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Merneptah Stele

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Also known as Israel Stele, Victory Stele of Merneptah

memorial plaque by Merneptah who ruled Egypt between 1213 and 1203 BC

Key facts

Material
Granite
Writing
Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs
Created
c. 1208 BCE
Discovered by
Flinders Petrie
Present location
Egyptian Museum , Cairo
Identification
JE 31408
Period
New Kingdom of Egypt

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of
stele
Country of origin
Ancient Egypt
Material used
granite
Collection
Egyptian Museum
Image
Merneptah Steli (cropped).jpg
Height
310
Width
160
Show 10 more facts
commissioned by
Merneptah
location of discovery
Thebes
thickness
32
inception
1200-00-00
inventory number
JE 31408
writing system
Egyptian hieroglyphs
discoverer or inventor
Flinders Petrie
time of discovery or invention
1896-00-00
Commons category
Merneptah Stele
Sources (2)

via Wikidata · CC0

~13 min read

Encyclopedic overview

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.

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.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Merneptah Stele” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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