstein, Israel; Silberman, Neil Asher (2001). The
Bible Unearthed: Archaeology’s New Vision of Ancient
Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts. Simon and
Schuster. ISBN 978-0-684-86912-4.
[20] Thiele, Mysterious Numbers 182, 184-185.
2.11 Further reading
• The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology’s New Vision of
Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts for
the possible role of Josiah in creation of the Bible.
• Hertz, J. H. (1936). The Pentateuch and Haftoras.
Deuteronomy. Oxford University Press, London.
• Friedman, R. (1987). Who Wrote the Bible? New
York: Summit Books.
2.12 External links
• Jewish Encyclopedia: Josiah
• Catholic Encyclopedia: Josias
• Jewish Virtual Library Josiah

Chapter 3
Autobiography of Weni
Autobiography of Weni, now at the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
Autobiography of Weni - description by Mariette
The Autobiography of Weni is a tomb inscription from
Ancient Egypt which is significant to Egyptology studies.
Weni the Elder, or Uni, was a court official of the 6th
dynasty of Ancient Egypt.[1]
The Tomb of Weni was lost as a result of Auguste Ma-
riette's 1880 description of Weni’s tomb being unclear
("[on] the high hill which gives the middle cemetery its
name”). It was relocated in 1999 by an American archae-
ologist team led by Dr. Janet Richards.[2]
3.1 Biography
Weni began his career under Teti, and served as a gen-
eral under Pepi I Meryre and as governor of Upper Egypt
during the reign of Merenre Nemtyemsaf I. As judge he
investigated the queen who was apparently suspected of
involvement in a conspiracy. While he was general, he
reorganized the military into a format that was still in use
in the New Kingdom.
Weni rose through the ranks of the military to become
commander in chief of the army. He was considered
by both his contemporaries and many Egyptologists to
have been a brilliant tactician and possibly even a genius.
His victories earned him the privilege of being shown
leading the troops into battle, a right usually reserved for
pharaohs. Weni is the first person, other than a pharaoh,
known to have been portrayed in this manner. Many of
his battles were in the Levant and the Sinai. He is said to
have pursued a group of Bedouins all the way to Mount
Carmel. He battled a Bedouin people known as the sand-
dwellers at least five times.
While he was commander in chief of the army, he made
several key reforms to the military. He began training his
troops to have a pre-emptive rather than a defensive pos-
ture. Weni included Nubian mercenaries in the army for
the first time and he reorganized the army to control in-
fighting amongst the troops and to minimise uncontrolled
pillaging. He recorded his reorganization of the army in
great detail and his reforms lasted until the time of the
New Kingdom.
After the death of Pepi, Weni was appointed the governor
of Upper Egypt. He made many infrastructure improve-
ments, some of which were beneficial to the military. His
most noted project was a canal that ran parallel to the Nile
at the First Cataract.
3.2 References
[1] The Archaeology of Individuals at Abydos, Egypt
[2] Weni the Elder and His Mortuary Neighborhood at Aby-
dos, Egypt
13

14 CHAPTER 3. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF WENI
• “Inscription of Uni” in Ancient Records of Egypt by
James Henry Breasted, 1906, Part One, sections
291-294, 306-315, 319-324
• “The Autobiography of Weni” in Ancient Egyptian
Literature by M. Lichtheim, vol.1, pp.18ff.
• Conspiracies in the Egyptian Palace: Unis to Pepy
I by Naguib Kanawati, 2003 Routledge (UK),
pp.171ff.
• Texts from the Pyramid Age by Nigel C. Strudwick,
Ronald J. Leprohon, 2005 Brill Academic Publish-
ers, pp.352ff.
• A History of Ancient Egypt by Nicholas Grimal,
1992 Blackwell Publishing, pp.82ff.
3.3 External links
• Weni the Elder and His Mortuary Neighborhood at
Abydos, Egypt
• The Inscription of Weni

