Mesha Stele
- Title:
- Mesha Stele
- Collection:
- Cornell Cast Collection
- Creator:
- probably Musées Nationaux Moulages (reproduction)
Unknown (original)
- Photographer:
- Mihaloew, Andreya
- Date:
- ca. 1900-1930
ca. 850-800 BCE
2014 (image)
- Site:
- probably Paris (reproduction)
Dhiban (ancient Dibon, in the Kingdom of Moab), Jordan (discovery site, 1868) (original) - Location:
- White Hall (on wall outside Room 414), Cornell University
probably Paris (reproduction)
Dhiban (ancient Dibon, in the Kingdom of Moab), Jordan (discovery site, 1868) (original) - ID Number:
- CCC_0830
- Accession Number:
- 767
- File Name:
- CCC_0830.tif
- Original Measurements:
- 115 (H) x 60 (W) cm
- Culture:
- Moabite
- Style/Period:
- Iron Age
- Work Type:
- casts (sculpture)
- Materials/Techniques:
- plaster cast (sculpture)
basalt inscription (original) - Subject:
- Mesha, King of Moab
- Image View Type:
- overall
- Image View Description:
- from front
- Measurement:
- 125 x 70 (maximum) x 3 (centimeters, height x width x diameter)
- Description:
- This is a conserved cast of the Mesha Stele, a fragmentary basalt monument in the Moabite language housed in the Louvre. The stele is just over a meter tall, has a thick, raised border, and tapers slightly to its rounded top. It is the longest extant text in the Moabite language and celebrates the building projects and military accomplishments of King Mesha of Moab, most notably the king's expulsion of Israealite overlords from the territory of Moab. Its corroboration of historical accounts in the bible has made it the focus of much scholarly and popular attention. Soon after it was first seen by a westerner in 1868, locals smashed it over a dispute of its ownership. About sixty percent of the text was subsequently recovered. A paper squeeze had been made of the inscription before it was obliterated, facilitating the monument's reconstruction. This cast was taken of the reconstructed object, on which rougher surfaces indicate salvaged fragments of the original stone. It has been painted black to approximate the appearance of the original. The letters have been highlighted in white to facilitate its reading.
- Notes:
- Items in the Cornell Cast Collection are meant for inventory and reference purposes. Metadata may not be complete in all cases.
no. AO 5066 - Bibliography:
- Florence Rionnet, L'Atelier de moulage du musée du Louvre (1794-1928) (Paris: Éditions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 1996), 128, no. 58
see translation of text at louvre.fr - Repository:
- Paris, Louvre (original)
- Collecting Program:
- Cornell Collections of Antiquities
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- The images in the Cornell Collection of Antiquities: Casts are protected by copyright, and the copyright holders are their creators, generally Cornell University Library, Annetta Alexandridis, and Verity Platt. This collection of plaster casts owned by Cornell University was photographed by Cornell University Library, Alexandridis, Platt, and Andreya L. Mihaloew from 2010-2015, with funding from a Digital Collections in Arts and Sciences Grant to Annetta Alexandridis. Cornell is providing access to the materials for research and personal use. The written permission of any copyright and other rights holders is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use that extends beyond what is authorized by fair use and other statutory exemptions. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item. Please contact Annetta Alexandridis and Verity Platt for more information about this collection, or to request permission to use these images.