Work under way to retrieve Mesha Stele from Louvre

AMMAN — The Mesha Centre for Studies and Human Rights on Tuesday held its first meeting as part of a national campaign to retrieve the Mesha Stele from the Louvre Museum and return it to Theeban.

The meeting covered the required plans to run the campaign at the legal, political and media levels to retrieve the stele.

Centre President Daifallah Hdeithat said retrieving the artefact is a national priority, noting it was taken from its original site when the Kingdom was under Ottoman rule, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The stele of King Mesha “constitutes one of the most important direct accounts of the history of the world that is related in the Bible”, according to the Louvre.

“The inscription pays tribute to the sovereign, celebrating his great construction work and victories over the kingdom of Israel during the reign of Ahab, son of Omri,” the museum says on its website.

The mention of “Israel” is its earliest known written occurrence.

Theeban, ancient Dibon, where the stele was found, was the capital of the kingdom of Moab.