Chapter 4
Sebek-khu Stele
The Sebek-khu Stele, also known as the Stele of Khu-
sobek, is an inscription in honour of a man named Khu-
sobek (Sebek-khu) who lived during the reign of Senusret
III (reign: 1878 – 1839 BC) discovered by John Garstang
in 1901[1]
outside Khu-sobek’s tomb at Abydos, Egypt,
and now housed in the Manchester Museum.[2][3]
The text is largely about Khu-sobek’s life, and is histor-
ically important because they record the earliest known
Egyptian military campaign in Canaan (or elsewhere in
Asia). The text reads “Then Sekmem fell, together
with the wretched Retenu", where Sekmem (s-k-m-m) is
thought to be Shechem.
4.1 External links
• The stela of Sebek-khu, the earliest record of an
Egyptian campaign in Asia (1914)
4.2 References
[1] The Stela of Khu-Sobek (Manchester Museum)
[2] Manchester Museum: 3306 Stela, Object, Registered,
Africa, Egypt, Upper Egypt, Abydos
[3] The Land of the Bible: A Historical Geography, Yohanan
Aharoni
15

Chapter 5
Statue of Idrimi
The Statue of Idrimi is an important ancient Middle
Eastern sculpture found at the site of Alalakh by the
British archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley in the 1930s.
Dating from the 16th century BC, the statue is famous for
its long biographical inscription of King Idrimi written in
the Akkadian language. It has been part of the British
Museum's collection since 1939.[1]
[2]
The inscription includes the "first certain cuneiform ref-
erence” to Canaan.[3]
5.1 Discovery
The Statue of Idrimi was discovered by Woolley in the ru-
ins of a temple at the site of Tell Atchana, ancient Alalakh
in the province of Hatay, Turkey. The statue had been
badly damaged, presumably at a time of invasion or civil
war, in around 1100 BC. The statue’s head and feet had
been broken off and it been deliberately toppled off its
pedestal.
5.2 Description
The statue is carved of hard white dolomitic magnesite
and the eyebrows, eyelids and pupils are inlaid with glass
and black stone. The king, who is seated on a throne,
wears a round-topped crown with band and neck-guard
and a garment with narrow borders. King Idrimi is de-
picted crossing his right arm above the left. An inscrip-
tion covers large parts of the body.
5.3 Inscription
The inscription on the statue is written in Akkadian, using
cuneiform script. It describes the exploits of King Idrimi
and his family. The inscription tells how, following a dis-
pute, Idrimi and his family were forced to flee Iamhad
(Aleppo) to his mother’s family at Emar (now Meskene)
on the river Euphrates. Determined to restore the dy-
nasty’s fortunes, Idrimi left Emar and travelled to Canaan
where he made a treaty with the king of Umman-Manda,
rallied troops and mounted a seaborne expedition to re-
cover the lost territory from the Hittites. He eventually
became a vassal of King Barattarna who installed him as
king in Alalakh, which he ruled for 30 years. The in-
scription ends with curses on anyone who desecrates or
destroys the statue.
5.4 Gallery
• Detail of the upper part of the Statue of Idrimi
5.5 References
[1] British Museum Highlights
[2] British Museum Collection
[3] Drews 1998, p. 46: “An eighteenth-century letter from
Mari may refer to Canaan, but the first certain cuneiform
reference appears on a statue base of Idrimi, king of
Alalakh c. 1500 BCE.”
5.6 Further reading
• T.C. Mitchell, The Bible in the British Museum
(London, The British Museum Press, 1988)
• D. Collon, Ancient Near Eastern art (London, The
British Museum Press, 1995)
• Drews, Robert (1998), “Canaanites and Philistines”,
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 81: 39–
61
16

