Opened · Evidence

Archaeology and the Bible

82 finds from Abraham’s world to the early church, each linked to the passages it touches, with what it shows and, as plainly, what it doesn’t. Where the identification, date or authenticity is debated, the card says so.

Finds: 82
Old Testament: 58
New Testament: 24
Scholars differ: 23

Made between about 1890 BC and AD 100. Notes drafted with Opened AI and awaiting advisor review; photos openly licensed.

82 finds, in the order of the passages

Old Testament58

Inscription Broadly accepted
Mari tablets
Date
c. 1800–1760 BC
Found
Tell Hariri, Syria, excavated from 1933
Now
Mostly in Syrian museums
Royal archives of more than 20,000 clay tablets from the city of Mari on the Euphrates.
What it shows
The world Genesis describes for Abraham’s family: towns called Harran and Nahur in the region where Terah settled and Abraham’s servant found Rebekah, and messengers who brought words from the gods to the king, a practice like prophecy in Israel.
What it doesn’t show
No biblical person is named. The tablets show the setting, not that the events happened, and when the patriarchs lived is itself debated.
Read the passage
Site Broadly accepted
Beni Hasan tomb painting
Date
c. 1890 BC
Found
Tomb of Khnumhotep II, Beni Hasan, Egypt (recorded since the 19th century)
Now
In place at Beni Hasan, Egypt
A wall painting of a party of Semitic travellers, led by a chief named Abisha, arriving in Egypt with their families, animals and goods.
What it shows
What people from Canaan and Syria looked like when they went down to Egypt in this period: their dress, weapons and donkeys, as Abraham and later Jacob’s family did.
What it doesn’t show
The travellers aren’t Abraham’s or Jacob’s family; the painting illustrates the setting and proves nothing about the patriarchs.
Read the passage
Inscription Scholars differ
Nuzi tablets
Date
15th–14th centuries BC
Found
Yorghan Tepe, near Kirkuk, Iraq, 1925–31
Now
Iraq Museum, Baghdad, Harvard’s Semitic Museum and other collections
Several thousand family and business records from a Hurrian town.
What it shows
Contracts in which a childless couple adopts an heir, or a wife who has no children gives her servant to her husband, customs like those in the stories of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar.
What it doesn’t show
Mid-20th-century writers saw many such parallels; later study showed several were misread or are found in other periods too, so they can’t be used to date the patriarchs. Scholars still debate how much they illuminate.
Read the passage
Site Scholars differ
Pi-Ramesses (Qantir)
Date
13th century BC
Found
Qantir, eastern Nile Delta, Egypt; excavated from the 1960s and 1980s
Now
Mostly beneath fields at Qantir, Egypt; many monuments were moved to Tanis in antiquity
The delta capital built by Pharaoh Ramesses II, with palaces, stables and workshops.
What it shows
A royal city named after Ramesses in the region of Goshen, matching “Raamses”, one of the store cities Exodus says Israel was forced to build.
What it doesn’t show
No inscription mentions Israelites. Some take the name as evidence for an exodus in the 13th century BC; others think it is a later name for an older place, as Genesis also speaks of “the land of Rameses” in Joseph’s day. The date of the exodus is debated.
Read the passage
Site Broadly accepted
Brickmakers in the tomb of Rekhmire
Date
c. 1450 BC
Found
Tomb of the vizier Rekhmire, Theban necropolis, Luxor, Egypt (known since the 19th century)
Now
In place, west bank of Luxor, Egypt
A tomb painting of foreign workers making mud bricks under Egyptian overseers.
What it shows
How bricks were made in Egypt, by gangs of foreign labourers drawing water, mixing mud, moulding and stacking bricks under taskmasters, as Exodus describes Israel’s hard labour.
What it doesn’t show
The workers aren’t identified as Israelites; it shows the kind of work, not the events of Exodus.
Read the passage
Inscription Broadly accepted
Yavneh-Yam ostracon (a harvester’s plea)
Date
Late 7th century BC
Found
Mesad Hashavyahu, near Yavneh-Yam, Israel, 1960
Now
Israel Museum, Jerusalem
A labourer’s letter, in Hebrew on a potsherd, asking an official to return the garment his overseer had taken.
What it shows
A poor worker appealing for his cloak, the very situation the law addresses: a garment taken in pledge must be returned before sunset.
What it doesn’t show
The letter doesn’t quote the law; it shows how such cases arose and how a worker could appeal.
Read the passage
Inscription Broadly accepted
Gezer Calendar
Date
Late 10th century BC
Found
Gezer, Israel, 1908
Now
Istanbul Archaeology Museums (a replica is in the Israel Museum)
A small limestone tablet listing the months of the farming year: sowing, flax, barley harvest, wheat harvest, vines and summer fruit.
What it shows
One of the oldest inscriptions from ancient Israel’s region, and the farming year around which the Bible’s harvest festivals and stories like Ruth’s are set.
What it doesn’t show
It may be a writing exercise. Whether its language is early Hebrew or a related Canaanite dialect is debated, and it records no events or names.
Read the passage
Object Scholars differ
Horned altar from Beersheba
Date
8th century BC
Found
Tel Beersheba, Israel, 1973
Now
Israel Museum, Jerusalem (a replica is at Tel Beersheba)
A large altar of cut stones with a “horn” at each corner, found taken apart and reused in the wall of a storehouse.
What it shows
An altar with horns like those the Law describes, deliberately dismantled. Many link this to Hezekiah’s removal of the altars outside Jerusalem.
What it doesn’t show
The link to Hezekiah is an interpretation, and where the altar first stood in the city is unknown.
Read the passage
Photo: Ketef Hinnom Silver Scrolls, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Object Broadly accepted
Ketef Hinnom silver scrolls
Date
Late 7th or early 6th century BC
Found
Burial caves at Ketef Hinnom, Jerusalem, 1979
Now
Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Two tiny rolled silver amulets inscribed in Hebrew.
What it shows
They carry the priestly blessing, “The LORD bless you and keep you…”: the oldest known text of words that are also in the Bible.
What it doesn’t show
Their wording differs slightly from Numbers, and a minority of scholars date them later.
