The Israel Stele
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| -Merneptah Stele, also known as the Israel Stele with the word "Israel" Highlighted |
A Special Highlight:
The earliest known reference to "Israel" from outside the Bible is attributed to a hieroglyphic inscription on the Merneptah Stele, dated to about 1208 BC.
It was discovered in 1896 at Thebes by the English egyptologist Flinders Petrie.
A member of Petrie's expedition, German philologist Wilhelm Spiegelberg was the first to translate the hieroglyphics. On line 27 Spiegelberg ran into the word "I.si.ri.ar", referring to a nation in Canaan said to had been wiped out by the conquering pharaoh. Petrie instantly understood the meaning of the word and suggested the proper reading of it is - "Israel".
Although scholars debate on earlier archaeological findings which came along the years, the Merneptah Stele remains the earliest relic mentioning "Israel", with wide consensus among scholars.
