List of Biblical figures identified in extra-Biblical sources

List of Biblical figures identified in extra-Biblical sources

Biblical figures identified in contemporary sources

These are Biblical figures unambiguously identified in contemporary sources.

Hebrew Bible (Old Testament)

* Ahab, king of Israel: Mentioned extensively in Kings and Chronicles. Identified in the contemporary Kurkh Monolith inscription of Shalmaneser III which describes the Battle of Qarqar and mentions "2,000 chariots, 10,000 soldiers of Ahab the Israelite" defeated by Shalmaneser [COS] .

* Ahaz (Jehoahaz), king of Judah: Mentioned extensively in Kings, Chronicles and Isaiah as well as in Hosea 1:1 and Micah 1:1. Identified in the contemporary Summary Inscription of Tiglath-Pileser III which records that he received tribute from "Jehoahaz the Judahite", as mentioned in 2 Kings 16:7-8 and 2 Chronicles 28:21 [BAS] . Also identified in a contemporary clay bulla, reading "of Ahaz [son of] Jotham king of Judah" [BBA] . Another bulla reading "of Ushna servant of Ahaz" is likely a reference to King Ahaz as well [BBA] . (A third bulla mentioning Ahaz as the father of Hezekiah is being investigated as a possible forgery.)

* Apries (Hophra), pharaoh of Egypt: Mentioned in Jeremiah 44:30. Identified in numerous contemporary inscriptions including those of the capitals of the columns of his palace. (See [http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/memphis/palace.html The palace of Apries] .) Herodotus speaks of him in "Histories" II, 161-171. [DEU]

* Ashurbanipal (Asenappar/Sardanapalus), king of Assyria: Mentioned in Ezra 4:10. Identified in numerous contemporary inscriptions including one listing Manasseh king of Judah amongst the kings who had brought him gifts and aided his conquest of Egypt [ANET] . His inscriptions tell of his conquest of Elam and Babylon which accords with Ezra 4:9-10 where people that he exiled from these regions are mentioned [HBA] . Diodorus Siculus (book II, 21) preserved a fanciful account of him by Ctesias. (See [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0062&query=head%3D%239721&word=Sardanapalus Sardanapalus] in [HCA] .)

* Belshazzar, coregent of Babylon
* Benhadad, king of Aram
* Cyaxares (Achiachar/Ahasuerus), ally of Nebuchadnezzar (in Tobit) and father of Darius the Mede (in Daniel)
* Cyrus II of Persia
* Esarhaddon, king of Assyria
* Evil-merodach, king of Babylon
* Gedaliah, governor of Judah
* Gedaliah son of Pashhur, an opponent of Jeremiah
* Hezekiah, king of Judah
* Hoshea, king of Israel
* Jedidiah the name given to Solomon by the prophet Nathan in 2 Samuel 12:25
* Jehoiachin, king of Judah
* Jehu, king of Israel
* Jerahmeel, prince of Judah
* Jezebel, wife of king Ahab of Israel
* Josiah, king of Judah
* Jotham, king of Judah
* Manasseh, king of Judah
* Menahem, king of Israel
* Merodach-baladan, king of Babylon
* Mesha, king of Moab
* Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon
* Necho, pharaoh of Egypt
* Nergal-sharezer, king of Babylon
* Omri, king of Israel
* Pekah, king of Israel
* Rezin, king of Aram
* Sanballat, governor of Samaria the leading figure of the opposition which Nehemiah encountered during the rebuilding of the walls around the temple in Jerusalem. Sanballat is reportedly mentioned in the Elephantine Papyri.
* Sargon II, king of Assyria
* Sennacherib, king of Assyria
* Shalmaneser III, king of Assyria
* Shalmaneser V, king of Assyria
* Sharezer, son of Sennacherib
* Tiglath-Pileser III, king of Assyria
* Uzziah, king of Judah
* Sennacherib, king of Assyria
* Taharqa, pharaoh of Egypt
* Yehukual ben Shelemyahu, an opponent of Jeremiah
* Zedekiah, king of Judah

New Testament

Gospels

* Tiberius Caesar, emperor of Rome
* Quirinius
* Pontius Pilate, procurator and prefect of Judea
* Annas, high priest
* Caiaphas, high priest
* Herod the Great
* Herod Antipas
* Herod Archelaus
* Herod Philip II

Acts of the Apostles

* Theudas
* Judas of Galilee
* Herod Agrippa I
* Herod Agrippa II
* Gamaliel
* Gallio
* Berenice
* Antonius Felix
* Porcius Festus
* Sergius Paulus
* Aretas IV Philopatris

Biblical figures tentatively identified in contemporary sources

These are Biblical figures for which tentative but likely identifications have been found in contemporary sources based on matching names and credentials. The possibility of coincidental matching of names cannot be ruled out however.

