The Bani Hamida ( Arabic : بنو حميدة ) are a nomadic Bedouin tribe living in Jordan.
31-462: In 1869, members of the Bani Hamida shattered the recently discovered Moabite Stone into pieces by lighting a fire under it and then pouring cold water over it. The stele was discovered by Henry Baker Tristram on his trip with Sheikh Sattam Al-Fayez when they visited the Bani Hamida's territory. When Emir Fendi Al-Fayez sent his cousin's son Eid to negotiate the sale of the stone, members of
62-582: A meter tall, 60 cm wide, and 60 cm thick, bearing a surviving inscription of 34 lines. Frederick Klein , an Anglican missionary, discovered the stone intact in August 1868 at the site of ancient Dibon (now Dhiban, Jordan ). Klein was led to it by Sattam Al-Fayez , son of Fendi Al-Fayez , the tribal chief or emir of the Bani Sakher . Although neither of them could read the text. At that time, amateur explorers and archaeologists were scouring
93-4011: Is pictured to the right, and presented here after Compston, 1919, to be read right to left.: 𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤟 𐤌𐤔𐤏 𐤟 𐤁𐤍 𐤟 𐤊𐤌𐤔 ? ? 𐤌𐤋𐤊 𐤟 𐤌𐤀𐤁 𐤟 𐤄𐤃 𐤉𐤁𐤍𐤉 | 𐤀𐤁𐤉 𐤟 𐤌𐤋𐤊 𐤟 𐤏𐤋 𐤟 𐤌𐤀𐤁 𐤟 𐤔𐤋𐤔𐤍 𐤟 𐤔𐤕 𐤟 𐤅𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤟 𐤌𐤋𐤊 [𐤕𐤉 𐤟 𐤀𐤇𐤓 𐤟 𐤀𐤁𐤉 | 𐤅𐤀𐤏𐤔 𐤟 𐤄𐤁𐤌𐤕 𐤟 𐤆𐤀𐤕 𐤟 𐤋𐤊𐤌𐤔 𐤟 𐤁𐤒𐤓𐤇𐤄 | 𐤁[𐤍𐤎 𐤟 𐤉 𐤔𐤏 𐤟 𐤊𐤉 𐤟 𐤄𐤔𐤏𐤍𐤉 𐤟 𐤌𐤊𐤋 𐤟 𐤄 𐤔 𐤋𐤊𐤍 𐤟 𐤅𐤊𐤉 𐤟 𐤄𐤓𐤀𐤍𐤉 𐤟 𐤁𐤊𐤋 𐤟 𐤔𐤍𐤀𐤉 | 𐤏𐤌𐤓 𐤉 𐤟 𐤌𐤋𐤊 𐤟 𐤉𐤔𐤓𐤀𐤋 𐤟 𐤅𐤉𐤏𐤍𐤅 𐤟 𐤀𐤕 𐤟 𐤌𐤀𐤁 𐤟 𐤉𐤌𐤍 𐤟 𐤓𐤁𐤍 𐤟 𐤊𐤉 𐤟 𐤉 𐤀𐤍𐤐 𐤟 𐤊𐤌𐤔 𐤟 𐤁𐤀𐤓 𐤑𐤄 | 𐤅𐤉𐤇𐤋𐤐𐤄 𐤟 𐤁𐤍𐤄 𐤟 𐤅𐤉𐤀𐤌𐤓 𐤟 𐤂𐤌 𐤟 𐤄𐤀 𐤟 𐤀𐤏𐤍𐤅 𐤟 𐤀𐤕 𐤟 𐤌𐤀𐤁 𐤟 | 𐤁𐤉𐤌𐤉 𐤟 𐤀𐤌𐤓 𐤟 𐤊 [𐤅𐤀𐤓𐤀 𐤟 𐤁𐤄 𐤟 𐤅𐤁𐤁𐤕𐤄 | 𐤅𐤉𐤔𐤓𐤀𐤋 𐤟 𐤀𐤁𐤃 𐤟 𐤀𐤁𐤃 𐤟 𐤏𐤋𐤌 𐤟 𐤅𐤉𐤓𐤔 𐤟 𐤏𐤌𐤓𐤉 𐤟 𐤀𐤕 𐤟 [𐤀𐤓 𐤑 𐤟 𐤌𐤄𐤃𐤁𐤀 | 𐤅𐤉𐤔𐤁 𐤟 𐤁𐤄 𐤟 𐤉𐤌𐤄 𐤟 𐤅𐤇𐤑𐤉 𐤟 𐤉𐤌𐤉 𐤟 𐤁𐤍 𐤄 𐤟 𐤀𐤓𐤁𐤏𐤍 𐤟 𐤔𐤕 𐤟 𐤅 𐤉 𐤔 𐤁𐤄 𐤟 𐤊𐤌𐤔 𐤟 𐤁𐤉𐤌𐤉 | 𐤅𐤀𐤁𐤍 𐤟 𐤀𐤕 𐤟 𐤁𐤏𐤋𐤌𐤏𐤍 𐤟 𐤅𐤀𐤏𐤔 𐤟 𐤁𐤄 𐤟 𐤄𐤀𐤔𐤅𐤇 𐤟 𐤅𐤀𐤁 𐤍 𐤀𐤕 𐤟 𐤒𐤓𐤉𐤕𐤍 | 𐤅𐤀𐤔 𐤟 𐤂𐤃 𐤟 𐤉𐤔𐤁 𐤟 𐤁𐤀𐤓𐤑 𐤟 𐤏𐤈𐤓𐤕 𐤟 𐤌𐤏𐤋𐤌 𐤟 𐤅𐤉𐤁𐤍 𐤟 𐤋𐤄 𐤟 𐤌𐤋𐤊 𐤟𐤉 [ 𐤔𐤓𐤀𐤋 𐤟 𐤀𐤕 𐤟 𐤏𐤈𐤓𐤕 | 𐤅𐤀𐤋𐤕𐤇𐤌 𐤟 𐤁𐤒𐤓 𐤟 𐤅𐤀𐤇𐤆𐤄 | 𐤅𐤀𐤄𐤓𐤂 𐤟 𐤀𐤕 𐤟 𐤊𐤋 𐤟𐤄𐤏𐤌 𐤟 [𐤌 [𐤄𐤒𐤓 𐤟 𐤓𐤉𐤕 𐤟 𐤋𐤊𐤌𐤔 𐤟 𐤅𐤋𐤌𐤀𐤁 | 𐤅𐤀𐤔𐤁 𐤟 𐤌𐤔𐤌 𐤟 𐤀𐤕 𐤟 𐤀𐤓𐤀𐤋 𐤟 𐤃𐤅𐤃𐤄 𐤟 𐤅𐤀[𐤎 𐤇𐤁𐤄 𐤟 𐤋𐤐𐤍𐤉 𐤟 𐤊𐤌𐤔 𐤟 𐤁𐤒𐤓𐤉𐤕 | 𐤅𐤀𐤔𐤁 𐤟 𐤁𐤄 𐤟 𐤀𐤕 𐤟 𐤀𐤔 𐤟 𐤔𐤓𐤍 𐤟 𐤅𐤀𐤕 𐤟 𐤀𐤔 𐤌𐤇𐤓𐤕 | 𐤅𐤉𐤀𐤌𐤓 𐤟 𐤋𐤉 𐤟 𐤊𐤌𐤔 𐤟 𐤋𐤊 𐤟 𐤀𐤇𐤆 𐤟 𐤀𐤕 𐤟 𐤍𐤁𐤄 𐤟 𐤏𐤋 𐤟 𐤉𐤔𐤓𐤀𐤋 | 𐤅 𐤀 𐤄𐤋𐤊 𐤟 𐤁𐤋𐤋𐤄 𐤟 𐤅𐤀𐤋𐤕𐤇𐤌 𐤟 𐤁𐤄 𐤟 𐤌𐤁𐤒𐤏 𐤟 𐤄𐤔𐤇𐤓𐤕 𐤟 𐤏𐤃 𐤟 𐤄𐤑𐤄𐤓𐤌 | 𐤅𐤀 𐤇 [𐤆 𐤟 𐤅𐤀𐤄𐤓𐤂 𐤟 𐤊𐤋 𐤄 𐤟 𐤔𐤁𐤏𐤕 𐤟 𐤀𐤋𐤐𐤍 𐤟 𐤂[𐤁]𐤓𐤍 𐤟 𐤅𐤂𐤓𐤍 | 𐤅𐤂𐤁𐤓𐤕 𐤟 𐤅[𐤂𐤓 [𐤕 𐤟 𐤅𐤓𐤇𐤌𐤕 | 𐤊𐤉 𐤟 𐤋𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤓 𐤟 𐤊𐤌𐤔 𐤟 𐤄𐤇𐤓𐤌𐤕𐤄 | 𐤅𐤀𐤒𐤇 𐤟 𐤌𐤔𐤌 𐤟 𐤀[𐤕 𐤟 𐤊 𐤋𐤉 𐤟 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 𐤟 𐤅𐤀𐤎𐤇𐤁 𐤟 𐤄𐤌 𐤟 𐤋𐤐𐤍𐤉 𐤟 𐤊𐤌𐤔 | 𐤅𐤌𐤋𐤊 𐤟 𐤉𐤔𐤓𐤀𐤋 𐤟 𐤁𐤍𐤄 𐤟 𐤀 𐤕 [𐤉𐤄𐤑 𐤟 𐤅𐤉𐤔𐤁 𐤟 𐤁𐤄 𐤟 𐤁𐤄𐤋𐤕𐤇𐤌𐤄 𐤟 𐤁𐤉 | 𐤅𐤉𐤂𐤓𐤔𐤄 𐤟 𐤊𐤌𐤔 𐤟 𐤌𐤐𐤍[𐤉 𐤅 𐤟 𐤀𐤒𐤇 𐤟 𐤌𐤌𐤀𐤁 𐤟 𐤌𐤀𐤕𐤍 𐤟 𐤀𐤔 𐤟 𐤊𐤋 𐤟 𐤓𐤔𐤄 | 𐤅𐤀𐤔𐤀𐤄 𐤟 𐤁𐤉𐤄𐤑 𐤟 𐤅𐤀𐤇𐤆𐤄 𐤋𐤎𐤐𐤕 𐤟 𐤏𐤋 𐤟 𐤃𐤉𐤁𐤍 | 𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤟 𐤁𐤍𐤕𐤉 𐤟 𐤒𐤓𐤇𐤄 𐤟 𐤇𐤌𐤕 𐤟 𐤄𐤉𐤏𐤓𐤍 𐤟 𐤅𐤇𐤌𐤕 𐤄𐤏𐤐𐤋 | 𐤅𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤟 𐤁𐤍𐤕𐤉 𐤟 𐤔𐤏𐤓𐤉𐤄 𐤟 𐤅𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤟 