What does Merneptah's painting mean?
The Merneptah Plate, also known as the Merneptah Victory Board, is a memorial plaque to the king of Egypt, Merneptah, who ruled Egypt between 1213 - 1203 BC, and it is a thick granite slab that recalls the victory of King Amenhotep the Third over the Libyans and their allies, while the last three lines of 28 lines speak about a campaign Others in Canaan, which were part of the Egyptian kingdom at that time. It was discovered by the historian "Flinders Petrie" in Thebes - currently Luxor - in 1896 AD. The painting is now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo under the number CG 34025. And the history written on it in hieroglyphs is: Shimo ||| Day 3 (i.e., on the third day of the third month of the summer "Shimo"), and this date is mathematically equivalent to April 8, and according to the manuscripts of Karnak Temple, there was on this date the war against the Libyans in 1208 BC, and the battle was in the fifth year of the rule of this king
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| Merneptah statue |
The panel is 310 centimeters high, 160 centimeters wide and 32 centimeters thick. It was the basis of the Temple of the Dead of Amenovis III of the Eighteenth Dynasty and written on its background is a report on the installations undertaken by the king in West Thebes, in Solip, Luxor, and Karnak. During the Amarna period, part of the carved form was removed from it, and Pharaoh Setus I of the nineteenth dynasty used it after restoring it as a memorial plaque to the god Amun. On the front and on the back there is a double drawing depicting the god Amon Ra standing in the middle. In the half of the image to the right, King Amenophis III presents cold water "ugliness" and wine "Lord" to Amun Ra, followed by the god Khans.
In the other half of the image to the left, Merneptah is seen receiving the curved sword "Chip" from Amun Ra, followed by the gods death. In writing on this scene, Amun-Ra says:
“Take the Swordfish to win all the lands of strangers.
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| 'Yisrael is destroyed, has no seeds.' |
Historians differ in defining the peoples involved in the Canaan campaign, especially the people of Jezrek. Some have argued that the intention is the peoples of the Marj Ibn Amer region, and that the ancient Egyptian writer was referring to the actual seeds, and that agriculture no longer grows in the Marj Ibn Amer plain, especially according to what was mentioned in one of the texts of the eighth year of the rule of Ramses II, in which he mentioned a region. Ezrail "when speaking about the southern regions of Phenicia, while others went to the intent to annihilate these peoples so that they have no existence (using the term metaphorically for seeds). The closest and most acceptable explanation among Egyptologists is that the Egyptian writer here refers to the defeat of the Canaanite peoples Ashkelon, Gezer, and Blessed, and to the crushing of Ezira and the destruction of their seed stores, which will lead to starvation in the following year, which will prevent them from posing any danger to Egypt,
It is the way that was followed by many Egyptian kings.
Some have tended to link the peoples of Ezraiar with the Israel mentioned in the Torah, and they have taken it as historical evidence and a single Egyptian mention without any evidence or justification for the connection between Ezraiar and Israel. However, most Egyptologists see this as a link without evidence, especially since the rest of the Canaanite peoples mentioned are peoples not known to us now, like Jezrek, and because the text mentions the destruction of the people of Jezrek, which was mentioned previously in one of the texts of Ramses II.
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