Merenptah stele

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The Merenptah stele in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo (JE 31408 and CG 34025)

The text of the Merenptah stele or victory stele of Merenptah , which is also known as the Israel stele , is available in two versions: on the one hand as a detailed inscription in Karnak and on the other hand in a shorter version on an originally free-standing stele in West Thebes .

Flinders Petrie found the black granite stele in  1896 in the ruins of the mortuary temple of King ( Pharaoh ) Merenptah (19th Dynasty, New Kingdom ). Today it is kept in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo under the inventory numbers CG 34025 and JE 31408 . The text is dated from 3. Schemu III (April 19 July / April 8 greg. ) 1208 BC. BC, the fifth year of the king's reign.

Prehistory of the stele

The stele is 310 cm high, 160 cm wide and 32 cm thick. Originally it was for the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III. determined from the 18th dynasty . The front contains a detailed account of the king's building activities in West Thebes , Soleb , Luxor and Karnak . In the Amarna period the text was partially hammered out and Seti I , the second king of the 19th Dynasty , as a "monument to his father Amun" restored . A double scene with the standing Amun-Re can be seen on the front and the back . Amenhotep III sacrifices on the recto . cool water ( qbḥw - qebehu) and wine ( jrp - irep) to the god . The verso shows Merenptah receiving the sickle sword ( Chepesch ); he is accompanied by chons and courage . Amun-Re comments on the scene with the words: "Take the Chepesch sword to victory over all foreigners ."

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Wars against other peoples

In his fifth year of reign, Merenptah had to assert himself against an attack by Libyan tribes, the Lebu ( Libya ) and Mešweš (Meschwesch), as well as various sea ​​peoples .

Text of the stele (William M. Flinders Petrie, Six Temples at Thebes , London (1897), plate 14)

The allies of the Libyans are named in the victory inscription of Karnak: Šardana (Scherden), Šekeleš (Shekelesch), Turiša ( Tyrsener ), Luka and Aqi-waša ( Achaeans ). In addition, the routes of the Egyptian army , the duration of the battle, the number of victims of the enemy and a bag list are included in the victory report. On the Israel stele, the king omitted to mention these detailed explanations again: he was mainly concerned with emphasizing his role as the commissioner of the gods, to whom Ptah had presented the sickle sword of war in a dream oracle . The stele thus also has the character of a speech of thanks to the gods for the Merenptah bestowed victory in a “holy war”.

" 3  He (Merenptah) is Shu , who chased the storm over Kemet , ... who had driven the burden of war off the neck of the Pat people and gave the Rechit people air to breathe, ... who opened the locked gates of the city of Inbu- hedj has opened ... 6  The wretched prince, the enemy from Lebu, fled in the middle of the night, all alone, with no feather on his head, with bare feet ... 14  A great miracle happened in Ta-meri (Egypt) : His attacker has been given into the hands of Egypt as a prisoner. (...) The evildoer Meria (...) is thrown down (...) 15  and the unity of the gods declares him guilty of his atrocities. "

- Excerpts from the text of the Merenptah stele

The following lines 21 to 25 describe the exuberant joy of the Egyptians over the peace brought about by the victorious king:

17  See, you sit down with the strong, and immediately there is air to live ... 21  Great joy has arisen in Egypt; A shout of joy has broken out in the towns of Ta-meri. 22  See how pleasant it is to sit down and chat. One walks a long way without fear in the hearts of people ... 25  One walks around singing during the day. There is no cry of lament from people who mourn ... Re has turned to Egypt again. "

- Excerpts from the text of the Merenptah stele

The mention of Israel

Israel segment in hieroglyphics
M17 M17 O34
Z1s Z1s
D21
M17 G1 D21
Z1
T14 A1 B1
Z2s

Jsrjr
(reading from left to right)
Israel segment.jpg
Israel segment (from line 27)
(reading from right to left)

In contrast to the other geographical names mentioned, the word "Israel" is not written here with the determinative for a place or a country, but with that for a group of people or people. Israel was thus at the end of the 13th century BC. BC not yet understood as a state, but as a name for a group of people.

The mention of a tribe of Israel is the oldest and only non-biblical evidence of the existence of the name Israel in Ramessid times . It should be up to the 9th century BC. It took until the first time a state named House Omri was recorded in Assyrian inscriptions and the Mesha stele as equating with the name Israel. The question of historical similarities with the nomadic people of Israel described in the Merenptah stele and the later state has not yet been clarified. The other places mentioned, however, are partly to be assigned to some cities in historical Israel , at least Gezer and the Philistine city of Ashkelon . For Jenoam several come into consideration, including a place on the border of the tribe of Ephraim and Manasseh (see Twelve Tribes of Israel ) and Janoaḥ east of Tire ; Jokne'am , which still exists today, cannot be ruled out either.