𐤁𐤍𐤕𐤉 𐤟 𐤌𐤂𐤃𐤋𐤕𐤄 | 𐤅𐤀 𐤍𐤊 𐤟 𐤁𐤍𐤕𐤉 𐤟 𐤁𐤕 𐤟 𐤌𐤋𐤊 𐤟 𐤅𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤟 𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤉 𐤟 𐤊𐤋𐤀𐤉 𐤟 𐤄𐤀𐤔[𐤅𐤇 𐤟 𐤋𐤌]𐤉𐤍 𐤟 𐤁𐤒𐤓 𐤁 𐤄𐤒𐤓 | 𐤅𐤁𐤓 𐤟 𐤀𐤍 𐤟 𐤁𐤒𐤓𐤁 𐤟 𐤄𐤒𐤓 𐤟 𐤁𐤒𐤓𐤇𐤄 𐤟 𐤅𐤀𐤌𐤓 𐤟 𐤋𐤊𐤋 𐤟 𐤄𐤏𐤌 𐤟 𐤏𐤔𐤅 𐤟 𐤋 𐤊𐤌 𐤟 𐤀𐤔 𐤟 𐤁𐤓 𐤟 𐤁𐤁𐤉𐤕𐤄 | 𐤅𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤟 𐤊𐤓𐤕𐤉 𐤟 𐤄𐤌𐤊𐤓𐤕𐤕 𐤟 𐤋𐤒𐤓𐤇𐤄 𐤟 𐤁𐤀𐤎𐤓 𐤟 𐤉] 𐤟 𐤉𐤔𐤓𐤀𐤋 | 𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤟 𐤁𐤍𐤕𐤉 𐤟 𐤏𐤓𐤏𐤓 𐤟 𐤅𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤟 𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤉 𐤟 𐤄𐤌𐤎𐤋𐤕 𐤟 𐤁𐤀𐤓𐤍𐤍] 𐤟 𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤟 𐤁𐤍𐤕𐤉 𐤟 𐤁𐤕 𐤟 𐤁𐤌𐤕 𐤟 𐤊𐤉 𐤟 𐤄𐤓𐤎 𐤟 𐤄𐤀 | 𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤟 𐤁𐤍𐤕𐤉 𐤟 𐤁𐤑𐤓 𐤟 𐤊𐤉 𐤟 𐤏𐤉𐤍 𐤔 𐤟 𐤃𐤉𐤁𐤍 𐤟 𐤇𐤌𐤔𐤍 𐤟 𐤊𐤉 𐤟 𐤊𐤋 𐤟 𐤃𐤉𐤁𐤍 𐤟 𐤌𐤔𐤌𐤏𐤕 | 𐤅𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤟 𐤌𐤋 𐤊 𐤕 𐤉 .. 𐤌𐤀𐤕 𐤟 𐤁𐤒𐤓𐤍 𐤟 𐤀𐤔𐤓 𐤟 𐤉𐤎𐤐𐤕𐤉 𐤟 𐤏𐤋 𐤟 𐤄𐤀𐤓𐤑 | 𐤅𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤟 𐤁𐤍𐤕 𐤉 𐤟 [𐤀𐤕 𐤟] 𐤌 𐤄 𐤃[𐤁]𐤀 𐤟 𐤅𐤁𐤕 𐤟 𐤃𐤁𐤋𐤕𐤍 | 𐤅𐤁𐤕 𐤟 𐤁𐤏𐤋𐤌𐤏𐤍 𐤟 𐤅𐤀𐤔𐤀 𐤟 𐤔𐤌 𐤟 𐤀𐤕 𐤟 𐤅 𐤒 𐤃 𐤑𐤀𐤍 𐤟 𐤄𐤀𐤓𐤑 | 𐤅𐤇𐤅𐤓𐤍𐤍 𐤟 𐤉𐤔𐤁 𐤟 𐤁𐤄 𐤟 𐤁 𐤕 𐤟 𐤅 𐤒 𐤟 𐤀 𐤔 .... 𐤅 𐤉𐤀𐤌𐤓 𐤟 𐤋𐤉 𐤟 𐤊𐤌𐤔 𐤟 𐤓𐤃 𐤟 𐤄𐤋𐤕𐤇𐤌 𐤟 𐤁𐤇𐤅𐤓𐤍𐤍 | 𐤅𐤀 𐤓 𐤃 .... 𐤅𐤉𐤔]𐤁𐤄 𐤟 𐤊𐤌𐤔 𐤟 𐤁𐤉𐤌𐤉 𐤟 𐤅𐤏𐤋 𐤟 𐤓𐤄 𐤟 𐤌𐤔𐤌 𐤟 𐤏𐤔]..... 𐤔 𐤕 𐤟 𐤔𐤃𐤒 | 𐤅𐤀𐤍 ............ It describes: Here
124-562: Is the beginning of a transliteration and translation by Alviero Niccacci from his article "The Stele of Mesha and the Bible: Verbal System and Narrativity" in Orientalia NOVA SERIES, Vol. 63, No. 3 (1994), pp. 226–248. Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau (19 February 1846 – 15 February 1923) was a noted French Orientalist and archaeologist . Clermont-Ganneau
155-671: The Collège de France . In 1889 he was elected a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres , of which he had been a correspondent since 1880. In 1896 he was promoted to be consul-general , and was minister plenipotentiary in 1906. In 1873, after the Jerusalem antiquities dealer Moses Wilhelm Shapira offered a set of Moabite artifacts (known as the Shapira Collection ) for sale, Clermont-Ganneau attacked
186-466: The Hameideh south of Madeba . Five years earlier, the tribe had "harassed" Hill and tried to stop them. Their previous guide Abu Seyne was unable to guide them due to a blood feud. Hill describes travelling in beautiful spring weather through country green with young corn. At Wadi Waleh they found a "sweet little stream amongst the oleanders" from which their cook caught fish by throwing something into
217-543: The Levant for evidence proving the historicity of the Bible . News of the finding set off a race among France, Britain, and Germany to acquire the piece. A " squeeze " (a papier-mâché impression) of the full stele had been obtained just before its destruction. Ginsberg's translation of the official report, "Über die Auffindung der Moabitischen Inschrift", stated that Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau , an archaeologist based in