Chapter 6
Merneptah Stele
The Merneptah Stele—also known as the Israel Stele
or Victory Stele of Merneptah—is an inscription by the
Ancient Egyptian king Merneptah (reign: 1213 to 1203
BC) discovered by Flinders Petrie in 1896 at Thebes, and
now housed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.[1][2]
The
text is largely an account of Merneptah’s victory over the
Libyans and their allies, but the last 3 of the 28 lines deal
with a separate campaign in Canaan, then part of Egypt’s
imperial possessions.
While alternative translations have been put forward, the
majority of biblical archeologists translate a set of hiero-
glyphs on Line 27 as “Israel”, such that it represents the
first documented instance of the name Israel in the histor-
ical record,[2]
and the only mention in Ancient Egypt.[3]
It
is also one of only four known ancient inscriptions inter-
preted to mention the term “Israel”, the others being the
Mesha Stele, the Tel Dan Stele, and the Kurkh Mono-
lith.[4]
As a result, some consider the stele to be Flinders
Petrie's most famous discovery,[5]
an opinion with which
Petrie himself concurred.[6]
6.1 Description and context
The stele was discovered in 1896 by Flinders Petrie in
the ancient Egyptian capital of Thebes, and first trans-
lated by Wilhelm Spiegelberg. In his “Inscriptions” chap-
ter of Petrie’s 1897 publication “Six Temples at Thebes”,
Spiegelberg described the stele as “engraved on the rough
back of the stele of Amenhotep III, which was removed
from his temple, and placed back outward, against the
wall, in the forecourt of the temple of Merenptah. Ow-
ing to the rough surface, and the poor cutting, the read-
ings in many places require careful examination... The
scene at the top retains its original colouring of yellow,
red, and blue. Amen is shewn giving a sword to the king,
who is backed by Mut on one side and by Khonsu on the
other”.[7]
Now in the collection of the Egyptian Museum at Cairo,
the stele is a black granite slab, over 3 meters (10 feet)
high, and the inscription says it was carved in the 5th year
of Merneptah of the 19th dynasty. Most of the text glo-
rifies Merneptah’s victories over enemies from Libya and
Flinders Petrie's 1897 mirror image copy of the main part of the
inscription (all 28 lines)
their Sea People allies, but the final two lines mention a
campaign in Canaan, where Merneptah says he defeated
and destroyed Ashkalon, Gezer, Yanoam and Israel.
Egypt was the dominant power in the region during the
long reign of Merneptah’s predecessor, Ramesses the
Great, but Merneptah and his own successor, Ramesses
III, faced major invasions. The problems began in
Merneptah’s 5th year (1208), when a Libyan king invaded
Egypt from the West in alliance with various northern
peoples. Merneptah achieved a great victory in the sum-
mer of that year, and the inscription is mainly about this.
The final lines deal with an apparently separate campaign
in the East, where it seems that some of the Canaanite
cities had revolted. Traditionally the Egyptians had con-
cerned themselves only with cities, so the problem pre-
sented by Israel must have been something new – possi-
17

