King David

David is remembered in the Hebrew Bible as the shepherd who killed Goliath, succeeded Saul as king of Israel, captured Jerusalem, and made it his capital, traditionally around the tenth century BCE. Most of what is written about him comes from scripture rather than contemporary records. The Tel Dan stele, a ninth-century BCE Aramaic inscription that mentions the House of David, is widely taken by scholars as evidence that a historical dynasty traced itself to a real founder named David. The biblical picture of a large, powerful united monarchy is more contested: some archaeologists see only a modest hill-country chiefdom, and the debate is unresolved. He remains a central figure for Jews, Christians, and Muslims and the traditional ancestor of a future messiah.