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The Tel Dan Stele is a fragmentary stele containing an Aramaic inscription which dates to the 9th century BCE. It is the earliest known extra-biblical archaeological reference to the house of David. [1] [2] The stele was discovered in 1993 in Tel-Dan by Gila Cook, a member of an archaeological team led by Avraham Biran.
Around this time, the Tel Dan stele was created by the Aramaeans, during one of the periods of their control of Dan. When the Assyrian empire expanded to the south, the kingdom of Israel initially became a vassal state, but after rebelling, the Assyrians invaded and the town fell to Tiglath-Pileser III in 733/732 BCE.
Tel Dan Stele: Israel Museum: 1993, Tel Dan: c.800 BC: Old Aramaic: Significant as an extra-biblical corroboration of Israel's past, particularly in lines 8 and 9, which mention a "king of Israel" and a "house of David". The latter is generally understood by scholars to refer to the ruling dynasty of Judah.
The minimalists argued that the bible was not a reliable guide to the history of ancient Israel, and, specifically, that its story of a united kingdom of Israel ruled by David and Solomon could not be taken at face value. The Tel Dan stele therefore found great favour among those who wished to defend the biblical version of Israel's ancient past.
The Tel Dan Stele, the Mesha Stele, the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser, and direct evidence from excavations, together paint a picture of the Omride kings ruling a rich, powerful, and cosmopolitan empire, stretching from Damascus to Moab, [37] and building some of the largest and most beautiful constructions of Iron Age Israel; [38] by contrast ...
The Sarcophagus of Eshmunazar II was the first of this type of inscription found anywhere in the Levant (modern Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria). [1] [2]The Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions, also known as Northwest Semitic inscriptions, [3] are the primary extra-Biblical source for understanding of the societies and histories of the ancient Phoenicians, Hebrews and Arameans.
Tel Gezer is an archaeological site which sits on the western flank of the Shephelah, overlooking the coastal plain of Israel, near the junction between Via Maris and the trunk road leading to Jerusalem. The tel consists of two mounds with a saddle between them, spanning roughly 30 acres (120,000 m 2). A dozen inscribed boundary stones found in ...
Biran's most important discovery at the Tel was an inscription on a slab of basalt, known as the Tel Dan Stele, that consists of 13 lines in ancient Aramaic script that mention The House of David. Regarding the significance of this inscription Hebrew University archaeologist Professor Amnon Ben-Tor said: [3]