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Unprecedented King Hezekiah royal seal discovered

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  • Unprecedented King Hezekiah royal seal discovered

    Lately archeology news has been as exciting as watching grass grow. Finally a discovery worth sharing.

    Source: http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Culture/First-ever-seal-impression-of-an-Israelite-or-Judean-king-exposed-near-Temple-Mount-436061



    Unprecedented King Hezekiah royal seal discovered in Ophel excavations brings to life Biblical narratives of Jerusalem’s First Temple period.

    An unprecedented impression of the royal seal of King Hezekiah from the First Temple period was unearthed by a Hebrew University of Jerusalem archeological team during excavations at the foot of the southern wall of the Temple Mount, the university announced on Wednesday.

    Dating back to 727–698 BCE and measuring 9.7 mm by 8.6 mm., the oval impression – discovered amid Jerusalem’s noted Ophel excavations under the direction of the university’s Dr. Eilat Mazar – was imprinted on a 3-mm.- thick piece of clay, measuring 13 mm. by 12 mm.

    The excavation site is situated within the Ophel Archeological Park, which is part of the national park surrounding the walls of Jerusalem, under the auspices of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.

    Around the impression is a depression left by the frame of the ring in which the seal was set. The impression bears an inscription in ancient Hebrew script stating: “Belonging to Hezekiah [son of] Ahaz king of Judah,” accompanied by a two-winged sun with wings turned downward, flanked by two ankh symbols serving as emblems of life.

    © Copyright Original Source

    Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
    Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man;
    But will they come when you do call for them? Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, Act III:

    go with the flow the river knows . . .

    Frank

    I do not know, therefore everything is in pencil.

  • #2
    Interesting.

    When I was in Israel last, our tour guide was a secular Jew who was very interested in archeology*. At several times during the tour, she would point out that a homeowner was digging a basement, for example, and found some coins or an artifact, so work had to stop, the antiquities people brought in to inspect, and sometimes that would turn into a historic archeological dig. The simple digging of a well, therefore, might take 10 years or more.

    She pointed out that there have been several cases where the homeowner or land owner would decide they didn't want to deal with the Jewish Antiquities people, so they would conceal or fail to report the finding. And the only reason that would be uncovered is that they mentioned something to a neighbor, or tried to sell the artifact. I wonder how many times a precious dig site gets overlooked because of such reluctance of a land owner to have their life put on hold.

    It's very interesting to me, though, that things are being found thousands of years later, often not even buried very deep at all.



    *why doesn't a Theology website recognize the spelling of archeology?
    The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
      *why doesn't a Theology website recognize the spelling of archeology?
      Archaeology is the most accepted spelling in the English language. Archeology is considered an accepted variant. It oddly started supposedly in the US government printing office as an economy simple spelling.
      Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
      Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man;
      But will they come when you do call for them? Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, Act III:

      go with the flow the river knows . . .

      Frank

      I do not know, therefore everything is in pencil.

      Comment


      • #4
        Here's a link to your article (from your cite)

        and a picture of the seal (also available from your cite)

        royal-seal.jpg
        The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

        Comment


        • #5
          More detailed info available here: http://fontes.lstc.edu/~rklein/Docum...g_hezekiah.htm

          Source: http://fontes.lstc.edu/~rklein/Documents/king_hezekiah.htm



          King Hezekiah's Seal Bears Phoenician Imagery by Frank Moore Cross

          Biblical Archaeology Review

          March-April, 1999

          Not long ago, a clay impression of the seal of a Hebrew king came to light for the first time: The seal of 'Ahaz, king of Judah from about 734 to 715 B.C.E., had been pressed into a small bit of clay (called a bulla) that once sealed a papyrus roll.* On the back we can still see the impression of the strings that tied the roll and of the fabric of the papyrus. The seal, inscribed in Old Hebrew letters, reads simply: l'hz y/hwtm mlk /yhdh "Belonging to 'Ahaz (son of) Yehotam, King of Judah."**

          Now an even more astonishing bulla has come to light--that of 'Ahaz's son, the great Judahite monarch Hezekiah. I say more astonishing because unlike the seal of 'Ahaz, which is purely epigraphic, Hezekiah's seal is also iconic--it depicts a two-winged beetle (called a scarab) pushing a ball of mud (making it a dung scarab). Moreover, for reasons I will explain, there can be little or no doubt as to its authenticity.

          For some time we have possessed seals and bullae of the servants of Israelite kings, but of the more than twelve hundred West Semitic seals now published, only two bullae--those mentioned here--bear recognizable stamps made by the seals of the kings of Judah.

          © Copyright Original Source

          Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
          Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man;
          But will they come when you do call for them? Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, Act III:

          go with the flow the river knows . . .

          Frank

          I do not know, therefore everything is in pencil.

          Comment

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