26  ... The chiefs prostrate themselves and shout šrm .
Tjehenu ( Tḥnw , Libya) has been conquered.
Hatti ( Ḫtṯ3 ) is pacified.
Canaan ( P3-K3nˁnˁ) is captured with all evil.
27  Ascalon ( Jsq3rny ) is brought about.
Gezer ( Q3ḏ3r ) is packed.
Jenoam ( Ynwˁm3m) is ruined.
Israel ( Jsrjr ) . is devastated, its seed is no more.
Chor ( Ḫ3rw ) has become the widow ( ḫ3rt ) of 28  Ta-meri ( the beloved land , ie Egypt).
All countries are at peace overall. "

- Excerpts from the text of the Merenptah stele
Israel is devastated, its seed is no more. "
i i z
Z1s Z1s
r
i A. r
Z1
T14 A1 B1
Z2s
f
k
t
G37
b
n
O1
r
t
N33B
Z2
f





Jsrjr fk.t bn pr.t = f
Israel devastated [Negation particle] Seeds his)

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Merenptah Stele  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Egyptian hieroglyphs  - collection of images, videos, and audio files

Remarks

  1. The two-part inscription in the great temple of Amun - campaign against Libyans and sea peoples; the victorious Pharaoh before Amun-Re - is located on the eastern inner wall of the so-called "Cachette Court" between the hypostyle and the seventh pylon .
  2. According to the large Karnak text ( Kenneth A. Kitchen : Ramesside Inscriptions: Historical and Biographical. Volume IV, pp. 33-37) the battle in the Libyan War took place on that day.
  3. Some expressions appear as epithets within the title on the Amada stele of Merenptah: "who destroys Libya ( fḫ Rbw )", "lion against Charu ( m3j r Ḫ3rw )", "strong bull against Kush ( k3 [r] Kš ) "And" who beats the land of the Medja (a Nubian people) ( sm3 t3-Mḏ3yw ) ": See Kenneth A. Kitchen: Ramesside Inscriptions: Historical and Biographical. Volume IV, pp. 1-2.
  4. Literally: "They made him guilty ( ˁḏ3 - adja) because of his crimes".
  5. Written: " 3rm" plus the determinative of the supplicant. In the Semitic language mainly an expression for peace and integrity ; the Hebrew expression shalom was not known at this time, as the Hebrew language did not become known until the 9th century BC at the earliest. Developed as a separate script / language branch.
  6. The Hittites , who had signed a peace treaty with Egypt under Ramses II , did not act against Egypt. With his formulation, Merenptah is probably alluding to a grain delivery for Hatti, where there was famine in the first years of his government.
  7. Not with mountains or cities as determinative , but with the determinative for people, people (without territorial boundaries with clearly defined state structures; similar to the Libyan tribes).
  8. The pictorial formulation " Saat, Samen " is used here for the descendants of a hostile people, according to Adolf Erman and Hermann Grapow : Dictionary of the Egyptian Language . First volume, unaltered reprint, Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1971, p. 530.
  9. A paronomasia  : Alan H. Gardiner: Ancient Egyptian Onomastica. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1947, p. 183
  10. In the original text the bird (a swallow) is placed under the t -sign (a semicircle), but for reasons of legibility the bird is placed next to the t -symbol.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ William Matthew Flinders Petrie , Wilhelm Spiegelberg: Six Temples at Thebes. 1896. Quaritch, London 1897, p. 13.
  2. ^ WM Flinders Petrie, W. Spiegelberg: Six Temples at Thebes. 1896. Plate XII.
  3. Ursula Kaplony-Heckel: The Israel stele of Merenptah. In: Otto Kaiser (Ed.): Texts from the environment of the Old Testament. Vol. 1 - Old series, Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 1985, p. 545.
  4. Jan Assmann: Egypt. A story of meaning. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2003, ISBN 3-596-14267-9 , p. 230
  5. See the complete version by Ursula Kaplony-Heckel: Die Israel-Stele des Merenptah. Gütersloh 1985, pp. 546-549.
  6. See the complete version by Ursula Kaplony-Heckel: Die Israel-Stele des Merenptah. Gütersloh 1985, pp. 550-551.
  7. ^ Thomas Wagner:  Israel (AT). In: Michaela Bauks, Klaus Koenen, Stefan Alkier (eds.): The scientific biblical dictionary on the Internet (WiBiLex), Stuttgart 2006 ff., Accessed on May 30, 2012.
  8. ^ W. Gesenius, F. Buhl: Hebrew and Aramaic Concise Dictionary on the Old Testament. Leipzig 1915, p. 303.
  9. See the complete version by Ursula Kaplony-Heckel: Die Israel-Stele des Merenptah. Gütersloh 1985, pp. 551-552.
  10. ^ Rainer Hannig: Large Concise Dictionary Egyptian-German. von Zabern, Mainz 2001, ISBN 3-8053-1771-9 , p. 1312.