248-691: The Mesha Stele (Moabite Stone) , which bears the oldest Semitic inscription known. In 1871, Clermont-Ganneau identified the biblical city of Gezer (Joshua 16:11) with that of Abu Shusha , formerly known as Tell el Jezer . In the same year he discovered the Temple Warning inscription in Jerusalem. In 1874 he was employed by the British government to take charge of an archaeological expedition to Palestine . Among his discoveries there
279-530: The Moabite language , and is a "corner-stone of Semitic epigraphy", and history. The stele, whose story parallels, with some differences, an episode in the Bible's Books of Kings ( 2 Kings 3:4 –27), provides invaluable information on the Moabite language and the political relationship between Moab and Israel at one moment in the 9th century BCE. It is the most extensive inscription ever recovered that refers to
310-477: The Mujelli tribe . About twenty shots were fired, but no-one was hurt. Hill speculates that the attack was to deter them from making claims against the Mujelli for compensation for "their robbery and detention of us in 1890". In 1985, 12 women of the tribe launched a weaving project, which produces woven items in traditionally bright colors. Traditional ground looms, assembled using stones and sticks, are used for
341-676: The kingdom of Israel (the " House of Omri "); it bears the earliest certain extrabiblical reference to the Israelite God Yahweh . It is also one of four known contemporaneous inscriptions containing the name of Israel, the others being the Merneptah Stele , the Tel Dan Stele , and one of the Kurkh Monoliths . Its authenticity has been disputed over the years, and some biblical minimalists suggest
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#1732775307333372-580: The Bani Hamida decided to destroy the stone as an act of defiance of the Ottomans. In the aftermath, several Bani Hamida were killed. Though many of the fragments were later retrieved, the full text, one of the earliest Hebrew-related scripts, was only preserved through a hurried copy made under difficult conditions. The Bani Hamida also had a reputation for breeding "the best blood horses in Moab ", according to explorer Charles M. Doughty , 1876. In 1891, there
403-535: The Bedouins to hand over the stele so that it could be given to Germany. Clermont-Ganneau later managed to acquire the fragments and piece them together thanks to the impression made before the stele's destruction. The Mesha Stele, the first major epigraphic Canaanite inscription found in the Southern Levant , the longest Iron Age inscription ever found in the region, constitutes the major evidence for