18 CHAPTER 6. MERNEPTAH STELE
bly attacks on Egypt’s vassals in Canaan. Merneptah and
Ramesses III fought off their enemies, but it was the be-
ginning of the end of Egypt’s control over Canaan – the
last evidence of an Egyptian presence in the area is the
name of Ramesses VI (1141–33) inscribed on a statue
base from Megiddo.[8]
6.2 Lines 26–28
6.2.1 Overview
Libyans (Tjeḥenu) are described by determinatives: foreign per-
son + people + foreign country (=state/country of Libyan peo-
ple)
The bulk of the inscription deals with Merneptah’s victory
over the Libyans, but the last 3 of the 28 lines shift to
Canaan:[9]
The princes are prostrate, saying, “Peace!"
Not one is raising his head among the Nine
Bows.
Now that Tehenu (Libya) has come to ruin,
Hatti is pacified;
The Canaan has been plundered into every sort
of woe:
Ashkelon has been overcome;
Gezer has been captured;
Yano'am is made non-existent.
Israel is laid waste and his seed is not;
Hurru is become a widow because of Egypt.
The “nine bows” is a term the Egyptians used to re-
fer to their enemies - the actual enemies varied accord-
ing to time and circumstance.[10]
Hatti and Hurru are
Syria/Palestine, Canaan and Israel are smaller units, and
Ashkelon, Gezer and Yanoam are cities within the region;
according to the stele, all are, or should be, under Egyp-
tian control.[11]
6.2.2 Line 27
Petrie called upon Wilhelm Spiegelberg, a German
philologist in his archaeological team, to translate the
inscription. Spiegelberg was puzzled by one sym-
bol towards the end, that of a people or tribe whom
Merneptah (also written Merenptah) had victoriously
smitten—“I.si.ri.ar?" Petrie quickly suggested that it
read: "Israel!" Spiegelberg agreed that this translation
must be correct.[1]
“Won't the reverends be pleased?" re-
marked Petrie. At dinner that evening, Petrie who re-
alized the importance of the find said: “This stele will
be better known in the world than anything else I have
found.” The news of its discovery made headlines when
it reached the English papers.[1]
The line which refers to Israel is:
While Ashkelon, Gezer and Yanoam are given the de-
terminative for a city – a throw stick plus three moun-
tains – the hieroglyphs that refer to Israel instead employ
the throw stick (the determinative for “foreign”) plus a
sitting man and woman (the determinative for “people”)
over three vertical lines (a plural marker):
According to The Oxford History of the biblical World,
this “foreign people” “sign is typically used by the Egyp-
tians to signify nomadic groups or peoples, without a fixed
city-state home, thus implying a seminomadic or rural
status for 'Israel' at that time.”[12][lower-alpha 2]
The phrase
“wasted, bare of seed” is formulaic, and often used of
defeated nations – it implies that the grain-store of the
nation in question has been destroyed, which would re-
sult in a famine the following year, incapacitating them
as a military threat to Egypt.[12]
A portion of line 27, translated as “Israel [foreign people]"
While alternatives to the reading “Israel” have been
put forward since the stele’s discovery – the two pri-
mary candidates being “Jezreel”,[13][14][15]
a city and
valley in northern Canaan, and a continuation of
the description of Libya referring to “wearers of the
sidelock”[lower-alpha 3]
– most scholars accept that Mernep-
tah refers to “Israel”.[lower-alpha 4]
6.2.3 Interpretation
It is not clear, however, just who this Israel was or where
they were located.[lower-alpha 5]
For the “who”, if the battle
reliefs of Karnak show the Israelites, then they are de-
picted in Canaanite costume and Merneptah’s Israelites
are therefore Canaanites; if, on the other hand, the Kar-
nak reliefs do not show Merneptah’s campaigns, then the
stele’s Israelites may be “Shasu”, a term used by the Egyp-
tians to refer to nomads and marauders.[19]
Similarly, if Merneptah’s claim to have destroyed Israel’s

