Berlin pedestal relief

Berlin pedestal relief
Berlin pedestal relief
	Berlin pedestal (ÄM 21687)
Material	Granite
Height	46 cm
Width	40 cm
Created	c. 1450 BC
Present location	Egyptian Museum of Berlin

The Berlin pedestal relief is part of the base of a granite pedestal of an unprovenanced Ancient Egyptian statue containing an inscription describing Egypt's war victories. According to the German archaeologist Manfred Görg, the inscription on the pedestal may have originally contained one of the oldest known references to Israel, older than the inscription in the Merneptah Stele by two centuries. The artifact is kept in the Egyptian Museum of Berlin (ÄM 21687).^[1]

Description

In 1913, a fragment of the pedestal base was purchased from an antiquities trader named M. Nachman by Egyptologist Ludwig Borchardt (1863–1938), along with another granite pedestal relief of similar size (50 × 38 cm, ÄM 21688). The preserved fragment measures approximately 40 × 46 cm. The preserved part shows three prisoners tied with a rope around their necks. Each prisoner has a cartouche with the name of his country of origin:

The first cartouche (on the left, jsqrwn) may refer to Ashkelon
The middle cartouche (kynꜥꜣnnw) refers to Canaan
The last cartouche (on the right, j...šꜣjr) is partially broken off. In 2001, Manfred Görg proposed that the missing mark was a symbol of a vulture (Gardiner sign G1, representing Egyptian alef); further imaging studies have added weight to this assessment. Görg suggested that the word would then read "Israel", but even with the vulture sign such a spelling of the word Israel would be unique in the Egyptian texts.

The proposal that Berlin pedestal (ÄM 21687) may contain a reference to Israel has been rejected by other scholars.^[2]^[3]

Dating

The dating of the Berlin pedestal is difficult to establish because it was not discovered in situ and has no provenance. Despite containing just a few words, it contains many spelling differences versus previously known inscriptions. Based on the writing itself, the Berlin pedestal is reminiscent of a spelling from 18th Dynasty of Egypt in the time period c. 1550-1292 B.C.E. Considering the historical reality of central highlands of Canaan and New Kingdom's Pharaohs' conquests, some researchers proposed that the Berlin pedestal was most likely written during the reign of Horemheb (1319-1292 BC) or Ramessess II (1279-1213 BC) as there was no Israel-like entity in the central highlands during the early and mid-18th Dynasty of Egypt, none of the Pharaohs from this period, e.g., Thutmose III, Amenhotep III, etc recorded such entity in their topographical lists, and only Horemheb and Ramessess II are among the Pharaohs after this period who made military conquests in the central highlands of Canaan.^[4]

Bibliography

Gorg, M. (1974). Untersuchungen zur hieroglyphischen Wiedergabe palastinischer Ortsnamen. Bonner orientalistische Studien; neue Serie, no. 29 (in German). Selbstverlag des Orientalischen Seminars der Universitat.
Manfred Görg: Israel in Hieroglyphen. In: Biblische Notizen'. Band 106, 2001, S. 21–27.
Edel, E.; Görg, M. (2005). Die Ortsnamenlisten im nördlichen Säulenhof des Totentempels Amenophis' III. Ägypten und Altes Testament (in German). Harrassowitz in Kommission. ISBN 978-3-447-05219-1.

Footnotes

^ Peter van der Veen; Christoffer Theis; Manfred Görg (2010). "Israel in Canaan (Long) Before Pharaoh Merenptah? A Fresh Look at Berlin Statue Pedestal Relief 21687". Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections. 2 (4). University of Arizona: 15–25.
^ Adrom, Faried (2016). "Israel in Berlin? Identifizierungsvorschläge zur Fremdvölkerliste Berlin 21687". In Meyer-Blanck, Michael (ed.). Geschichte und Gott: XV. Europäischer Kongress für Theologie (14.–18. September 2014 in Berlin) (in German). Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt. pp. 288–301. ISBN 978-3-374-04580-8.
^ Ritner, R. K. (2020). "The Supposed Earliest Hieroglyphic Mention of Israel [Berlin ÄM 21687]: Refutation". In Koller, A. J.; Cohen, M. Z.; Moshavi, A. (eds.). Semitic, Biblical, and Jewish Studies in Honor of Richard C. Steiner. Jerusalem: The Bialik Institute. pp. 38–53. ISBN 978-965-536-277-0.
^ Zwickel, Wolfgang & van der Veen, Pieter (2017). "The Earliest Reference to Israel and Its Possible Archaeological and Historical Background". Vetus Testamentum. 67 (1): 129–140. doi:10.1163/15685330-12341266.

[1] Peter van der Veen; Christoffer Theis; Manfred Görg (2010). "Israel in Canaan (Long) Before Pharaoh Merenptah? A Fresh Look at Berlin Statue Pedestal Relief 21687". Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections. 2 (4). University of Arizona: 15–25.

[2] Adrom, Faried (2016). "Israel in Berlin? Identifizierungsvorschläge zur Fremdvölkerliste Berlin 21687". In Meyer-Blanck, Michael (ed.). Geschichte und Gott: XV. Europäischer Kongress für Theologie (14.–18. September 2014 in Berlin) (in German). Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt. pp. 288–301. ISBN 978-3-374-04580-8.

[3] Ritner, R. K. (2020). "The Supposed Earliest Hieroglyphic Mention of Israel [Berlin ÄM 21687]: Refutation". In Koller, A. J.; Cohen, M. Z.; Moshavi, A. (eds.). Semitic, Biblical, and Jewish Studies in Honor of Richard C. Steiner. Jerusalem: The Bialik Institute. pp. 38–53. ISBN 978-965-536-277-0.

[4] Zwickel, Wolfgang & van der Veen, Pieter (2017). "The Earliest Reference to Israel and Its Possible Archaeological and Historical Background". Vetus Testamentum. 67 (1): 129–140. doi:10.1163/15685330-12341266.

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