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© MUSÉE DU LOUVRE, DIST. RMN-GRAND PALAIS/PHILIPPE FUZEAU/ART RESOURCE, NY

MESHA IN A NEW LIGHT. The Mesha Stele chronicles the victories of King Mesha of Moab over Israel and Judah. It was discovered in Dibon in 1868 and broken into many pieces shortly afterward. Later, Charles Clermont-Ganneau recovered many of the pieces and reassembled the stela. Before it was divided, though, Yaqub Karavaca was able to make a squeeze (paper-mache impression) of it. In 2018, a new backlit picture of the squeeze was created (shown here). The “House of David” (btdwd) reference in line 31 is highlighted.