6.4. SEE ALSO 19
“seed” means that he destroyed its grain supply, then Is-
rael can be taken to be a settled, crop-growing people; if,
however, it means he killed Israel’s progeny, then Israel
can be taken to be pastoralists, i.e., Shasu.[20]
The nor-
mative Egyptian use of “wasted, bare of seed” was as a
repeated, formulaic phrase to declare victory over a de-
feated nation or people group whom the Egyptian army
conquered and had literally destroyed their grain supply
in the specific geographic region that they inhabited.[12]
MG Hasell, arguing that prt on the stele meant grain, sug-
gested that “Israel functioned as an agriculturally based
or sedentary socioethnic entity in the late 13th century
BCE”[21]
and this in some degree of contrast to nomadic
“Shasu” pastoralists in the region. Others disagree that prt
meant grain, and Edward Lipinski wrote that “the “classi-
cal” opposition of nomadic shepherds and settled farmers
does not seem to suit the area concerned”.[22]
Hasel also
says that this does not suggest that the Israelites were an
urban people at this time, nor does it provide information
about the actual social structure of the people group iden-
tified as Israel.[21]
Biblical scholar Thomas L. Thompson
writes that “this name in the Merneptah inscription of
the late thirteenth-century might conceivably understand
it as the name of a region, in polarity with the clearly
geographical name: Canaan.” Also, “The group “Israel”
... are rather a very specific group among the population
of Palestine which bears a name that occurs here for the
first time that at a much later stage in Palestine’s history
bears a substantially different signification.” For, “Refer-
ences to the Merneptah stele are not really helpful. This
text renders for us only the earliest known usage of the
name 'Israel.'" So, “to begin the origins of biblical Israel
with Merneptah ... on the grounds that we have extra-
biblical rather than biblical attestation is willful. These
texts are, mirabile dictu, even less relevant than the bibli-
cal traditions.”[23]
As for its location, most scholars believe that Mernep-
tah’s Israel must have been in the hill country of central
Canaan, but some think it was across the Jordan, oth-
ers that it was a coalition of Canaanite settlements in the
lowlands of the Jezreel valley (the potential Israelites on
the walls of Karnak are driving chariots, a weapon of the
lowlands rather than the highlands), and others that the
inscription gives very little useful information at all.[24]
6.3 Karnak reliefs
The stele was found in Merenptah’s funerary chapel in
Thebes, the ancient Egyptian capital on the west bank
of the Nile. On the opposite bank is the Temple of
Karnak, where the fragmentary copy was found. In the
1970s Frank Yurco announced that some reliefs at Kar-
nak which had been thought to depict events in the reign
of Ramesses II, Merenptah’s father, in fact belonged to
Merenptah. The four reliefs show the capture of three
cities, one of them labelled as Ashkelon; Yurco suggested
that the other two were Gezer and Yanoam. The fourth
shows a battle in open hilly country against an enemy
shown as Canaanite. Yurco suggested that this scene
was to be equated with the Israel of the stele. While
the idea that Merneptah’s Israelites are to be seen on the
walls of the temple has had an influence on many theo-
ries regarding the significance of the inscription, not all
Egyptologists accept Yurco’s ascription of the reliefs to
Merneptah.[25]
6.4 See also
• List of artifacts significant to the Bible
• Mesha Stele
• New Chronology (Rohl)
• Tel Dan Stele
• Shasu
6.5 Notes
[1] In the original text, the bird (a swallow) is placed below
the t sign (a semicircle) but for reasons of legibility, the
bird is here placed next to the t sign.
[2] Whether the Egyptian scribes used these determinatives
consistently in general and in the Merneptah Stele in par-
ticular, is in itself a matter of some debate.[11]
[3] Nibbi suggests that the first character in “I.si.ri.ar” was
misread - rather than G1, Nibbi suggests G4, and that such
an amendment would allow the characters to be translated
as “wearers of the sidelock”, which refers to Libyans in
other sources such as the Book of Gates. Nibbi supports
this by noting that the male figure has an apparent out-
growth of hair on the side of his head.[16]
[4] Hassel (2008): “The view that the term ysry·r/l is a possi-
ble territory within Canaan but not associated with bibli-
cal Israel was proposed by Othniel Margalith (1990). His
conclusions are based on the suggestion by G. R. Driver
(1948: 135) that the Egyptian letter 's’ in the word could
also represent the Hebrew zayin. Accordingly, the name
ysry·r/l could be translated as Iezreel “which might be an
inexperienced way of rendering Yezreel, the valley to the
north of the country” (Margalith 1990: 229). As oth-
ers have pointed out elsewhere, Margalith’s attempts to
identify the entity ysry·r/l with Isarel or Jezreel through
Ugaritic vocalizations and a Sumerian title of a king are
not convincing for an Egyptian inscription with a clear
context for this entity in Canaan (Hasel 1994: 46; 1998a:
196–97; compare Kitchen 1966a: 91).” and “The sug-
gestion of equating the ysry·r/l of the stela with Jezreel
has now been taken up anew by I. Hjelm and Thomas
L. Thompson (2002: 14) without any reference to ear-
lier discussions. The identification is rife with difficulties.
First, the Egyptian signs for “bolt” (Gardiner 1957: 507,
O34) and “folded cloth” (Gardiner 1957: 507, S29) in

