Newly discovered inscription of Pharaoh Hophra, mentioned in Jeremiah 44:30įaience plaque inscribed with the cartouche of Pharaoh Hophra If this does indeed turn out to be associated with a military campaign, it would be enormously significant.Ĭredit: Hophra stela | Egyptian ministry of Tourism & Antiquities In actual fact, no historical records of Hophra have been found what we know of him has been gleaned from Greek historians and the Old Testament. Mostafa Waziry, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities stated, “the stela is one of the border stelae that the king erected during his military campaigns towards the east” (June 5, 2021). At the top is a winged sun disk below that is the cartouche (name ring) of Pharaoh Hophra, followed by 15 lines of hieroglyphic text.Ī translation of the inscription is yet to be released, but Dr. The inscription was carved on a stone slab (stela) about 7.5 ft high and 3.4 ft. What is amazing about the artifact is that it appears to be completely intact. His Egyptian name was Wahibre, rendered in Greek as Apries. Hophra ruled from 589 to 570 BC and was involved in events surrounding the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in July, 587 BC. It was accidently discovered on June 4 by a farmer working in his field near Ismailia in the eastern delta of Egypt.
Perhaps the most significant was a sandstone inscription of the Egyptian king Hophra, one of six pharaohs mentioned by name in the Old Testament (Jeremiah 44:30). June and July were busy months for archaeological discoveries.