Hebrew Bible (Old Testament)

* Azaliah, scribe in the Temple in Jerusalem: Mentioned in 2 Kings 22:3 and 2 Chronicles 34:8. A bulla reading "Azaliah son of Meshullam" is likely to be his [BBA] .

* Azariah, grandfather of Ezra: Mentioned in 1 Chronicles 6:13,14; 9:11 and Ezra 7:1. A bulla reading "Azariah son of Hilkiah" is likely to be his [BBA] .
* Baruch, scribe of the prophet Jeremiah: Mentioned in Jeremiah 32:12-16, 36:4-32, 43:3-6, 45:1-2 and in Baruch 1.1-3, the latter book being named after him. A clay bulla found in 1975 reading "of Berechiah son of Neriah the scribe" is likely his [BBA] [TTA] . The name translated "Berachiah" consists of the Hebrew letters of the name Baruch with the Tetragrammaton appended [TTA] . (Other bullae with similar text that appeared in the 1990s are being investigated as possible forgeries.)
* Gemariah, scribe in the Temple in Jerusalem
* Geshem, Nabatean dignitary

* Hilkiah, high priest in the Temple in Jerusalem: Mentioned throughout 2 Kings 22:8-23:24 and 2 Chronicles 34:9-35:8 as well as in 1 Chronicles 6:13; 9:11 and Ezra 7:1. The clay bulla naming a Hilkiah as the father of an Azariah, as well as another bulla reading "Hanan son of Hilkiah the priest" are likely to be references to him. [BBA] .

* Johanan, grandson of the high priest Eliashib.

* Meshullam, father of Azaliah the scribe: Mentioned in 2 Kings 22:3. The contemporary bulla naming Meshullam as the father of an Azaliah is likely to be a reference to him [BBA] .

* Neriah, father of Baruch the scribe
* Seraiah, official of Zedekiah
* Shaphan, father of Gemariah the scribe

* Shebna (or Shebaniah), royal steward of Hezekiah: only the last two letters of a name ("hw") survive on the so-called Shebna lintel, but the title of his position ("over the house" of the king) and the date indicated by the script style, have inclined many scholars to identify the person it refers to with Shebna.

References

# [BBA] [http://www.biblehistory.net/ John Argubright, "Bible Believer's Archaeology", Xulon Press, 2003]
# [BAS] Stephen L. Caiger, "Bible and Spade", Oxford University Press, 1936
# [HBA] George Goodspeed, "A History of the Babylonians and Assyrians", New York NY, C. Scribners Sons, 1902
# [DEU] [http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/ Wolfram Grajetzki, Stephen Quirke, Narushige Shiode, "Digital Egypt for Universities", University College London, 2000]
# [COS] William W. Hallo, ed., "The Context of Scripture", Brill Academic Publishers, 1997-2002
# [ANET] James B. Pritchard, ed., "Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament", Princeton University Press, 1955, supplement 1969
# [TTA] [http://www.stone-campbelljournal.com/archive/41/schoville.htm Keith N. Schoville, "Top Ten Archaeological Discoveries of the Twentieth Century Relating to the Biblical World", Stone Campbell Journal, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2001]
# [HCA] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0062 Harry Thurston Peck, "Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities", New York, Harper and Brothers, 1898]
#Mykytiuk, Lawrence J. (2004). "Identifying Biblical Persons in Northwest Semitic Inscriptions of 1200–539 B.C.E." Academia Biblica series, no. 12. Atlanta, Ga.: Society of Biblical Literature. ISBN 1-58983-062-8. A technical, specialized dissertation, revised and updated for publication. Devises a system for evaluating potential identifications of Biblical persons in inscriptions written in Hebrew, Aramaic, Moabite, Canaanite, Phoenician, and Ammonite. (Does not cover inscriptions in Assyrian and Babyonian Akkadian.) Makes eleven identification criteria explicit. Classifies IDs and non-IDs into six grades of strength or weakness. Performs full-length evaluation of potential IDs in eleven Hebrew inscriptions plus the Mesha stele and the Tel Dan stele. Appendixes list preliminary evaluations of more than seventy-five persons in more than ninety inscriptions, resulting in identifications of sixteen Biblical persons considered "certain" for the period of the Hebrew monarchies and the Babylonian exile only.

ee also

* Biblical archaeology
* The Bible and history
* Biblical figures
* Mesha Stele
* Tel Dan Stele
* Chronology of Jesus
* List of burial places of biblical figures
* List of persons in both the Bible and the Qur'an