Moabite (moabit)

and a. [ Μώαβος ( LL. Moab), Jordan. II. a . Pertaining to Moab or the Moabites. Moabite stone, a slab of black basalt bearing an inscription of thirty-four lines in Hebrew-Phenic i an characters, the oldest monument of the Semitic alphabet. It was found in 1868 at the ancient Dibon of Moab. Before it could be removed it was broken in many pieces, through the jealousies of Arab tribes, but a squeeze of the inscription had been previously taken, and the chief fragments are now in the Louvre Museum. The stone is the most important surviving relic of Moabite civilization, and is believed to date from about 900 B. C. The inscription records the victories of King Mesha over the Israeli tes.