Read the passage
Inscription Broadly accepted
Deir ʿAlla inscription (Balaam son of Beor)
Date
c. 800 BC
Found
Tell Deir ʿAlla, Jordan Valley, 1967
Now
Jordan Museum, Amman
Ink writing on a plaster wall telling of a vision of the gods seen by “Balaam son of Beor, a seer of the gods”.
What it shows
A prophet named Balaam son of Beor was remembered east of the Jordan, the region where Numbers places him, centuries before the inscription.
What it doesn’t show
It tells a different story from Numbers, is badly broken, and was written long after the events of Numbers 22–24. It shows a tradition about Balaam, not those events.
Read the passage
Photo: פעמי-עליון, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Inscription Broadly accepted
Kuntillet ʿAjrud inscriptions
Date
c. 800 BC
Found
North-east Sinai, 1975–76
Now
Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Blessings written on storage jars and plaster at a desert way-station.
What it shows
Blessings “by YHWH … and his Asherah”: evidence of the mixed worship the prophets and reforming kings condemned.
What it doesn’t show
It shows what some people practised, not what Israel’s prophets taught; the meaning of “his Asherah” is debated.
Read the passage
Site Scholars differ
Jericho (Tell es-Sultan)
Date
Destroyed c. 1550 BC (most archaeologists) or c. 1400 BC (some)
Found
Tell es-Sultan, near Jericho; excavated 1930–36, 1952–58 and since 1997
Now
In place, Tell es-Sultan, Jericho
One of the oldest towns in the world, with a walled Bronze Age city that was destroyed by fire.
What it shows
A fortified city whose walls collapsed and which was burned, with jars still full of grain, suggesting a short siege soon after harvest: details some scholars compare with Joshua 6.
What it doesn’t show
Kathleen Kenyon dated the destruction to about 1550 BC and found little sign of a city at the time usually given for Joshua; most archaeologists follow her. Others, such as Bryant Wood, argue for about 1400 BC. The answer depends partly on the debated date of the exodus.
Read the passage
Inscription Broadly accepted
Amarna letters
Date
c. 1360–1332 BC
Found
El-Amarna, Egypt, 1887
Now
Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin; British Museum, London; Egyptian Museum, Cairo; and others
About 380 clay tablets of diplomatic letters between Egypt’s pharaohs and other rulers, including the city kings of Canaan.
What it shows
Canaan as a land of small city-states under Egypt, as it is in Joshua and Judges. Six letters come from Abdi-Heba, king of Jerusalem, showing the city had a king centuries before David.
What it doesn’t show
The letters complain of raiders called ʿApiru. Whether they have anything to do with the Hebrews is debated; most scholars think ʿApiru describes uprooted people of any origin rather than one people.
Read the passage
Site Scholars differ
Hazor
Date
Bronze and Iron Ages; burned in the 13th century BC
Found
Tel Hazor, northern Israel; excavated 1955–58, 1968 and since 1990
Now
In place, Tel Hazor National Park, Israel
The largest city of Bronze Age Canaan, destroyed in a fierce fire, with a later Israelite city on the mound.
What it shows
Joshua calls Hazor “the head of all those kingdoms” and says Israel burned it. The excavated city was by far the largest in the land, and its palace and temples were burned.
What it doesn’t show
Who burned it is debated: the current excavators think Israelites; others suggest an uprising or another enemy. The 13th-century date also doesn’t suit everyone’s dating of Joshua.
Read the passage
Inscription Broadly accepted
Ekron royal inscription
Date
Early 7th century BC
Found
Tel Miqne, Israel, 1996
Now
Israel Museum, Jerusalem
A temple dedication by “Achish son of Padi, ruler of Ekron”.
What it shows
It identified the mound as Ekron, one of the five Philistine cities. Padi is also named in Sennacherib’s annals, and the name Achish is the one borne by a Philistine king in David’s story.
What it doesn’t show
This Achish ruled about three centuries after the Achish of Gath who sheltered David; it shows the name was used, not that person.
Read the passage
Photo: 𐰇𐱅𐰚𐰤, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Inscription Broadly accepted
Merneptah Stele
Date
c. 1208 BC
Found
Thebes, Egypt, 1896
Now
Egyptian Museum, Cairo
A victory hymn of Pharaoh Merneptah listing peoples he defeated in Canaan.
What it shows
The earliest mention of “Israel” outside the Bible, as a people living in Canaan by the late 13th century BC.
What it doesn’t show
It says nothing about the exodus or how Israel came to be there, and the reference is a single line.
Read the passage
Site Broadly accepted
Tel Dan sanctuary and gate
Date
10th–8th centuries BC
Found
Tel Dan, northern Israel; excavated 1966–99
Now
In place, Tel Dan Nature Reserve, Israel
A large stone platform and altar area in a sacred precinct, and an Iron Age city gate where pieces of the Tel Dan Stele were later found.
What it shows
The excavator identified the precinct as the sanctuary where Jeroboam I set up a golden calf, so that northern Israel would not go to Jerusalem to worship.
What it doesn’t show
No calf image was found, and how the building phases relate to Jeroboam’s reign is debated. Most accept that it was a major Israelite place of worship.
Read the passage
Seal Broadly accepted
Bethlehem seal impression
Date
8th or 7th century BC
Found
City of David, Jerusalem, in sifted excavation soil, 2012
Now
Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem
A small clay seal impression, apparently from a shipment sent to the king, with the words “Bethlehem” and “to the king”.
What it shows
Bethlehem as a town of the kingdom of Judah sending goods or taxes to Jerusalem: the oldest mention of the town outside the Bible from the time of the kings.
What it doesn’t show
It is a tax or shipping record, not a mention of David or Micah’s prophecy. A Bethlehem may also be named earlier in the Amarna letters, though that reading is less certain.
Read the passage
Site Scholars differ
Khirbet Qeiyafa
Date
c. 1020–980 BC
Found
Above the Elah Valley, Israel; excavated 2007–13
Now
In place, Elah Valley, Israel
A small fortified town with a casemate wall and two gates, overlooking the valley where David met Goliath. An ink inscription on pottery was found there in 2008.
