Bible Synapse
Bubastite Portal
relief · c. 925 BC · Israel and Judah · also called Shishak relief, Shoshenq I’s list of conquered towns
See it on the map and timeline
- Date
- c. 925 BC (the relief and its list of towns)
- Found
- Temple of Amun, Karnak (Luxor), Egypt, 1828. Carved on the outer south wall of the temple of Amun at Karnak, beside a gateway built by the 22nd (Bubastite) Dynasty. Champollion saw it in 1828 and linked it with the biblical Shishak; the Oriental Institute of Chicago published a full record in 1954.
- Now
- At the site, Luxor, Egypt
- Passages
- 1 Kings 11:40, 1 Kings 14:25–26, 2 Chronicles 12:2–9
What it is
A large relief in which Pharaoh Shoshenq I, founder of Egypt’s 22nd Dynasty, is shown striking captives before the god Amun. Behind and below him run rows of name rings for some 150 places he claimed to have conquered in Canaan, many of them now damaged. Among the names that can be read are Megiddo, Taanach, Gibeon and Arad.
How it connects to the Bible
Most scholars identify Shoshenq I with “Shishak king of Egypt”, who came up against Jerusalem in the fifth year of Rehoboam and carried off the temple treasures (1 Kings 14:25–26; 2 Chronicles 12:2–9). The list fits a campaign through Judah’s borderlands and the northern kingdom, and part of an inscribed Shoshenq monument was found at Megiddo, a town on the list. Jerusalem does not appear among the surviving names.
What scholars debate
Why Jerusalem is missing, and how far the list records a real route, are debated. The Megiddo fragment, long taken for a victory stele, may instead come from a building.