TEL DAN STELE (1993): FIRST BACK-TRANSLATION OF THE TEXT INTO KOINE GREEK

The Tel Dan Stele, discovered in 1993–1994 and paleographically dated to the 9th century BCE, has never been subjected to a philological back-translation into Koine Greek. This study applies that method – standard in textual criticism – to all preserved Aramaic lines. It establishes: (1) the Aramaic of Tel Dan exhibits syntactic anomalies, notably a Subject-Verb- Object (SVO) word order, incompatible with authentic 9th-century Aramaic as attested by the Mesha Stele; (2) word-for-word back-translation produces a Koine Greek text stylistically and lexically consistent with Nicolaus of Damascus (FGrHist 90) and the Wisdom of Solomon, both dated to the 1st century BCE; (3) these convergences are best explained by a translation process from a Greek original, dictated word-for-word to a stone carver. The Tel Dan Stele is identified as a philological forgery produced around 36 BCE, placed at the pass of Tel Dan to humiliate the Jews of Galilee after the fall of the last Hasmonean king, Antigonus Mattathias. It can no longer be used as a 9th-century BCE witness for the House of David.