20 CHAPTER 6. MERNEPTAH STELE
Old Egyptian represented the sound s. In the New King-
dom, Hebrew zayin is rendered q or t in Egyptian and
not s (Kitchen 1966a: 91, 1966b 59; Helck 1971: 18,
554, 589). Second, ysry·r/l does not include the Egyptian
equivalent of ayin needed for the reading yzrªl. Third, the
reading “Jezreel” must assume that the determinative for
people used with ysry·r/ l was a scribal error, because it
does not fit the designation of a geographical location. The
orthographic and philological reasons mitigate the reading
of ysry·r/ l as Jezreel (see also Kitchen 2004).”[17]
[5] Davies (2008): “Assuming we have Merneptah’s dates
correctly as 1213-1203, and that the reading “Israel” is
correct, the reference places an Israel in Palestine in the
thirteenth century. The word read (probably correctly)
as “Israel” also has a sign indicating a people and not a
place. That makes the alternative reading “Jezreel” less
likely — though Hebrew “s” and “z” could both be rep-
resented by the same Egyptian letter; also, since “Jezreel”
is partly made up of the word for “seed”, the inscription
could be a pun by a Semitic speaking scribe. It might also
be considered that Merneptah would find it easier to fight
in the plain of Jezreel than in the highlands.”[18]
6.6 References
[1] Drower 1985, p. 221.
[2] Redmount 2001, pp. 71–72, 97.
[3] Domination and Resistance: Egyptian Military Activity in
the Southern Levant, Michael G. Hasel, p194
[4] Lemche 1998, p. 46, 62: “ No other inscription from
Palestine, or from Transjordan in the Iron Age, has so far
provided any specific reference to Israel... The name of
Israel was found in only a very limited number of inscrip-
tions, one from Egypt, another separated by at least 250
years from the first, in Transjordan. A third reference is
found in the stele from Tel Dan - if it is genuine, a question
not yet settled. The Assyrian and Mesopotamian sources
only once mentioned a king of Israel, Ahab, in a spurious
rendering of the name.”
[5] The Biblical Archaeologist, American Schools of Oriental
Research, 1997, p. 35.
[6] Drower 1995, p. 221.
[7] Petrie & Spiegelberg 1897, p. 26.
[8] Drews 1995, pp. 18–20.
[9] Sparks 1998, pp. 96–97.
[10] FitzWilliam Museum, UK: Ancient Egypt.
[11] Smith 2002, p. 26.
[12] Redmount 2001, p. 97.
[13] Eissfeldt 1965, p. 14: “Unfortunately, even the supposed
earliest mention of the name Israel in the triumphal hymn
of Merenptah composed about 1230 b.c. does not provide
any unambiguous answer to this question, for this name
may also be explained as Jezreel.”
[14] Margalith 1990, p. 225.
[15] Strahan 1896, p. 624.
[16] Nibbi 1989, p. 101.
[17] Hasel 2008, p. 47-60.
[18] Davies 2008, p. 90-91.
[19] Whitelam 1997, p. 26, fn. 16.
[20] Killebrew 2005, p. 154.
[21] Hasel, MG (1994), “Israel in the Merneptah Stela”, BA-
SOR 296 (12): 54, 56.
[22] Lipinski, Edward (2006). On the Skirts of Canaan in
the Iron Age: Historical and Topographical Researches.
Peeters. p. 60. ISBN 978-90-429-1798-9.
[23] Early History of the Israelite People, Thomas L. Thomp-
son, pp. 139, 311 and 404. Quote: “With the “Israel” stele
we have only a name in an historical context in which the
shifting signification and dislocation of regional and gen-
tilic toponymy over centuries is a commonplace”
[24] Moore & Kelle 2011, pp. 115–16.
[25] Killebrew 2005, p. 155.
6.7 Sources
• Davies, Philip R (2008). Memories of Ancient Is-
rael. Louisville, Kentucky, USA: Westminster John
Knox Press.
• Drews, Robert (1995). The End of the Bronze Age.
Princeton University Press.
• Drower, Margaret (1985). Flinders Petrie: A life in
Archaeology. Victor Gollancz.
• Eissfeldt, Otto (1965). “XXVI, Palestine in the
Time of the Nineteenth Dynasty: (a) the Exodus and
Wanderings, Volume II”. Cambridge Ancient His-
tory 31. CUP Archive.
• ——— (1995) [1985]. Flinders Petrie: A Life in
Archaeology..
• Hasel, Michael (2008). “Merenptah’s reference to
Israel: critical issues for the origin of Israel”. In
Hess, Richard S.; Klingbeil, Gerald A.; Ray, Paul
J. Critical Issues in Early Israelite History. Eisen-
brauns.
• Killebrew, Ann E (2005). Biblical Peoples and Eth-
nicity. Society for Biblical Literature.
• Lemche, Niels Peter (1998). The Israelites in His-
tory and Tradition. Westminster John Knox Press.