434-472: The French consulate in Jerusalem, sent an Arab named Yacoub Caravacca to obtain the squeeze as he "did not want to venture to undertake the very costly [and dangerous] journey" himself. Caravacca was injured by the local Bedouin while obtaining the squeeze, and one of his two accompanying horsemen protected the squeeze by tearing it still damp from the stone in seven fragments before escaping. In November 1869,
465-633: The collection as a forgery. In 1883, Shapira offered the so-called " Shapira Strips ," fragments of ancient parchment allegedly found near the Dead Sea , for sale to the British Museum , which exhibited two of the strips. Clermont-Ganneau attended the exhibition, and was the first person in England to attack their authenticity. In 1903 he took a prominent part in the investigation of the so-called Tiara of Saitaferne . This tiara had been purchased by
496-529: The first detailed announcement of the stele in the Revue de l’Instruction Publique. This was followed a month later by a note from F. A. Klein published in The Pall Mall Gazette describing his discovery of the stele in August 1868: ... I afterwards ascertained that [Ganneau's] assertion as to no European having, before me, seen the stone was perfectly true. ... I am sorry to find that I was also
527-648: The god of Moab, had been angry with his people and had allowed them to be subjugated to the Kingdom of Israel , but at length, Chemosh returned and assisted Mesha to throw off the yoke of Israel and restore the lands of Moab. Mesha also describes his many building projects. It is written in a variant of the Phoenician alphabet , closely related to the Paleo-Hebrew script . The stone was discovered intact by Frederick Augustus Klein , an Anglican missionary, at
558-475: The inscription missing as would be the case if it were square at the bottom, as M. Ganneau was wrongly informed by his authority; for, as in the upper part, so also in the lower, in exactly the same way the lines become smaller by degrees. ... according to my calculation, had thirty-four lines, for the two or three upper lines were very much obliterated. The stone itself was in a most perfect state of preservation not one single piece being broken off, and it
589-437: The last European who had the privilege of seeing this monument of Hebrew antiquity in its perfect state of preservation. ... The stone was lying among the ruins of Dhiban perfectly free and exposed to view, the inscription uppermost. ... The stone is, as appears from the accompanying sketch, rounded on both sides, and not only at the upper end as mentioned by Monsieur Ganneau. In the lower corner sides there are not as many words of