What it shows
The excavators argue it was a Judahite stronghold of about David’s time, showing an organised kingdom able to build fortresses; some identify it with Shaaraim, named in 1 Samuel 17:52.
What it doesn’t show
Others think it belonged to a Canaanite group or to a northern kingdom like Saul’s. The inscription is hard to read: its language and meaning are debated, and it names no biblical person.
Read the passage
Site Broadly accepted
Gath of the Philistines (Tell es-Safi)
Date
12th–9th centuries BC; destroyed late 9th century BC
Found
Tell es-Safi, Israel; excavated since 1996
Now
In place, Tell es-Safi, Israel
A large Philistine city, Goliath’s hometown in 1 Samuel, ringed by a siege trench and destroyed in the late 9th century BC.
What it shows
Gath was a major city in the time of Israel’s early kings. Its siege and destruction fit 2 Kings 12:17, where Hazael king of Aram captures Gath.
What it doesn’t show
No inscription names Hazael; the link comes from the date and the biblical text. A short inscription found there with names like “Goliath” in form doesn’t refer to the Goliath of the Bible.
Read the passage
Site Scholars differ
Large Stone Structure, City of David
Date
Debated: 10th century BC or later
Found
City of David, Jerusalem, 2005
Now
In place, City of David, Jerusalem
Massive stone walls at the top of the City of David, beside the terraced Stepped Stone Structure.
What it shows
The excavator, Eilat Mazar, identified it as the palace David built with help from Hiram of Tyre; the Stepped Stone Structure is often linked with the “Millo” of 2 Samuel 5:9.
What it doesn’t show
Other archaeologists date parts of the building later or see several structures from different periods. Whether it was David’s palace is unresolved.
Read the passage
Photo: Oren Rozen, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Inscription Broadly accepted
Tel Dan Stele
Date
c. 840 BC
Found
Tel Dan, northern Israel, 1993–94
Now
Israel Museum, Jerusalem
An Aramean king’s victory inscription in Aramaic.
What it shows
Mentions the “house of David”: the earliest reference outside the Bible to David’s royal dynasty, within about 150 years of his reign.
What it doesn’t show
It credits the Aramean king with killing the kings of Israel and Judah, where 2 Kings credits Jehu; it doesn’t describe David himself.
Read the passage
Site Scholars differ
City gates of Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer
Date
10th or 9th century BC (debated)
Found
Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer, Israel; recognised in the 1950s and 1960s
Now
In place at the three sites, Israel
Similar gateways, each with three rooms on either side of the passage, at three cities.
What it shows
1 Kings says Solomon built Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer. Yigael Yadin argued the matching gates showed one royal plan, from Solomon’s reign.
What it doesn’t show
Some archaeologists date the gates a century later, to the kings of Omri’s line. Others note that the gates differ in detail and that similar gates exist elsewhere.
Read the passage
Site Scholars differ
Megiddo pillared buildings (“Solomon’s stables”)
Date
9th or 8th century BC (most now think)
Found
Tel Megiddo, Israel, 1920s–30s
Now
In place, Tel Megiddo National Park, Israel
Long buildings divided by rows of stone pillars, some with troughs and holes for tying animals.
What it shows
First hailed as Solomon’s stables. Many now see them as stables of the 9th or 8th century BC, fitting Israel’s large chariot forces in Ahab’s time (see the Kurkh Monolith).
What it doesn’t show
Most archaeologists no longer date them to Solomon, and some think they were storehouses or barracks rather than stables.
Read the passage
Photo: Ippolito Rosellini (1800-1843), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Relief Broadly accepted
Shoshenq I’s Karnak relief
Date
c. 925 BC
Found
Bubastite Portal, Temple of Karnak, Egypt (known since the 1820s)
Now
In place at Karnak, Luxor, Egypt
Pharaoh Shoshenq I’s list of towns he conquered in Canaan.
What it shows
An Egyptian campaign in Judah and Israel in Rehoboam’s reign, matching the invasion by “Shishak king of Egypt”.
What it doesn’t show
Jerusalem isn’t legible in the surviving list, and many named towns are in the north and the Negev, so how it lines up with the biblical account is discussed.
Read the passage
Photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Inscription Broadly accepted
Kurkh Monolith
Date
c. 852 BC
Found
Kurkh (Üçtepe), south-east Turkey, 1861
Now
British Museum, London
Shalmaneser III’s account of the battle of Qarqar in 853 BC.
What it shows
Names “Ahab the Israelite” among the allied kings, with a large chariot force: the earliest outside mention of an Israelite king.
What it doesn’t show
The Bible doesn’t record this battle, and the chariot figure may be inflated or miscopied.
Read the passage
Object Broadly accepted
Samaria ivories
Date
9th–8th centuries BC
Found
Royal quarter of Samaria, 1908–10 and 1931–35
Now
Israel Museum, Jerusalem, and other collections
Hundreds of carved ivory pieces, once inlaid in royal furniture and walls, in Phoenician style.
What it shows
Luxury at the capital of the northern kingdom, fitting “the ivory house that Ahab built” and Amos’s warnings to those who lay on “beds of ivory”.
What it doesn’t show
They can’t be tied to Ahab’s own palace for certain, and they come from more than one period.
Read the passage
Photo: Mbzt, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Inscription Broadly accepted
Mesha Stele (Moabite Stone)
Date
c. 840 BC
Found
Dhiban, Jordan, 1868
Now
Louvre, Paris
King Mesha of Moab’s account of throwing off Israelite rule.
What it shows
Moab’s revolt after Ahab’s death, naming Omri king of Israel and the God of Israel, YHWH.
What it doesn’t show
It tells Mesha’s side, as a Moabite victory. A possible reading “house of David” in one damaged line is debated.
Read the passage
Photo: Steven G. Johnson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Relief Broadly accepted
Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III
Date
c. 825 BC
Found
Nimrud (ancient Calah), Iraq, 1846
Now
British Museum, London
An Assyrian monument showing tribute from subject kings.
What it shows
A panel shows “Jehu son of Omri” (or his envoy) bowing before the Assyrian king: the only known picture of an Israelite king or his representative.
