The Merenptah stele

or Israel Stele

Introduction

In 1896, English archaeologist Flinders Petrie unearthed an imposing grey granite stele 3.18 m high, 1.61 m wide and 31 cm thick in Merenptah's funerary temple at West Thebes.
On closer examination, it appears to have been originally erected by Amenhetep III, probably in his own funerary temple near that of Merenptah. He used the reverse to engrave a hymn to himself on the third day of the third month of Shemu (summer) in year 5 of his reign (circa 1207), to commemorate his victorious military campaign in year 5 against the Libyans and in the land of Canaan.

Image opposite: Sir W. M. Flinders Petrie (1853-1942), one of the fathers of modern archaeology. He was the first to use scientific excavation methods such as stratigraphy, which consists in identifying the successive phases of occupation of a site by means of strata stacked one on top of the other.

The contents of the stele

The scene at the top of the stele depicts two figures of Amun-Ra, back to back in two symmetrical scenes. The two divinities are wearing the mortar topped by the two large feathers that characterize the divinity. Above them is a winged solar disk.

Opposite image: the stele, an imposing grey granite stele 3.18 m high, 1.61 m wide and 31 cm thick..

The Amon-Ra on the right holds in his left hand a sort of long cane, a sceptre ouas, and in his right hand a sword khepech that the king facing him, dressed in a long loincloth and wearing the Khéprech, with his right hand, while with his left he holds a sceptre. heqa. On the left, Amon-Ra, whose left arm grasps the sign ânkh, hands Merenptah a sword Khepech.
The only difference between the two scenes is the object the sovereign holds in his left hand: a scepter. heqa instead of a sceptre ouas.
Beneath the arched section, engraved from right to left, is a 28-line inscription of a long poetic text that first glorifies the power of the sovereign, conqueror of the Tjehenou. Merenptah recalls his ability to protect Memphis and Heliopolis from Libyan invasion, and to restore peace.
Various sources indicate that Merenptah's victory was won over a coalition of Libyans (Libou and Machaouachs) and Sea Peoples (Akaouash, Toursha, Rouk, Shardanes and Shakalash), who were driven out of Egypt. The Sea Peoples returned in years 5 and 8 of Ramesses III (1182-1151), who drove them back in a violent battle in the Delta. This episode is described in a text and images engraved on the outer walls of his temple at Medinet Habou.

The word Israel on the stele

The stele is particularly famous for containing the only known mention of Israel in Egyptian texts.. The inscription is on the twenty-seventh and penultimate line (see image below), in a list of peoples defeated by Merenptah. It consists of phonetic hieroglyphs that English archaeologist Sir Flinders Petrie interprets as israr and determinative hieroglyphs designating foreign peoples (the man and woman) (the throwing stick). This is not a reference to a state or city, but to a people generally identified with the proto-Israelites.

Image opposite: «Israel is devastated, its seed is no more. Kharou has become a widow because of Egypt». (J. Yoyotte).

They are a people who control the northern mountainous areas overlooking the coastal plain, while the south is in the hands of the nomadic Chasous.
The Egyptian army, led by Merenptah, had to follow the coast, cross Gaza and recapture Ascalon and Gézer, strategic points and obligatory passageways to Canaan. These recaptured cities became the base from which the Egyptian army could organize its advance. All these towns, listed in a precise order, were strategic locks preventing access to the coastal plain.

Merenptah, Pharaoh of the Exodus?

Following the absence of Merenptah's body when his tomb and the Royal Cache were discovered at Deir el-Bahari, and the mention of Israel on the stele, many considered at the time that Merenptah was probably the «pharaoh of the Exodus» and his father, Ramses II the Great, the «oppressor pharaoh».

Image opposite: a representation (detail) of a warrior from the «Sea Peoples» engraved on a wall of the temple of Ramses III at Medinet Habou © Théo Truschel.

His mummy was finally found in 1898, when 14 remains from the tomb of Amenophis II (KV 35) in the Valley of the Kings were unearthed. Recent forensic analysis of the remains revealed a strong presence of salt, the result of residual natron used during mummification (H. Sourouzian). Could it be that Pharaoh was drowned with his army when the Egyptians were buried in the waters of the Reed Sea? The Bible does mention Pharaoh's Egyptian army, but not the king himself (Exodus, the Bible, chapter 14), nor his name, which remains the subject of much debate among scholars to this day.
However, it is well established that the Merenptah stele speaks of the eradication of the Israelites already present in the Canaan region, and to hope one day to discover the identity of the two Pharaohs of the Exodus, we would probably have to go back a little further into the past.
The original stele is now on display at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, while a faithful copy can still be seen at the site of his temple in West Thebes. An important eighty-line inscription on the same subject was carved at Karnak; a column with a similar text, also called the Column of Victory, was found in the ruins of Merenptah's temple at Heliopolis, and other variants were also found on stelae at Memphis, Athribis and Amada...