00:00:15so our search for David in his own City
00:00:19reveals only a tunnel that might tell us
00:00:22of his clever tactics but precious
00:00:25little else about David himself
00:00:28but it turns out that the best evidence
00:00:31we have for davidon comes not from his
00:00:33city or his people but from his arch
00:00:36enemies
00:00:50David the Bible says was a superb
00:00:53military ruler
00:00:55after establishing his kingdom with its
00:00:58capital in Jerusalem David led the
00:01:00Israelites from one victory to another
00:01:02in battles against his might neighbors
00:01:05the Moabites the Edomites the ammonites
00:01:09and the Arameans
00:01:13with this conquered land if he
00:01:15established the davidic empire that
00:01:18extended over both sides of the Jordan
00:01:20River as far as the Mediterranean Sea
00:01:23paving the way for his son Solomon to
00:01:26inherit a strong Empire in which for the
00:01:29first time it was safe to build the holy
00:01:32temple and finally housed the holiest of
00:01:35holy relics the Ark of the Covenant
00:01:44and the greatest testament to David’s
00:01:47importance and as yet the most tangible
00:01:50clue that David was a real human made of
00:01:52flesh and blood comes from an enemy king
00:01:56who records a victory over David’s
00:01:59descendants on a piece of stone called
00:02:01the tailed on Stella Matilda and Stella
00:02:05is a monumental stone inscription
00:02:09incised with letters it is written in
00:02:13Aramaic put up by an Aramaic King who
00:02:16claims that he has conquered 70 cities
00:02:21and he is setting up this particular
00:02:26Stella to commemorate this occasion one
00:02:30of the conquests he claims shook
00:02:32Biblical Archaeology to its core the six
00:02:37letters say that the vide there’s the
00:02:41bit and the you’d the top the Dalit
00:02:46above and then again the Dalit Beth
00:02:50Aveda between every other words in this
00:02:54inscription there is a very clear dot
00:02:56but between these two words bate and
00:03:00daveed there is no dot which has been
00:03:04interpreted as meaning that this was a
00:03:06concept even though it was made up of
00:03:08two words
00:03:11these words be at dahveed when
00:03:14translated into english read house of
00:03:18david this is the first time the house
00:03:22of david or even the name david has been
00:03:25found in a non biblical source