What it doesn’t show
The Bible doesn’t record this tribute; “son of Omri” names the kingdom, not Jehu’s father; whether the kneeling figure is Jehu himself is debated.
Read the passage
Inscription Broadly accepted
Annals of Tiglath-pileser III
Date
c. 745–727 BC
Found
Nimrud (ancient Calah), Iraq, from the 1840s, and other sites
Now
British Museum, London; Israel Museum, Jerusalem; and other collections
Inscriptions and reliefs of the Assyrian king the Bible also calls Pul.
What it shows
Tribute from “Menahem of Samaria”, the replacement of Pekah by Hoshea as king of Israel, and tribute from Ahaz of Judah: the events of 2 Kings 15–16, from Assyria’s side.
What it doesn’t show
They are royal boasts and some lines are damaged. That “Pul” and Tiglath-pileser are the same king is shown by Babylonian records, not by these annals alone.
Read the passage
Photo: Vassil, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Site Broadly accepted
Sargon II’s palace at Khorsabad
Date
c. 717–706 BC
Found
Khorsabad, Iraq, 1843
Now
Reliefs at the Louvre, Paris, and elsewhere
The palace and annals of the Assyrian king Sargon II.
What it shows
Sargon is named in Isaiah 20:1 but was once unknown elsewhere; his annals record the fall of Samaria and his campaign against Ashdod.
What it doesn’t show
It confirms the king and the campaigns, from Assyria’s viewpoint.
Read the passage
Seal Broadly accepted
Seal impression of King Hezekiah
Date
c. 727–698 BC
Found
Ophel excavations, Jerusalem, 2009 (published 2015)
Now
Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
A clay seal impression reading “Belonging to Hezekiah [son of] Ahaz, king of Judah”.
What it shows
A seal of King Hezekiah himself, found in a controlled excavation near the palace area, not bought from the antiquities market.
What it doesn’t show
It confirms the king and his father’s name; it says nothing about events in his reign.
Read the passage
Site Scholars differ
Arad sanctuary and letters
Date
8th century BC (letters c. 600 BC)
Found
Tel Arad, Israel, 1962–67
Now
Inner room reconstructed at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem; the fortress in place at Tel Arad
A small temple inside a royal Judahite fortress, with an altar for sacrifice, standing stones and incense altars, and over a hundred ink letters on pottery.
What it shows
Worship of the LORD at a shrine outside Jerusalem, which was later put out of use: the kind of place Hezekiah and Josiah are said to have closed. One letter mentions “the house of YHWH”.
What it doesn’t show
When and why the shrine went out of use is debated; its excavator linked it to the reforms, and later studies revised his dates. It doesn’t name either king.
Read the passage
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Inscription Broadly accepted
Sennacherib’s Prism (Taylor Prism)
Date
c. 691 BC
Found
Nineveh, Iraq, 1830
Now
British Museum, London (copies in Chicago and Jerusalem)
Sennacherib’s annals, including his 701 BC campaign in Judah.
What it shows
He shut Hezekiah up in Jerusalem “like a bird in a cage” and took tribute, but claims no capture of the city, which fits the biblical account.
What it doesn’t show
It is silent on why Sennacherib withdrew (2 Kings 19:35–36), and the tribute figures differ from the Bible’s.
Read the passage
Photo: Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Relief Broadly accepted
Lachish reliefs
Date
c. 700 BC
Found
Sennacherib’s palace, Nineveh, Iraq, 1840s
Now
British Museum, London
Carved panels showing the Assyrian siege of the Judean city of Lachish in 701 BC.
What it shows
Sennacherib’s attack on Judah’s fortified cities while he camped at Lachish, as 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles describe.
What it doesn’t show
They are royal propaganda; the destruction layer excavated at Lachish confirms the siege independently.
Read the passage
Seal Scholars differ
Seal impression “of Yeshayahu”
Date
c. 700 BC
Found
Ophel excavations, Jerusalem, 2009 (published 2018)
Now
Jerusalem (Ophel excavation finds)
A damaged clay seal impression reading “Belonging to Yeshayahu” followed by letters that may begin the word “prophet”, found a few metres from King Hezekiah’s.
What it shows
Its excavator suggested it could be the seal of the prophet Isaiah, Hezekiah’s adviser.
What it doesn’t show
The key word is damaged and could be a name instead of “prophet”, and Isaiah was a common name. Many specialists think the identification can’t be made.
Read the passage
Inscription Broadly accepted
Prisms of Esarhaddon
Date
c. 673 BC
Found
Nineveh, Iraq
Now
British Museum, London, among other copies
Clay prisms recording the reign of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria.
What it shows
Among 22 vassal kings who sent building materials is “Manasseh, king of Judah”. Esarhaddon came to the throne after his father Sennacherib was murdered, as 2 Kings 19:37 reports.
What it doesn’t show
They don’t mention Manasseh being taken to Babylon (2 Chronicles 33:11), which no outside source yet confirms.
Read the passage
Photo: Wikikati, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Inscription Broadly accepted
Siloam Inscription and Hezekiah’s Tunnel
Date
c. 700 BC
Found
Hezekiah’s Tunnel, Jerusalem, 1880
Now
Istanbul Archaeology Museums (the tunnel can still be walked)
A Hebrew inscription recording the moment two crews tunnelling from opposite ends met.
What it shows
The water tunnel the Bible says Hezekiah dug to bring water into the city.
What it doesn’t show
It doesn’t name Hezekiah; most scholars date it to his reign, though a few have argued otherwise.
Read the passage
Seal Scholars differ
Seal impression of Nathan-melech
Date
7th–6th centuries BC
Found
Givati Parking Lot excavation, City of David, Jerusalem (announced 2019)
Now
Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem
A clay seal impression reading “Belonging to Nathan-melech, servant of the king”, found in a building destroyed in 586 BC.
What it shows
An official of the same name as Nathan-melech, the court official named in Josiah’s reforms.
What it doesn’t show
The name appears only once in the Bible and the titles differ, so some see the same man and others only the same name.
Read the passage
Inscription Broadly accepted
Babylonian Chronicle of Nebuchadnezzar’s early years
Date
6th century BC
Found
Babylon; acquired by the British Museum in the 19th century, published 1956
Now
British Museum, London
A Babylonian record of Nebuchadnezzar II’s campaigns.
