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Bubastite Portal at Karnak More than 150 hieroglyphic name-rings, each represented as a bound and tethered Asiatic captive, give the names of the towns conquered by Sheshonq during his northern campaign. While some of the names clearly refer to towns known from the Bible, such as Arad, Beth-Shean and Megiddo, the identification of others is uncertain, while many names are now unreadable. Noticeably absent from the relief is the name for Jerusalem. Shown here are name-rings from the sixth and seventh rows, in the lower register of the relief, names that are usually associated with toponyms in Israel’s southern Negev desert. Photo:Erich Lessing.
Jerusalem is the only city that Shishak destroys in Kings, but it is not among the surviving toponyms on the Bubastite Portal, which does mention campaigns in Judah, including a mention of fighting in Megiddo. Rehoboam and Jeroboam are also conspicuously absent.
Why was Jerusalem not mentioned on the Bubastite Portal, and why does the passage in Kings mention Jerusalem but not Sheshonq’s other campaigns in Judah? Some scholars believe that Jerusalem’s toponym was erased by time. Others believe that Rehoboam’s tribute to Sheshonq saved the city from destruction and therefore from the Bubastite Portal’s lists. Still others suggest that Sheshonq claimed conquest that he did not enact (Egyptian Pharaohs made false claims about their conquests frequently) and copied the list of conquered territories from an old Pharaoh’s conquest list. Finally, as Kings is a religious text, it focuses on Jerusalem without including full details on the military, history and politics of the surrounding region, though Chronicles tells a fuller account of the Egyptian invasion.
Yigal Levin and most modern scholars believe the Bubastite Portal recounts legitimate and historical campaigns conducted by the Egyptian Pharaoh Sheshonq. He says that “Sheshonq’s campaign in Israel and Judah brought an end to the many architectural, military and political achievements of the United Monarchy of David and Solomon and ushered in a new age—that of the nation divided.”
Champollion's 1829 drawing of a cartouche showing the name "ydhmrk". Champollion's 1829 read of this name as "King of Judah" has been discredited by modern scholars, who generally accept that the phrase refers to "Yad Hemmelek" ("Hand of the King"), although it has also been interpreted as "Juttah of the King"
Bubastite Portal
The Bubastite Portal gate is located in Karnak, within the Precinct of Amun-Re temple complex, between the temple of Ramesses III and the second pylon. It records the conquests and military campaigns in c.925 BC of Shoshenq I, of the Twenty-second Dynasty.[1] Shoshenq has been identified with the biblical Shishaq, such that the relief is also known as the Shishak Inscription or Shishaq Relief
This gate was erected by the kings of the Twenty-second Dynasty of Egypt, also known as the "Bubastite Dynasty". It is located to the south-east side of the Temple of Ramesses III.
Although Karnak had been known to Europeans since the end of the Middle Ages, the possible significance of the Bubastite Portal was not apparent prior to the decipherment of hieroglyphs. Jean-François Champollion visited Karnak in 1828, six years after his publication of the Rosetta Stone translation. In his letters he wrote:
quote:
In this wonderful palace, I observed the portraits of most of the old Pharaohs known for their great deeds.... we see people fighting enemies Mandoueï of Egypt, and returning in triumph to his homeland, farther campaigns Ramses-Sesostris also Sésonchis dragging the foot of the Theban Triad (Amun, Mut and Khonsu) defeating thirty conquered nations, among which I found, as it should be, in full, Ioudahamalek, the kingdom of Judah, or the Jews. This matches the commentary in 1 Kings 14, which recounts the successful arrival of Sésonchis at Jerusalem: the identity that we have established between the Egyptian Sheschonck the Sésonchis of Manetho and Scheschôk or Shishak of the Bible, is confirmed in the most satisfactory manner.
— Jean-François Champollion, Lettres ecrites d'Egypte et de Nubie en 1828 et 1829[4]
Description
Portal showing cartouches of Sheshonq I One facade shows King Sheshonq I, Teklot and Osorkon of the 22nd dynasty, making offerings to the gods and goddesses. Another scene shows Sheshonq grasping a group of captives by the hair and smiting them by his mace. Behind and below him, there are the names of Canaanite towns in several rows. Many of these are lost, but originally there were 156 names and one of the most interesting names which were mentioned is 'The Field of Abram' . The inscriptions give no details for this expedition and mentioned only the victory over the Asiatics.
Transliterations and translations Below is a translation of the one hundred fifty-five names on the inscription.[5]
Section One Row I - Listing of the Nine bows 1. tꜣ rsy - Southern Land (i.e. Upper Egypt) 2. tꜣ mḥw = Northern Land (i.e. Lower Egypt) 3. jwn.tjw = Tribesmen 4. ṯhnw = Tjehenu 5. sḫt[-jꜣmw] - Field [of tents] 6. mn[.tjw] = Bedouin 7. pḏ[.tjw swt] = Bow[men of the feather] 8. šꜣt = Swamp (Upper Nubia) 9. ḥꜣ[.w-n]b.w = Northerners
Section Two - Coastal plain, Shephelah, Meggido plain and Jezreel plain 10. mj.tj ꜥ[r.t] = Copy of the [scroll] 11. g[...] = unknown 12. m[]ꜣ[] = Makkedah 13. rwbꜣ = Rubate
Biblical narrative The Biblical narrative recounts:
quote: In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, because they had been unfaithful to the LORD, Shishaq king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen. And the people were without number who came with him from Egypt— Libyans, Sukkiim, and Ethiopians. And he took the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and to the princes of Judah, who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, "Thus says the LORD, 'You abandoned me, so I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishaq.'" Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, "The LORD is righteous." When the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah: "They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishaq. Nevertheless, they shall be servants to him, that they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries." So Shishaq king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. He took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king’s house. He took away everything. He also took away the shields of gold that Solomon had made, and King Rehoboam made in their place shields of bronze and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard, who kept the door of the king’s house. And as often as the king went into the house of the LORD, the guard came and carried them and brought them back to the guardroom. And when he humbled himself the wrath of the LORD turned from him, so as not to make a complete destruction. Moreover, conditions were good in Judah.
The account of Shishak carrying off treasures from Jerusalem is thought by some scholars to be of dubious historicity;[9]: 175 see Shishak § Biblical narrative.
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^ Yes, unfortunately as you pointed out some parts of the gate epigraphs were destroyed so we really can't be certain if Yisrael was one of the states listed. I don't think the Bible would fabricate an important historical event like the sacking of Jerusalem by a certain king. Remember the conjecture about the Merneptah Stele and whether or not the kingdom of Israel really was listed. By the way, the first unambiguous evidence for the kingdom of Israel comes from the Assyrian annals of King Shalmaneser III who names "Ahab the Israelite" (King Ahab) among his enemies at the battle of Qarqar (853 BCE).
-------------------- Mahirap gisingin ang nagtutulog-tulugan. Posts: 26252 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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