6.9. EXTERNAL LINKS 21
• Margalith, Othniel (1990). “On the Origin and
Antiquity of the Name Israel”. Zeitschrift für die
Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 102 (2): 225–237.
doi:10.1515/zatw.1990.102.2.225.
• Moore, Megan Bishop; Kelle, Brad E (2011).
Biblical History and Israel’s Past. Eerdmans.
• Nibbi, Alessandra (1989). Canaan and Canaanite
in ancient Egypt. Discussions in Egyptology. ISBN
0-9510704-4-4.
• Petrie, WM Flinders; Spiegelberg, Wilhelm (1897).
Six temples at Thebes, 1896. London: Quaritch..
• Redmount, Carol A (2001) [1998]. “Bitter lives: Is-
rael in and out of Egypt”. In Coogan, Michael D.
The Oxford History of the Biblical World. Oxford
University Press. pp. 58–89.
• Smith, Mark S (2002). The Early History of God.
Eerdmans.
• Sparks, Kenton L (1998). Cognitive Perspectives on
Israelite Identity. Eisenbrauns.
• Strahan, A (1896). “The contemporary review”.
The Contemporary Review 69: 624–626. Retrieved
19 Jan 2011.
• Theis, Christopher; van der Veen, Peter (2015).
Israel in Canaan. (Long) Before Pharaoh
Merenptah? A fresh look at Berlin statue pedestal
relief 21687. Journal of Ancient Egyptian Inter-
connections 2 (2010), 15–25.
• Whitelam, Keith W (1997). “The Identity of Early
Israel: The Realignment and Transformation of Late
Bronze-Iron Age Palestine”. In Exum, J Cheryl.
The Historical Books. Continuum.
6.8 Further reading
• Cheyne, Thomas Kelly; Black, J. Sutherland, eds.
(1899). Encyclopaedia Biblica: A Critical Dictio-
nary of the Literary, Political and Religion History,
the Archeology, Geography and Natural History of
the Bible.
• Hasel, Michael G (1998). Domination and Resis-
tance: Egyptian Military Activity in the Southern Lev-
ant, 1300–1185 BC. Brill.
• Metcalfe, William Musham; Erskine, Ruaraidh
(1897). “The Scottish review”. The Scottish review
29: 125.
• Nestor, Dermot (2010). Ethnicity and Identity in An-
cient Israel. Continuum.
• Nibbi, Alessandra (1996). “Some Remarks on the
Merenptah Stela and the So-Called Name of Israel”.
Discussions in Egyptology, Oxford 36: 79–102.
6.9 External links
• Klein, Ralph W. “The Merneptah Stela”. Lutheran
School of Theology at Chicago.
• Lichtheim, Miriam. “Merneptah Stele” (full trans-
lation). Bible dudes.

Chapter 7
Bubastite Portal
Coordinates: 25°43′07″N 32°39′27″E / 25.71874°N
32.6574°E
The temple wall depicts a list of city states conquered by Shoshenq
I in his Near Eastern military campaigns.
This Bubastite Portal gate is located in Karnak, within
the Precinct of Amun-Re temple complex, between the
temple of Ramesses III and the second pylon. It records
the conquests and military campaigns in c.925 BCE of
Shoshenq I, of the Twenty-second Dynasty.[1]
Shoshenq
has been identified with the biblical Shishaq, such that
the relief is also known as the Shishak Inscription or
Shishaq Relief.[2]
7.1 History
This gate was erected by the kings of the Twenty-second
Dynasty of Egypt, also known as the “Bubastite Dy-
nasty”. It is located to the south-east side of the Temple
Champollion’s 1829 drawing of a cartouche showing the name
“ydhmrk”. Champollion’s 1829 read of this name as “King of
Judah” was disproven. Modern scholars generally accept that the
phrase refers to "Yad Hemmelek” (“Hand of the King”), although
it has also been interpreted as "Juttah of the King”[3]
of Ramesses III.
Although Karnak had been known to Europeans since the
end of the Middle Ages, the possible significance of the
Bubastite Portal was not apparent prior to the decipher-
ment of hieroglyphics. Jean-François Champollion vis-
ited Karnak in 1828, six years after his publication of the
Rosetta Stone translation. In his letters he wrote:
In this wonderful palace, I observed the
portraits of most of the old Pharaohs known
for their great deeds.... we see people fighting
enemies Mandoueï of Egypt, and returning in
triumph to his homeland, farther campaigns
Ramses-Sesostris also Sésonchis dragging the
foot of the Theban Triad (Amun, Mut and
22

