Bible and Archaeology - Online Museum

This photo displays the oldest known inscription of the name "Yahweh," the personal name of God (cf. Exodus 3). The writing...

This engraved slab of granite is more than ten feet tall and was found in 1896 in Western Thebes, Egypt. It contains the oldest* certain...

This inscribed basalt stone contains an ancient reference to the biblical King David. Being roughly a foot tall, it was written in Arama...

In the biblical passage found in 1 Kings 9:15 it notes that King Solomon constructed the city wall for the town of Gezer.  Archaeologists ...

This wall carving within the Karnak Temple complex in Egypt commemorates Pharaoh Shishak's military exploits, including an invasion ...

This limestone monument, known as the Kurkh Monolith, is approximately seven feet high and is now located in the British Museum. Discove...

The Moabite Stone, also called the Mesha Stela, is an inscribed black basalt monument written in the Moabite language in c. 835 BC. It sta...

The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III was made in c. 827 BC in ancient Assyria. It is about six and a half feet in height and is made of fin...

This inscribed basalt slab is known as the Stela of Zakkur. It refers to the Aramaic king Hazael who is also referred to in the Bible in s...

This seal is a bronze cast replica of the original found at Megiddo in c. 1904.  The Hebrew lettering reads, "belonging to Shema, ser...

This clay seal impression from the 8th century BC contains the Hebrew text, "Belonging to Ahaz [son of] Jotham, King of Judah." ...

This brick refers to the Assyrian King Sargon II who reigned from 721 to 705 BC. It is inscribed in cuneiform text and is located in th...

In the biblical passage found in 2 Kings 20:20 there is a reference to a "tunnel" built by King Hezekiah in Jerusalem to bring ...

This artifact is known as the Sennacherib Prism. It was made in ancient Assyria in c. 690 BC of baked clay and is approximately 15 inches...

This wall relief carving depicts the siege of Lachish, telling the story from the Assyrian point of view. The carving was created in c. 70...

This clay prism, known as the Esarhaddon Prism,  was made by the Assyrian king Esarhaddon in 673-672 BC. It refers to "Manasseh king o...

This wall carving was fashioned in the 7th century BC in the Edifice of Tirhakah in the Karnak Temple complex, which is located in modern...

Esarhaddon was an Assyrian king noted in biblical passages such as 2 Kings 19:37. He erected the monument shown in the picture to commemor...

This photo displays a bronze inscription recently found in southern Arabia (the land of Sheba) that refers to "the towns of Judah.&qu...

This small scroll is one of the two Silver Scrolls, which contain the oldest known copies of biblical passages. Written about 600 BC,...

This ceramic brick is inscribed in cuneiform with the name of Nebuchadnezzar II,  who is mentioned some 90 times in the Bible (e.g. Ezra 1...

This ceramic cylinder is inscribed in cuneiform script with the name of the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II,  who is referred to in the ...

This ancient Babylonian tablet is part of the Babylonian Chronicles, which, among other events, records the capture of Jerusalem by the Ba...

This clay tablet from ancient Babylon describes monthly rations allowed to Jehoiachin, a Jewish king.  The biblical account of King Jeho...

This arrowhead was recently found in Jerusalem in material retrieved from the Temple Mount. It is of the type used by the Babylonian army ...

The name inscribed in hieroglyphs on this artifact is "Haaibra," the throne name of Pharaoh Hophra (Apries) who is referred t...

This clay cylinder was inscribed in Akkadian cuneiform in the 6th century BC by the Neo-Babylonian King Nabonidus. It refers to his son B...

This artifact, known as the Cyrus Cylinder, was discovered in Babylon in 1879. Using the Akkadian language in cuneiform script, it recount...

This standard weight is from Persepolis in ancient Persia and is inscribed in three languages with text that reads, "I am Darius, Gr...

This alabaster jar comes from 5th century BC Egypt, and is inscribed with the name of the Persian King Xerxes–sometimes called Ahasuerus–w...

This silver bowl dates to the 5th century BC and comes from ancient Persia. It was used as a wine-drinking vessel, and it comes from the r...

Both the Bible and the Greek historian Herodotus speak about the same Persian kings: Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes and Artaxerxes. In the brief qu...

The Dead Sea Scrolls are the largest collection of ancient biblical manuscripts ever found. Representing all books of the Hebrew Bible e...

The 1st century AD Jewish writer Josephus recorded the ascension of King Herod to the throne of Judea. The Bible also refers to King Herod...

The inscription on this piece of  a wine jug refers to King Herod who is noted in the Bible as having killed the babies in Bethlehem near...

The first of the three Roman emperors mentioned in the Bible is  Augustus who reigned from 27 BC - AD 14. He is referred to in Luke 2:1 and...

The second of the three Roman emperors mentioned in the Bible is Tiberius who reigned from 14-37 AD. He is referred to in Luke 3:1, and h...

The third of the three Roman emperors mentioned in the Bible is Claudius who reigned from 41-54 AD. He is noted in Acts 11:28 and 18:2. An...

In Luke 20:23-25 Jesus requested a coin and then asked the crowd, "Whose image and inscription are on it?” They replied that it was ...

This quote, from the 1st century AD Jewish writer Josephus, references the execution of John the Baptist, which is also recorded in the Bi...

View of the Western Wall,* which is part of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Many people from around the world come here to place written pra...

This photo displays the location of a first-century AD house in the village of Capernaum that archaeological evidence indicates was quite l...

In 2004 workers digging a sewer line in Jerusalem uncovered this terraced stone pool that was identified by archaeologists as the Pool of ...

This inscribed limestone slab was found in Caesarea Maritima, Israel in 1961. It was originally made in c. 30 AD. It is written in Latin a...