620-562: The middle right contains 38, and the rest contains 67 letters. The remainder of the stele was reconstructed by Ganneau from the squeeze obtained by Caravacca. Visiting the site in 1872, Henry B. Tristram was convinced that the stele could not have been exposed for long and believed that it had probably been utilized as building material by the Roman era until thrown down in the Galilee earthquake of 1837 . The inscription, known as KAI 181
651-481: The ruler of Salt was about to put pressure upon them, they heated the stele in a bonfire, threw cold water upon it and broke it to pieces with boulders. On 8 February 1870, George Grove of the Palestine Exploration Fund announced the find of the stele in a letter to The Times , attributing the discovery to Charles Warren . On 17 February 1870, the 24-year-old Clermont-Ganneau published
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#1732775307333682-533: The site of ancient Dibon (now Dhiban, Jordan ), in August 1868. A " squeeze " (a papier-mâché impression) had been obtained by a local Arab on behalf of Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau , an archaeologist based in the French consulate in Jerusalem. The next year, the stele was smashed into several fragments by the Bani Hamida tribe, seen as an act of defiance against the Ottoman authorities who had pressured
713-469: The stele was broken by the local Bedouins , the Bani Hamida , after the Ottoman government became involved in the ownership dispute. The previous year the Bani Hamida had been defeated by an Ottoman expedition to Balqa led by Mehmed Rashid Pasha , the head of Syria vilayet . Knowing that a demand to give up the stone to the German Consulate had been ordered by the Ottomans and finding that
744-517: The text was not historical, but a biblical allegory. The stele itself is regarded as genuine and historical by the vast majority of biblical archaeologists today. The stele has been part of the collection of the Louvre Museum in Paris , France , since 1873. Jordan has been demanding the stone slab's return to its place of origin since 2014. The stele is a smoothed block of basalt about
775-554: The water which "made them insensible for a brief period". One day's travel from Madeba brought them to Dhiban where there was a military camp. Here the Sheikh of the Hameideh , "who had troubled us in 1890", offered to show an inscription "up a winding valley". After walking "a long way in the hot sun" Hill was shown a flat stone "on which three or four Greek (?) letters appeared". The following night, while camped halfway on their journey to Kerak , their tents were fired on by members of