What it shows
He captured “the city of Judah” on 16 March 597 BC and set up a king of his choice, as 2 Kings records with Jehoiachin and Zedekiah.
What it doesn’t show
It doesn’t name the kings of Judah.
Read the passage
Site Broadly accepted
Destruction layer of 586 BC, Jerusalem
Date
586 BC
Found
Jewish Quarter (1970s), City of David (1978–85) and later digs in Jerusalem
Now
In place in Jerusalem; finds at the Israel Museum and elsewhere
Burnt houses, collapsed walls, arrowheads and fire-hardened seal impressions from the Babylonian sack of the city.
What it shows
The burning of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar’s army, as 2 Kings 25 and Jeremiah 39 describe. In one “House of Bullae” the fire baked dozens of clay seal impressions and so preserved them.
What it doesn’t show
It shows the destruction, not every detail of the biblical account; some scholars date the fall to 587 BC.
Read the passage
Photo: Scallaham, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Inscription Broadly accepted
Jehoiachin ration tablets
Date
c. 592 BC
Found
Babylon, 1899–1917
Now
Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin
Palace records of oil rations for captives in Babylon.
What it shows
Rations for “Ya’ukinu, king of the land of Yahudu” and his sons: King Jehoiachin, alive and provided for in Babylon.
What it doesn’t show
They date from his captivity, before the release in 2 Kings 25:27.
Read the passage
Photo: Ian Scott, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Site Broadly accepted
The Broad Wall
Date
Late 8th century BC
Found
Jewish Quarter, Jerusalem, 1970s
Now
In place, Jewish Quarter, Jerusalem
A massive city wall, about 7 m thick, built through earlier houses.
What it shows
Jerusalem’s expansion and hurried fortification before the Assyrian threat, as in Isaiah: “You counted the houses of Jerusalem and tore them down to strengthen the wall.”
What it doesn’t show
It shows the building work, not who ordered it, though the date fits Hezekiah.
Read the passage
Seal Broadly accepted
“Belonging to the king” jar handles
Date
Late 8th century BC
Found
Lachish, Jerusalem and many sites in Judah, from the late 19th century onwards
Now
Israel Museum, Jerusalem, and many other collections
Thousands of storage-jar handles stamped lmlk, “belonging to the king”, with one of four town names, among them Hebron and Ziph.
What it shows
A royal system for collecting and storing supplies in Hezekiah’s Judah, in use when Lachish fell in 701 BC, fitting the storehouses 2 Chronicles says he built.
What it doesn’t show
Whether the jars held taxes, army supplies or royal produce is debated; they don’t name Hezekiah.
Read the passage
Photo: Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Inscription Broadly accepted
Cyrus Cylinder
Date
c. 539–530 BC
Found
Babylon, 1879
Now
British Museum, London
Cyrus the Great’s account of taking Babylon.
What it shows
Cyrus returned displaced peoples to their homelands and restored their sanctuaries, the policy behind his decree for the Jews to rebuild the temple.
What it doesn’t show
It concerns Babylonian cities and gods; it doesn’t mention Judah or Jerusalem.
Read the passage
Site Broadly accepted
Persian palace at Susa
Date
Built c. 515 BC
Found
Susa (Shush), Iran; excavated from the 1850s, the palace from the 1880s
Now
Glazed brick friezes at the Louvre, Paris; ruins in place at Shush, Iran
The palace of Darius I and his son Xerxes, decorated with glazed brick friezes of royal guards.
What it shows
“Shushan the palace”, where the book of Esther is set in the reign of Ahasuerus (Xerxes), and where Nehemiah served the Persian king.
What it doesn’t show
It confirms the setting, not the events of Esther. Esther and Mordecai aren’t named in any Persian record found so far.
Read the passage
Manuscript Broadly accepted
Elephantine papyri
Date
5th century BC (the letter about Sanballat’s sons, 407 BC)
Found
Elephantine Island, Aswan, Egypt; bought from the 1890s and excavated 1906–08
Now
Berlin, Cairo, the Brooklyn Museum and other collections
Letters and contracts in Aramaic from a Jewish garrison community on the Nile.
What it shows
A letter of 407 BC names “Johanan the high priest” in Jerusalem and “the sons of Sanballat, governor of Samaria”, people known from Nehemiah.
What it doesn’t show
It was written a generation after Nehemiah, and the community had its own temple and mixed practices, unlike what Jerusalem’s leaders taught.
Read the passage
Inscription Broadly accepted
Al-Yahudu tablets
Date
c. 572–477 BC
Found
Southern Iraq (exact findspot unknown); first published 2014
Now
Mostly in a private collection; first shown at the Bible Lands Museum, Jerusalem, in 2015
About 200 Babylonian contracts and receipts from a town called Al-Yahudu, “Judah-town”, and nearby villages; over 100 were published in 2014.
What it shows
Judean exiles settled in Babylonia, renting land, farming, paying taxes and naming children with the name of the LORD (-yahu), as Jeremiah urged the exiles to build houses and settle.
What it doesn’t show
They came through the antiquities market rather than an excavation, which raises questions about where they were found and how they were sold; specialists generally accept that they are genuine.
Read the passage
Photo: Unknown artistUnknown artist, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Manuscript Broadly accepted
Great Isaiah Scroll (Dead Sea Scrolls)
Date
c. 125 BC
Found
Qumran Cave 1, 1947
Now
Shrine of the Book, Israel Museum, Jerusalem
A complete scroll of Isaiah.
What it shows
About a thousand years older than the previous oldest Hebrew manuscripts, yet very close to them: strong evidence that Isaiah was copied with care.
What it doesn’t show
There are many small differences, mostly spelling, and some variant readings.
Read the passage
Inscription Scholars differ
Tomb inscription of the royal steward
Date
c. 700 BC
Found
Silwan, Jerusalem, 1870
Now
British Museum, London
A Hebrew inscription over a rock-cut tomb: the burial of “…yahu, who is over the house”, with a curse on anyone who opens it.
What it shows
A tomb of a royal steward cut into the hill facing the City of David. Some scholars suggest the name was Shebnayahu, the steward Isaiah rebuked for carving himself a grand tomb.
