It’s so old that the Aramaic used in the stele was still being written in the Phoenician alphabet — a language that predates Aramaic.
Last year, New York City’s Jewish Museum imported a new director from the Israel Museum. Now, it’s bringing the oldest archaeological evidence of the existence of King David from the Jerusalem museum, too.
The Tel Dan Stele, a stone fragment long held exclusively by the Israel Museum, is on view at the Jewish Museum on the Upper East Side until Jan. 5.
A 12-by-13 inch chunk of basalt, the Tel Dan Stele is a 9th-century BCE stone document acknowledging the military victories of a person whom scholars believe to be King Hazael of Aram, an area in contemporary Syria that includes what is today Damascus. One of those victories was over a descendant of David, the king of ancient Israel.