Image Details

Frank J. Yurco
Merenptah probably conducted his Canaanite campaign sometime between 1211 and 1209 B.C.E. If author Yurco’s analysis is right, scene 4 gives us the oldest known visual portrayal of Israelites, more than 600 years earlier than the oldest previously known depictions (showing the conquest of Lachish in reliefs on the wall of the Assyrian king Sennacherib’s palace at Nineveh), and only about 40 years after the time when the Israelites are thought to have emerged as a distinct group. The early date and the Israelites’ manner of dress combine to provide an important clue to Israelite origins. The Israelites in the scene clearly wear ankle-length clothes, best seen in the half-destroyed standing figures on the left side (see drawing). This style of dress resembles that of the Canaanites in the other battle scenes, but differs substantially from the dress of the Shasu in some of the nonbattle scenes. This suggests that the Israelites may have derived, at least in part, from Canaanite society.