David

:This page is about the Biblical king David. For other uses see: David (disambiguation)

Historicity of David

See The Bible and history for a more complete description of the general issues surrounding the Bible as a historical source.

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Biblical minimalists hold that David and his united kingdom never existed, and that the stories told about his life were made up much later by Jewish nationalists. Others consider him a real historical figure but, as with King Arthur, consider most of the traditions relating to him to have more myth than substance.

Related Topics:
Nationalist - King Arthur

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Archaeologist William G. Dever, in his book, What Did the Biblical Authors Know and When Did They Know It?, comes to the conclusion that David and his united monarchy did indeed exist, but that he did not rule "from the Euphrates to the River of Egypt" as the Bible claims, and more probably ruled approximately from Tell Dan in northern Israel to the area south of Beer-Sheba in Judah.

Related Topics:
Tell Dan - Beer-Sheba - Judah

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The details of David's life given in this article come from the Hebrew Bible and are not corroborated by, or even mentioned in, other historical documents. However, an ancient inscription called the Tel Dan Stele is controversially considered to refer to a king of the "House of David", providing indirect evidence that someone called David did exist as a historical king (although a minority interpret the vowel-less text as saying the "House of Duad", the "House of Thoth", or various other readings). It has recently been claimed that this inscription is a modern forgery, but this claim is rejected by the majority of researchers.

Related Topics:
Hebrew Bible - Tel Dan Stele - Thoth

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There have been many attempts at considering David as a quasi-historical figure, a composite mostly taken from the details of someone or something else, whether being a deliberate satire or commentary, or simply an attempt at accurate portrayal which became corrupted (in the sense that it appears now that he is someone distinct from who/what he was intended to portray).

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In 2005, an Israeli archaeologist working in East Jerusalem uncovered a large public building dating back to the period of David's reign, which may allow the issue to be addressed more definitively.

Related Topics:
East Jerusalem - A large public building dating back to the period of David's reign

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