The Bible in stone

Inscriptions and finds from the lands and times of the Bible — what they are made of, where they were found and what they say, beside the passages that speak of the same people and places.

Merneptah SteleBlack granite slab · late 13th century BC · found 1896 at Thebes
Moabite Stone (Mesha Stele)Basalt slab, about 1.2 m high · c. 840 BC · found 1868 at Dibon
Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser IIIBlack limestone pillar, 2 m high · c. 825 BC · found 1846 at Nimrud
Siloam InscriptionHebrew carved in rock · c. 700 BC · found 1880 in Hezekiah’s tunnel
Sennacherib’s PrismSix-sided clay prism, 38 cm high · 691 BC · cuneiform annals of Assyria
Lachish LettersInk on pieces of pottery · c. 589 BC · found 1935 at Lachish
Cyrus CylinderClay barrel, 23 cm long · soon after 539 BC · found 1879 at Babylon
Gallio InscriptionGreek letter cut in stone · c. AD 52 · found at Delphi, Greece