The Tel Dan Inscription
The Tel Dan Stele is a black basalt stele erected by an Aramaean king in northernmost Israel, containing an Aramaic inscription to commemorate his victory over the ancient Hebrews (8th or 9th century BCE). George Athas (the leading authority on the Tel Dan inscription) along with other scholars, Knauf, Romer and de Pury have demonstrated that it cannot be a dynastic label, but actually a place-name like Bethlehem (House of Bread) and Bethel (House of God). The Tel Dan Inscription: A Reappraisal and New Interpretation by George Athas.
The inscription could also be read as, ‘House of the beloved’ or ‘Temple of the beloved’: DWD could be DOWD or DUWD. Even if BYTDWD meant ‘House of David’ it does not signify a physical or historical person (the Hebrew Bible has many legends of people which correspond to town names). The Assyrians never called Israel the ‘House of David’, they used Israel, Samerian, or ‘House of Omri.’
George Athas “I analyzed the fragments in Jerusalem back in 1998 and found them genuine: However, the common arrangement of the fragments side by side (Fragments B1+B2 to the left of Fragment A) is physically, contextually and epigraphically impossible. They are certainly written by the same hand, but Fragments B1+B2 belong LOWER than Fragment A — a good deal lower. This means that the text which most people read is defunct. The author was not Hazael — it was his son, Bar Hadad. I also discovered a couple of extra letters here and there which simply do not show on the published photographs, and some letters had been wrongly identified. These really altered the text as it has been published previously. The inscription has nothing to do with Jehu’s coup and assassinations.“
The rendition of BYTDWD as “House of David“ is only one of several possibilities. I’m guided by specialists here but I understand the term would normally be written as בית•דוד, with a dot used as a word divider, absent from the TDI ( ביתדוד ). The reference may not be to DWD at all but perhaps HDWT (towdah) – one of several Hebrew words translated as Praise.” ‘House of Praise’
Filed by Frank at September 5th, 2008 under Religion