7.3. TRANSLITERATIONS AND TRANSLATIONS 23
Khonsu) defeating thirty conquered nations,
among which I found, as it should be, in full,
Ioudahamalek, the kingdom of Judah, or
the Jews. This matches the commentary in
1 Kings 14, which recounts the successful
arrival of Sésonchis at Jerusalem: the identity
that we have established between the Egyptian
Sheschonck the Sésonchis of Manetho and
Scheschôk or Shishak of the Bible, is con-
ﬁrmed in the most satisfactory manner.
— Jean-François Champollion, Lettres ecrites
d'Egypte et de Nubie en 1828 et 1829[4]
7.2 Description
Portal showing cartouches of Sheshonq I
One facade shows King Sheshonq I, Teklot and Osorkon
of the 22nd dynasty, making oﬀerings to the gods and
goddesses. Another scene shows Sheshonq grasping a
group of captives by the hair and smiting them by his
mace. Behind and below him, there are the names of
Canaanite towns in several rows. Many of these are lost,
but originally there were 156 names and one of the most
interesting names which were mentioned is 'The Field of
Abram' . The inscriptions give no details for this expedi-
tion and mentioned only the victory over the Asiatics.
7.3 Transliterations and transla-
tions
Below is a translation of the 156 names on the
inscription.[5]
7.3.1 Section One
Row I - Listing of the Nine Bows
1. tirsy- Southern Land (i.e. Upper Egypt)
2. ti mhw = Northern Land (i.e. Lower Egypt)
3. iwn.tiw = Tribesmen
4. thnw = Libyans
5. sht[-iimw - Sekhet[-Iam]
6. mn[.tiw] = Beduin
7. pd[.tiwswi= Bow[men of the feather]
8. Sit = Upper Nubia
9. /tf[.wwi]<b.w = Northerners
7.3.2 Section Two - Coastal plain, Shep-
helah, Meggido plain and Jezreel
plain
10. mi.ti Tr.f] = Copy of the [scroll]
11. St 1
12. m[ ]i[] = Makkedah
13. rbt = Rubate
Row II
14. r<7i*/ = Ta'anach
15. Snmi = Shunem
16. btSnri = Beth-Shean
17. r#H = Rehob
18. hprmi = Hapharaim
19. idrm
20. destroyed
21. Swd
22. mhnm - Mahanaim
23. <7&<7i = Gibeon
24. bthwrn = Beth-Horon
25. qdtm = Kiriath-jearim or Gath-Gittaim
26. iywrn = Aijalon
Row III
27. mkdi = Megiddo
28. Wr = Adar
29. ydhmrk = Yad Hammelek
30. [ ]rr
31. hinm = Henam
32. c rn = Aruna
33. brm = Borim
34. ddptr = Giti-Padalla
35. y[]h[]m = Yehem
36. bfrm = Beth 'Olam
37. kqr
38. £/* = Socoh
39. bttp = Beth-Tappuah
Row IV
40. ibri
41. [ ]htp
42. destroyed
43. destroyed
44. destroyed
45. btdb[ ]
46. nbk[ ]
47. [ ]/[ ]
48. destroyed
49. destroyed
50. destroyed
51. [ ssd[
52. destroyed

Biblical Archaeology Student Study Guide

Biblical Archaeology Student Study Guide

Recomendados

Recomendados

Mais conteúdo relacionado

Mais procurados

Mais procurados (20)

Semelhante a Biblical Archaeology Student Study Guide

Semelhante a Biblical Archaeology Student Study Guide (20)

Mais de Sister Lara

Mais de Sister Lara (20)

Último

Último (20)

Biblical Archaeology Student Study Guide