#mesha stele

“Like a lucky actress or singer, it took us by storm.  Not in the universities only, but in the metropolis — not in learned circles merely, but in fashionable ones — it was the topic of the day.  Politicians, lawyers, statists, men of business, nay ladies — ladies, moreover, never previously suspected of having in their mental colouring the faintest tint of blue — talked of it, discussed it, argued about it, expressed opinions as to its age and its contents, and smiled if they met with any one who confessed to complete ignorance on the subject.” (Rawlinson, 1870, on “The Moabite Stone”)

The Mesha Stele (also called the Moabite Inscription) attracted enormous attention after an Anglican missionary in modern Jordan saw it in 1868.  England, France, and Prussia all fought to buy it from its Bedouin owners, and when the Ottoman Empire began to interfere, the Bedouin broke it into fragments and hid them, rather than hand it over.  When the inscription was deciphered, thanks to a copied impression of the stone and the recovery of some fragments, it proved hugely important to the field of biblical studies.

Moab was one of Israel’s closest neighbors, and King Mesha himself, subject of the inscription, appears in the Hebrew Bible.  The Mesha Inscription thus both supported the Bible’s historicity and diminished its uniqueness.  Like the Israelite god YHWH, Kemosh watched over Moab as his special nation, and their military success was based on his favor or displeasure.  Like the biblical histories, King Mesha’s account of his triumphs serves as propaganda, using a bit of creative license and hyperbole to achieve a positive spin.

I am Mesha [1], son of Kemoshyat, king of Moab, the Daibonite. My father ruled over Moab for thirty years.

But then I ruled after my father. I made this shrine [2] for Kemosh in Qarḥoh. (It is) a shr[ine of deli]verance, [3]        because he delivered me from every king (?),        and because he raised me above all my enemies. [4]

Omri was the king of Israel,        and he oppressed Moab for a long time,        because Kemosh was angry at his nation. Then his son succeeded him,        and he declared, “I will oppress Moab,” too. He said that during my reign, but I rose above him and his family. Israel was destroyed — completely destroyed! — even though Omri had conquered the land as far as Mehadaba. He stayed there through his reign and half his son’s reign,        forty years,        but Kemosh returned it during my reign.

I built Baalmaon,        and I made a reservoir in it,        and I built Qiryaten.

The population of Gad had always lived in the nation of Aṭarot,        and the king of Israel had built up Aṭarot. But I attacked the city and seized it. I killed the city’s entire population as tribute (?) for Kemosh and Moab; I plundered the altar of its patron god [5],        and I relocated it (to be) before Kemosh in Qiryat. I settled the populations of Sharon and Maḥarat in (Aṭarot).

Kemosh then said to me, “Go and seize Nabo from Israel.” So I went out at night, and I fought with them        from the break of dawn until past noon. I seized it, and I killed everyone —        seven thousand male citizens, male immigrants,        female citizens, female immigrants, and fertile girls — [6] because I had devoted them to destruction for Ashtar-Kemosh. [7] Then I took the vessels of YHWH from there,        and I relocated them (to be) before Kemosh.

The king of Israel had built Yahaṣ,        and he stayed there while he was fighting with me. But Kemosh drove him out for me. I took two hundred men from Moab — their entire unit. I brought (the unit) up to Yahaṣ,        and I seized it to enrich Daibon.

I am the one who built up Qarḥoh, [8]        the garden’s walls and the citadel’s walls. I am the one who built its gates,        and I am the one who built its towers. I am the one who built the palace,        and I am the one who made the retaining walls of the reservoir        for the spring in the city center. (There had been no cistern in the city center of Qarḥoh,        so I told all the people,        “Each household should make their own cistern.”) I am the one who dug ditches for Qarḥoh,        using the captives from Israel. I am the one who built Aro’er,        and I am the one who made the road by the Arnon River,        and I am the one who built up Bet Bamot after it was destroyed. I am the one who built Beṣer back from rubble,        using the population of Daibon —        for everyone in Daibon obeyed me. I am the one who ruled over hundreds        in the cities I added to the nation. I am the one who built Mehadaba, Bet Diblaten, and Bet Baalmaon,        and I brought up there the l[ambs? …]        […] sheep (?) of the nation.

(As for) Ḥawronen, the House of David had lived in [it …] Then Kemosh told me, “Go out to fight Hawronen.” So I went out and [attacked the city, and I seized it,        and it was restored by] Kemosh during my reign.

[The remaining couple of lines are very fragmentary.]

An aesthetic history of Eastern Mediterranean archaeology

1/?

“I am sorry to find that I was also the last European who had the privilege of seeing the monument of Hebrew antiquity in its perfect state of preservation…

The stone was lying among the ruins of Dhiban perfectly free and exposed to view, the inscription uppermost.”