THE MESHA STELE (The Moabite Stone)

"Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder;
and he had to deliver annually to the king of Israel a hundred thousand lambs,
and the wool of a hundred thousand rams.
But when Ahab died,
the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. ... "

The story (in part): 2 Kings 3.1-27.

Moabite Stone. c.890bce. Height 1.1metre. Mus.du Louvre, Paris.
It is the only royal inscription written in Hebrew yet discovered.
The MOABITE STONE, bearing an inscription of Mesha, king of Moab, who reigned at the beginning of the ninth century BC.
He here records his wars with Israel, and other deeds.
The Moabite stone was discovered by the Rev. F Klein, at Dibhan, in the land of Moab, on August 19th, 1868.
It measures 3ft. 10in. by 2ft. by 1ft. 2in., and is inscribed with thirty-four lines of text, each word of which is separated by a dot.
About a year after its discovery the Arabs, hearing of its contemplated removal, broke it into a number of fragments; but a paper squeeze of the inscription had already been made, and thus, fortunately, almost the whole of the text has been preserved.
A copy of the inscription in Hebrew letters, as transcribed by Prim and Socin, and a translation are here given:- 

Illustration - (Left): 'Picture Archive of the Bible.' Lion Publishing Plc. 1987. (Right): 'New Bible Atlas.' IVP. 1985.
Description: 'Helps to the Study of the Bible.' Oxford University Press. Undated.
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