806-613: The weaving, and the products can be found at numerous outlets in Jordan and abroad. Visitors can stop by the weaving rooms, located in the village of Mukawir, to see how the rugs are made. The women also make decorative candles. Mesha Stele The Mesha Stele , also known as the Moabite Stone , is a stele dated around 840 BCE containing a significant Canaanite inscription in the name of King Mesha of Moab (a kingdom located in modern Jordan ). Mesha tells how Chemosh ,
837-509: Was born in Paris , the son of Simon Ganneau , a sculptor and mystic who died in 1851 when Clermont-Ganneau was five, after which Théophile Gautier took him under his wing. After an education at the Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales , he entered the diplomatic service as dragoman to the consulate at Jerusalem , and afterwards at Constantinople . He laid the foundation of his reputation by his involvement with
868-870: Was fighting between the Beni Sakher tribe and the Bani Hamida. F.J. Bliss , who visited in March 1895, writes that "the sheikhs of the Hamideh were very civil and anxious to show us all the torn stones which is their phrase covering inscriptions and ornamentation." He was travelling with permission from the Ottoman authorities, who in December 1893 had installed a governor in Karak who improved security for travellers. John Edward Gray Hill and his wife, also travelling in 1895 on their fourth attempt to visit Petra , met
899-410: Was only from great age and exposure to the rain and sun, that certain parts, especially the upper and lower lines, had somewhat suffered. Pieces of the original stele containing most of the inscription, 613 letters out of about a thousand, were later recovered and pieced together. Of the existing stele fragments, the top right fragment contains 150 letters, the bottom right fragment includes 358 letters,
930-548: Was subsequently entrusted by his own government with similar missions to Syria and the Red Sea . He was made chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1875. After serving as vice-consul at Jaffa from 1880 to 1882, he returned to Paris as secrétaire interpréte for oriental languages, and in 1886 was appointed consul of the first class. He subsequently accepted the post of director of the École des Langues Orientales and professor at
961-615: Was the rock-cut tomb of the Biblical Shebna . He explored/discovered many tombs in Wady Yasul, a valley immediately south of Jerusalem, which he claimed served as an auxiliary cemetery for Jerusalem at some ancient period(s). Based on geographic and linguistic evidence he theorized that this valley was Azal mentioned in Zechariah 14:5 in the Bible. He was the first to make archeological soundings at Emmaus-Nicopolis . He