Merneptah Stele
The Merneptah Stele, also known as the Israel Stele or the Victory Stele of Merneptah, is an inscription by Merneptah, a pharaoh in ancient Egypt who reigned from 1213 to 1203 BCE. Discovered by Flinders Petrie at Thebes in 1896, it is now housed at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
| Merneptah Stele | |
|---|---|
The stele in 2023 | |
| Material | Granite |
| Writing | Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs |
| Created | c. 1208 BCE |
| Discovered | 1896 Thebes, Egypt 25°43′14″N 32°36′37″E |
| Discovered by | Flinders Petrie |
| Present location | Egyptian Museum, Cairo |
| Identification | JE 31408 |
| Period | Iron Age |
Egyptian Museum, Cairo Thebes The Merneptah Stele was discovered in Thebes and is currently housed in Cairo, Egypt | |
The text is largely an account of Merneptah's victory over the ancient Libyans and their allies, but the last three of the 28 lines deal with a separate campaign in Canaan, then part of Egypt's imperial possessions. It is sometimes referred to as the "Israel Stele" because a majority of scholars translate a set of hieroglyphs in line 27 as "Israel". Alternative translations have been advanced but are not widely accepted.
The stele represents the earliest textual reference to Israel and the only reference from ancient Egypt. It is one of four known inscriptions from the Iron Age that date to the time of and mention ancient Israel by name, with the others being the Mesha Stele, the Tel Dan Stele, and the Kurkh Monoliths. Consequently, some consider the Merneptah Stele to be Petrie's most famous discovery, an opinion with which Petrie himself concurred.