Credit: BiblePlaces.com | Todd Bolen
An aerial view of the location of the three segments of the eastern fortification wall of ancient Jerusalem. The marked portion shows entire extent of all wall sections discovered to date.
June and July were busy months for archaeological discoveries. Perhaps the most significant was a sandstone inscription of the Egyptian king Hophra, one of six pharaohs mentioned by name in the Old Testament (Jeremiah 44:30). It was accidently discovered on June 4 by a farmer working in his field near Ismailia in the eastern delta of Egypt.
Hophra ruled from 589 to 570 BC and was involved in events surrounding the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in July, 587 BC. His Egyptian name was Wahibre, rendered in Greek as Apries. What is amazing about the artifact is that it appears to be completely intact.
The inscription was carved on a stone slab (stela) about 7.5 ft high and 3.4 ft. wide. At the top is a winged sun disk; below that is the cartouche (name ring) of Pharaoh Hophra, followed by 15 lines of hieroglyphic text.
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