Archaeology · 2 · Miriam
Israel's first appearance: declared extinct
The oldest mention of Israel, on Pharaoh Merneptah's stele from 1207 BCE, boasts that Israel has been wiped out.
Israel enters history as a defeated people.
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When Flinders Petrie's team read the name in 1896, he predicted the monument would become his most famous find, and it did. Ironically, it was Egypt's empire that soon vanished from Canaan, while Israel endured.
Source: Why the Bible Began, pp. 37–40
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