What it doesn’t show
The first part of the name is broken off, so the link to Shebna is a possibility, not a reading.
Read the passage
Inscription Broadly accepted
Lachish Letters
Date
c. 588 BC
Found
Tel Lachish, Israel, 1935
Now
British Museum, London, and Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Letters in ink on pottery from Judah’s last days before the Babylonian conquest.
What it shows
Letter 4 says they are watching for the signals of Lachish “for we cannot see Azekah”: Jeremiah names these two as the last fortified cities left.
What it doesn’t show
Whether Azekah had already fallen when it was written is an inference.
Read the passage
Seal Scholars differ
Seal impression of “Berekhyahu son of Neriyahu the scribe”
Date
Said to be c. 600 BC
Found
Antiquities market, 1975
Now
Israel Museum, Jerusalem
A clay seal impression naming Baruch, Jeremiah’s scribe.
What it shows
If genuine, a seal of the man who wrote down Jeremiah’s prophecies.
What it doesn’t show
It didn’t come from an excavation, and some specialists now doubt it is genuine. It shouldn’t be relied on.
Read the passage
Seal Broadly accepted
Seal impression of Gemariah son of Shaphan
Date
c. 600 BC
Found
City of David excavations, Jerusalem, 1982
Now
Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem
A clay seal impression reading “Belonging to Gemaryahu son of Shaphan”.
What it shows
Likely the official in whose room Baruch read Jeremiah’s scroll, found in an excavated archive.
What it doesn’t show
The names occur elsewhere too, so the identification is probable rather than certain.
Read the passage
Seal Broadly accepted
Seal impressions of Jehucal and Gedaliah
Date
c. 600 BC
Found
City of David, Jerusalem, 2005 and 2008
Now
Jerusalem (Eilat Mazar’s excavation finds)
Two clay seal impressions found a few metres apart: “Belonging to Yehukhal son of Shelemyahu son of Shovi” and “Belonging to Gedalyahu son of Pashhur”.
What it shows
Jeremiah 38:1 names “Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah” together, as officials who heard Jeremiah and wanted him silenced.
What it doesn’t show
These were common names, so the match is likely rather than certain; it rests on two names with their fathers’ names, in the right city and period.
Read the passage
Inscription Scholars differ
Nebo-Sarsekim tablet
Date
595 BC
Found
Sippar, Iraq; in the British Museum for about a century, read in 2007
Now
British Museum, London
A small Babylonian receipt for gold given to a temple by Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, “the chief eunuch”.
What it shows
Jeremiah 39:3 lists “Nebo-Sarsekim, a chief officer” among Nebuchadnezzar’s officials at the fall of Jerusalem. Some read this tablet as naming the same man with the same title.
What it doesn’t show
The Hebrew list of names can be divided in more than one way (the KJV divides it differently), and the match depends on how the names are read.
Read the passage
Relief Broadly accepted
Ishtar Gate of Babylon
Date
c. 575 BC
Found
Babylon, Iraq, 1899–1917
Now
Reconstructed in the Pergamon Museum, Berlin; panels in other museums
A city gate faced with blue glazed bricks and rows of bulls and dragons, built by Nebuchadnezzar II.
What it shows
The splendour of Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon. His own inscriptions boast of his building, like the words Daniel gives him: “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built…?”
What it doesn’t show
It confirms the king and his city, not the events of Daniel 4.
Read the passage
Photo: Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Inscription Broadly accepted
Nabonidus Cylinder
Date
c. 540 BC
Found
Ur, Iraq, 1854
Now
British Museum, London
A building inscription of Nabonidus, last king of Babylon.
What it shows
He prays for his eldest son Belshazzar, once known only from Daniel; Belshazzar ruled in Babylon while his father was away, which fits Daniel being made “the third highest ruler” in Daniel 5.
What it doesn’t show
Daniel calls Nebuchadnezzar Belshazzar’s “father”, which most read as ancestor or predecessor.
Read the passage
Inscription Broadly accepted
Nabonidus Chronicle
Date
After 539 BC
Found
Babylonia; acquired by the British Museum in 1879
Now
British Museum, London
A Babylonian chronicle of the reign of Nabonidus, ending with the fall of Babylon.
What it shows
Babylon fell to Cyrus’s army in October 539 BC without a battle, and quickly, as Daniel 5 describes the city falling in a single night. It also records the king staying in Arabia while “the king’s son” remained in Babylon.
What it doesn’t show
It doesn’t name Belshazzar. “Darius the Mede” (Daniel 5:31) isn’t named in any source outside the Bible, and who he was is debated.
Read the passage

New Testament24

Site Broadly accepted
Herodium
Date
Built c. 23–15 BC
Found
Near Bethlehem; excavated from 1962, the tomb found in 2007
Now
In place, near Bethlehem
Herod the Great’s palace-fortress on an artificial cone-shaped hill, where the historian Josephus says he was buried.
What it shows
The power and building of the King Herod in whose reign Matthew and Luke place Jesus’ birth, a few miles from Bethlehem. A tomb found on the slope in 2007 was identified by its excavator, Ehud Netzer, as Herod’s.
What it doesn’t show
It confirms Herod and his building, not the events of Matthew 2, which no other source records. A few scholars doubt that the tomb was Herod’s.
Read the passage
Object Broadly accepted
Magdala synagogue and stone
Date
1st century AD (before AD 70)
Found
Magdala (Migdal), Sea of Galilee, 2009
Now
Israel Antiquities Authority (a replica stands in the synagogue at Magdala)
A synagogue of Jesus’ time, and a carved stone block from it decorated with a seven-branched lampstand.
What it shows
A synagogue in use in a lakeside town of Galilee in Jesus’ day, as the Gospels say he taught “in their synagogues” throughout Galilee. Magdala is traditionally the home town of Mary Magdalene.
What it doesn’t show
Nothing links Jesus to this building in particular.
Read the passage
Site Scholars differ
House of Peter at Capernaum
Date
House 1st century BC; church buildings 4th and 5th centuries AD
Found
Capernaum, Sea of Galilee, 1968
Now
In place, beneath a modern church at Capernaum
A room in a fishing-village house that was set apart early, plastered, and later enlarged into a house-church and then an eight-sided church.
