The United Monarchy and the Alliance with Hiram of Tyre

Saul was anointed as the first king of Israel by the prophet Samuel in the late eleventh century BCE, and his reign was marked by constant conflict with the Philistines, ending with his death, alongside several of his sons, at the battle of Mount Gilboa. David succeeded him, first as king of Judah and then of all Israel, and his conquest of Jerusalem established the city as the political capital, the "City of David," to which he also moved the Ark of the Covenant. The so-called Tel Dan Inscription, discovered in 1993 and dated to the ninth century BCE, mentions the expression "House of David," constituting the first extrabiblical evidence confirming the historical existence of a Davidic dynasty.