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While excavating the mortuary temples of the New Kingdom pharaohs on the West Bank of Thebes in 1896, Flinders Petrie made an intriguing find at the Temple of Merenptah (c.1213-1203 BC), the 13th son and successor to Ramesses II (c.1279-1213 BC). It is a typical ‘victory’ stela, with a scene in the top lunette of the king being handed a khepesh (sickle-shaped sword) by the god Amun. The accompanying text tells of a campaign in the Fifth Year of the king, which is generally dated to 1208 BC. Most of the text concerns a battle against Libyans and attendant Sea People allies, and is not particularly remarkable. However, the last lines describe a campaign into Palestine, and the defeat of several areas, and of cities such as Ashkelon and Gezer. But then follows the statement ‘Israel is laid waste – its seed is no more’. This remains the only time that an inscription has been found that definitely relates to a people called Israel. The lack of corroboration of events from the Bible in the Egyptian records was a puzzle to the Victorians, and Petrie is supposed to have sardonically observed: ‘Won’t the Reverends be pleased!’.
The significance of the account is much debated and disputed, in particular the relevance it might have to the stories of the Exodus from Egypt under Moses, and the Conquest of Canaan by Joshua and the Israelites. Places in the inscription, such as Ashkelon and Gezer, have the expected ‘city’ determinative sign; for the name Israel, however, it is the determinative sign for ‘people’ that is used, which comprises a seated man and woman.
This has been interpreted to mean that Israel was still a partly nomadic group and was not yet fully settled in the land, which might have implications for dating the Conquest. So the stela is often used to postulate an Exodus and Conquest in the 13th century BC, with Ramesses II as the ‘pharaoh of the Exodus’.
There have been alternative explanations. Some have questioned whether ‘Israel’ is the correct translation and have suggested Jezreel (a place in the Galilee). However, this is not accepted philologically by most interpreters. Others have questioned whether this entity called ‘Israel’ is the same as the biblical Israel. Yet the idea that there were two totally unrelated groups with the same name at around the same time seems to stretch credulity. In 1970, Frank Zurco pointed to reliefs in Karnak Temple that had been thought to date to the time of Ramesses II. He argued they were from the time of Merenptah, and depicted the conflict mentioned on the stela. The city of Ashkelon is labelled explicitly, and he argued that the other two cities were Gezer and Yanoam, as on the stela. The fourth battle would then depict Israelites. However, since there are no captions, it is impossible to be sure of this.
The Israel Stela is one of the most photographed objects in the Cairo collection. As is often the case, however, something that seemed to have settled an issue raises a whole new set of questions!
Michael Tunnicliffe is a freelance lecturer in Adult Education.