What it shows
Christians honoured this house very early; a pilgrim of the late 4th century was shown Peter’s house made into a church. The excavators think it was the house where Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law.
What it doesn’t show
The identification rests on early Christian tradition. The date of the first Christian use and the readings of graffiti on its walls are debated.
Read the passage
Photo: derivative work: Steerpike (talk) Arc_de_Triumph_copy.jpg: user: בית השלום, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Relief Broadly accepted
Arch of Titus
Date
c. AD 81
Found
Roman Forum, Rome (never buried)
Now
In place, Rome
A triumphal arch celebrating Rome’s capture of Jerusalem in AD 70.
What it shows
Soldiers carry the temple’s menorah and treasures: the temple’s destruction that Jesus foretold.
What it doesn’t show
It records the destruction, not the prophecy.
Read the passage
Photo: deror_avi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Object Broadly accepted
Caiaphas ossuary
Date
1st century AD
Found
Jerusalem, 1990
Now
Israel Museum, Jerusalem
An ornate bone box inscribed “Joseph son of Caiaphas”.
What it shows
Most likely the burial of the high priest who presided at Jesus’ trial (Josephus calls him Joseph Caiaphas).
What it doesn’t show
The identification is widely, not universally, accepted.
Read the passage
Inscription Scholars differ
Nazareth Inscription
Date
Late 1st century BC or 1st century AD
Found
Said to have been sent from Nazareth in 1878; published 1930
Now
Cabinet des Médailles, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
A marble slab with an imperial edict in Greek forbidding anyone to disturb tombs or move the dead, on pain of death.
What it shows
How seriously Roman law could treat tomb-robbing, the charge the chief priests spread about the disciples in Matthew 28:13.
What it doesn’t show
Its origin is uncertain: a 2020 study found the marble came from the island of Kos, so it may never have stood in Nazareth. The emperor isn’t named, and claims that it responded to the empty tomb are speculation.
Read the passage
Object Broadly accepted
Galilee boat
Date
1st century BC – 1st century AD
Found
Shore of the Sea of Galilee near Ginosar, 1986
Now
Yigal Allon Centre, Kibbutz Ginosar, Israel
A wooden fishing boat about 8 metres long, preserved in the mud and uncovered when the lake was low.
What it shows
The kind of boat used on the lake in Jesus’ time, big enough for a crew and several passengers, like those of the fishermen Jesus called.
What it doesn’t show
There is no link to Jesus or the disciples; it is an ordinary working boat, many times repaired.
Read the passage
Site Scholars differ
Synagogue at Capernaum
Date
Standing synagogue 4th–5th century AD; earlier basalt foundations
Found
Capernaum, Sea of Galilee; excavated from 1905, and from 1968
Now
In place, Capernaum, Israel
The ruins of a white limestone synagogue, built over the black basalt foundations of an earlier building.
What it shows
The Franciscan excavators believe the basalt foundations belong to the synagogue of Jesus’ day, where he taught and healed, and which a centurion had built.
What it doesn’t show
The white synagogue itself is centuries later. Whether the basalt walls are those of a 1st-century synagogue is debated.
Read the passage
Object Scholars differ
James ossuary
Date
Ossuary 1st century AD; the inscription’s age is disputed
Found
Antiquities market; made public in 2002 (findspot unknown)
Now
With its private owner in Israel
A limestone bone box inscribed “Jacob (James) son of Joseph, brother of Jesus”.
What it shows
If the whole inscription is ancient, it would be the earliest mention of Jesus’ family outside the New Testament.
What it doesn’t show
Its authenticity is disputed. The box is ancient, but it came from the market with no known findspot, and many specialists think all or part of the inscription was added in modern times. A forgery trial ended in acquittal in 2012, but the court said that didn’t prove it genuine. The three names were common. It shouldn’t be relied on.
Read the passage
Photo: Davidbena, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Site Broadly accepted
Herod’s Temple Mount stones
Date
Late 1st century BC; fallen AD 70
Found
Jerusalem; the street below Robinson’s Arch excavated 1968 onwards
Now
In place, Jerusalem
Huge stones of Herod’s Temple Mount walls, and stones thrown down onto the street when Rome destroyed the temple.
What it shows
The “magnificent stones” the disciples admired, and their fall in AD 70, as Jesus foretold.
What it doesn’t show
They confirm the building and its destruction; when the Gospels were written is a separate question.
Read the passage
Photo: Fallaner, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Inscription Broadly accepted
Pilate Stone
Date
AD 26–36
Found
Caesarea Maritima, Israel, 1961
Now
Israel Museum, Jerusalem (replica at Caesarea)
A Latin dedication of a building by Pontius Pilate.
What it shows
Names “Pontius Pilate, prefect of Judea”: the governor who sentenced Jesus, with his correct title.
What it doesn’t show
It confirms the man and his office, not the trial.
Read the passage
Object Broadly accepted
Heel bone of a crucified man
Date
1st century AD
Found
Giv’at ha-Mivtar, Jerusalem, 1968
Now
Israel Museum, Jerusalem (replica; the bones were reburied)
The heel bone of a man named Yehohanan, still pierced by an iron nail.
What it shows
Physical evidence of Roman crucifixion near Jerusalem, and that a crucified man could be buried in a family tomb, as Jesus was.
What it doesn’t show
It shows the practice, not anything about Jesus’ own death.
Read the passage
Photo: Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Site Scholars differ
Pool of Bethesda
Date
2nd century BC – 1st century AD
Found
Near St Anne’s Church, Jerusalem, excavated 19th–20th centuries
Now
In place, Jerusalem
Two large pools with colonnades north of the Temple Mount.
What it shows
John’s pool “with five porticoes”, once thought a literary invention, fits a double pool with colonnades on four sides and one between.
What it doesn’t show
Exactly how the porticoes were arranged is still discussed.
Read the passage
Photo: Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Site Broadly accepted
Pool of Siloam
Date
1st century BC – AD 70
Found
Jerusalem, during pipe works, 2004
Now
In place, City of David, Jerusalem
A large stepped pool of the Second Temple period.
