Berlin pedestal relief
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| Berlin pedestal relief | |
|---|---|
 Berlin pedestal (ÄM 21687) | |
| Material | Granite |
| Height | 46 cm |
| Width | 40 cm |
| Created | c. 1450 BC |
| Present location | Egyptian Museum of Berlin |
The Berlin pedestal relief is part of the base of a granite pedestal of an unprovenanced Ancient Egyptian statue containing an inscription describing Egypt's war victories. According to the German archaeologist Manfred Görg, the inscription on the pedestal may have originally contained one of the oldest known references to Israel, older than the inscription in the Merneptah Stele by two centuries. The artifact is kept in the Egyptian Museum of Berlin (ÄM 21687).[1]
In 1913, a fragment of the pedestal base was purchased from an antiquities trader named M. Nachman by Egyptologist Ludwig Borchardt (1863–1938), along with another granite pedestal relief of similar size (50 × 38 cm, ÄM 21688). The preserved fragment measures approximately 40 × 46 cm. The preserved part shows three prisoners tied with a rope around their necks. Each prisoner has a cartouche with the name of his country of origin:
- The first cartouche (on the left, jsqrwn) may refer to Ashkelon
- The middle cartouche (kynꜥꜣnnw) refers to Canaan
- The last cartouche (on the right, j...šꜣjr) is partially broken off. In 2001, Manfred Görg proposed that the missing mark was a symbol of a vulture (Gardiner sign G1, representing Egyptian alef); further imaging studies have added weight to this assessment. Görg suggested that the word would then read "Israel", but even with the vulture sign such a spelling of the word Israel would be unique in the Egyptian texts.
The proposal that Berlin pedestal (ÄM 21687) may contain a reference to Israel has been rejected by other scholars.[2][3]