History of ancient Israel and Judah
The history of ancient Israel and Judah spans from the early appearance of the Israelites in Canaan's hill country during the late second millenium BCE, to the establishment and subsequent downfall of the two Israelite kingdoms in the mid-first millenium BCE. This history unfolds within the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. The earliest documented mention of "Israel" as a people appears on the Merneptah Stele, an ancient Egyptian inscription dating back to around 1208 BCE. Archaeological evidence suggests that ancient Israelite culture evolved from the pre-existing Canaanite civilization. During the Iron Age II period, two Israelite kingdoms emerged in the region: the Kingdom of Israel in the north and the Kingdom of Judah in the south.
The Merneptah Stele. While alternative translations exist, the majority of biblical archaeologists translate a set of hieroglyphs as "Israel", representing the first instance of the name Israel in the historical record.
A reconstructed Israelite house, 10th–7th century BCE. Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv.
Model of Levantine four-roomed house from c. 900 BCE
Depiction of Jehu King of Israel giving tribute to the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III on the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III from Nimrud (c. BCE – c. 841–840)
The Israelites were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. They were also an ethnoreligious group.
Mid-20th century mosaic of the 12 Tribes of Israel, from the Etz Yosef synagogue wall in Givat Mordechai, Jerusalem
Model of the Tabernacle constructed under the auspices of Moses, in Timna Park, Israel
The Mount Ebal structure, seen by many archeologists as an early Israelite cultic site
Part of the gift-bearing Israelite delegation of King Jehu, Black Obelisk, 841–840 BCE.