What it shows
The pool where Jesus sent the man born blind to wash, in use in his day.
What it doesn’t show
It shows the place, not the event.
Read the passage
Site Scholars differ
Tombs beneath the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Date
Quarry and tombs 1st century BC – 1st century AD; church from AD 326
Found
Jerusalem; studied in excavations from the 1960s onwards
Now
In place, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem
An old stone quarry with rock-cut Jewish tombs of the 1st century, where Constantine built a church over the tomb believed to be Jesus’.
What it shows
In Jesus’ time the place lay just outside the city wall, near a road, with tombs cut into the rock: what John and Hebrews require for the crucifixion and burial.
What it doesn’t show
Archaeology can’t show that this was Jesus’ tomb. The identification rests on a tradition strong enough by the 4th century for a Roman temple to be cleared from the site. The Garden Tomb, a popular alternative, is dated by archaeologists to centuries before Jesus.
Read the passage
Inscription Broadly accepted
Theodotus inscription
Date
1st century AD (before AD 70, most think)
Found
City of David, Jerusalem, 1913
Now
Israel Museum, Jerusalem
A Greek dedication by Theodotus, a priest and synagogue leader, of a synagogue built “for the reading of the Law and the teaching of the commandments”, with rooms for visitors from abroad.
What it shows
A synagogue in Jerusalem before the temple fell, serving Greek-speaking Jews from abroad, like the synagogue of Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia and Asia in Acts 6:9, and where Moses was “read in the synagogues every sabbath”.
What it doesn’t show
Some have suggested it was that very synagogue, but that is a guess. A few scholars date the inscription later.
Read the passage
Site Broadly accepted
Caesarea Maritima
Date
Built c. 22–10 BC
Found
Caesarea, Israel; excavated from the 1950s
Now
In place, Caesarea National Park, Israel
Herod the Great’s harbour city, the seat of Rome’s governors of Judea, with a palace on a promontory, a theatre and a hippodrome.
What it shows
The city of Cornelius, of Philip the evangelist, and of Paul’s two years in custody “in Herod’s judgement hall” before Felix and Festus. The palace on the promontory is widely identified as that building.
What it doesn’t show
The identification of the palace as the governor’s headquarters is an inference, though a strong one; the Pilate Stone was found here too.
Read the passage
Inscription Scholars differ
Sergius Paulus inscriptions
Date
1st century AD
Found
Rome, and Pisidian Antioch (Turkey)
Now
In Rome and in Turkey
Inscriptions naming members of the Roman family of the Sergii Paulli, including a Lucius Sergius Paullus who held office in Rome under Claudius.
What it shows
A senatorial family of this name was prominent in Paul’s day and had ties to Pisidian Antioch, the city Paul went on to soon after meeting the proconsul Sergius Paulus on Cyprus.
What it doesn’t show
None of them certainly names the proconsul of Cyprus. Linking them to him, and his family to Paul’s route, is an inference that scholars weigh differently.
Read the passage
Photo: Richard Wilkison, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Inscription Broadly accepted
Politarch inscriptions of Thessalonica
Date
1st – 2nd centuries AD
Found
Thessalonica, Greece (the Vardar Gate inscription, removed 1876)
Now
British Museum, London, and Thessaloniki
Inscriptions naming the city’s magistrates.
What it shows
Luke calls Thessalonica’s officials “politarchs”, a title once thought to be his mistake; inscriptions show it was the city’s own term.
What it doesn’t show
The best-known example is a little later than Paul’s visit; earlier ones also exist.
Read the passage
Photo: Gérard, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Inscription Broadly accepted
Gallio Inscription (Delphi)
Date
c. AD 52
Found
Delphi, Greece, 1905
Now
Delphi Archaeological Museum, Greece
A letter of Emperor Claudius naming Gallio as proconsul of Achaia.
What it shows
Dates Gallio’s term, and so Paul’s trial before him in Corinth, to about AD 51–52: a fixed point for New Testament chronology.
What it doesn’t show
It doesn’t mention Paul.
Read the passage
Site Broadly accepted
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
Date
Rebuilt after 356 BC; standing until the 3rd century AD
Found
Ephesus (near Selçuk), Turkey, 1869
Now
In place near Selçuk, Turkey (one column re-erected); sculpture at the British Museum, London
The site of one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, the great temple of the goddess Artemis.
What it shows
The temple whose trade in silver shrines lay behind the riot in Acts 19. In inscriptions Ephesus calls itself neōkoros, “temple keeper”, of Artemis: the very title the town clerk uses.
What it doesn’t show
Little of the building survives; it shows the setting of the events.
Read the passage
Photo: Furkan Akkurt, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Site Broadly accepted
Theatre of Ephesus
Date
Hellenistic, rebuilt 1st century AD
Found
Ephesus, Turkey, excavated from 1869
Now
In place, Ephesus, Turkey
A theatre seating about 25,000.
What it shows
Where the crowd rushed during the riot of the silversmiths over Artemis and Paul’s preaching.
What it doesn’t show
It shows the setting of the event.
Read the passage
Photo: Ywpark2003 Prof. Yong Woo Park, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Inscription Broadly accepted
Temple warning inscription
Date
1st century BC – AD 70
Found
Jerusalem, 1871 (a fragment of a second in 1935)
Now
Istanbul Archaeology Museums; fragment at the Israel Museum
A Greek notice from the barrier around Herod’s temple courts.
What it shows
No foreigner may go beyond the barrier, on pain of death: the setting of the riot over Paul and of “the dividing wall of hostility”.
What it doesn’t show
Ephesians uses the image as a metaphor; the link is illustrative.
Read the passage
Photo: Ktiv, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Inscription Scholars differ
Erastus Inscription (Corinth)
Date
1st or 2nd century AD
Found
Corinth, Greece, 1929
Now
In place, Ancient Corinth
A paving inscription: “Erastus, in return for his aedileship, laid this at his own expense”.
What it shows
Possibly the Erastus Paul calls “the city treasurer” of Corinth.
What it doesn’t show
Its date and the match between the titles are debated, so the identification is uncertain.
Read the passage

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