According to Prof. Gershon Galil of the Department of Biblical and Israeli History at the University of Haifa who deciphered the inscription, it testifies to the ability to write and the existence of an orderly administrator who collected taxes, recruited forced laborers and took care of their needs in the second half of the tenth century BC, probably during the reign of King Solomon

Prof. Gershon Galil from the Department of Biblical and Israeli History at the University of Haifa offers a decipherment of the earliest Hebrew inscription found in Jerusalem, as published in the journal "Innovations in the Study of Jerusalem", which testifies to the administrator's abilities, apparently during the reign of Solomon. The inscription, which was recorded about 3000 years ago, in the second half of the tenth century BCE, was found in the Ofel excavations in Jerusalem, near the southern wall of the Temple Mount by an archaeological expedition of the Institute of Archeology of the Hebrew University, led by Dr. Eilat Mazar.
The address was engraved on a large storage jar, and 8 letters were preserved. So far, the interpretation proposals have said that it is not a Hebrew script, and that the small number of letters makes it impossible to read the inscription. According to Prof. Galil's reading, which was published a few days ago in the journal "Innovations in the Study of Jerusalem" - (see drawing), it is a Hebrew inscription and it can also be given to the reader: [in the year of...] them, a clear wine, from [...]. - According to Prof. Galil, the inscription was divided into three components: the date "[in the year of...]m" - perhaps the twentieth or thirtieth year of Solomon -, the type of wine - "still wine" -, and the place from which it was sent to Jerusalem "from [...]" – The name of the place has not survived. Prof. Galil also pointed out that the form "yen" shows that this is a Hebrew inscription, written in the southern dialect, since in all other languages in the region, including northern Hebrew, the spelling is always "yen". On the other hand, in the inscriptions found in the south of the country (Arad, Lachish, etc.), as well as in the Bible (without exception), in the scrolls of the Judean desert and in Talmudic literature, the form is always "yin". The term "smooth wine" refers to wine of low quality as appears from an Ugaritic text that lists different types of wine in descending order: good wine, bad wine, and smooth wine (of low quality).
"The new inscription is written in the late Canaanite script, and in the southern dialect of Hebrew. In this script they wrote in both Hebrew and Canaanite. This is the earliest Hebrew inscription found in Jerusalem. It predates other Hebrew inscriptions found in Jerusalem by two hundred and fifty years, and it must be dated from archaeological and paleographical considerations (that is, on - according to the form of the script) to the second half of the tenth century BCE. In those days, Solomon completed his major construction projects in Jerusalem, which focused mainly on the Temple Mount, including the temple and the palaces. Only in the days of Solomon, and not in the days of David, was the Ofel area built and inhabited, where the inscription was found. Solomon is the king who also built the wall of Jerusalem, which surrounded the Temple Mount, the Opal, and the City of David, and turned these three areas into one unified city, as stated in 1 Kings 3:1; 10, 15," said Prof. Galil.
He further added that the address indicates a need for large quantities of low-quality wine. "This wine was not served on Shlomo's table, not even in the temple, but was probably used by the many forced laborers who were employed in the construction factories there. In the Ofel area, the food and drink was concentrated for these workers, and for the soldiers who guarded the place. In Greece and Rome, an inferior type of wine was used as a drink for soldiers and common laborers , evidence of the use of this kind of drink in the Kingdom of Judah is found in the Arad ruins," he said.
According to him, the inscription is evidence of the writing ability of the scribes in Jerusalem in the tenth century BC. The ability to register the wine and store it in a large vessel intended for this, specifying the type of wine, the date it was received, and the place from which it was sent, testify to the existence of an orderly administration that collected taxes, recruited forced laborers, brought them to Jerusalem, and took care of feeding and watering them.
"Writers who knew how to write administrative texts were also able to write literary and historiographical texts, as evidenced by the Maciapa inscription, and this issue has extremely important implications for the study of the Bible and the understanding of Israel's history during the biblical period," Prof. Galil concluded.
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For "just someone" - you are mixing matters that have no connection between them: if in the eighth century there was an orderly administrator - this does not mean that in the tenth century there was no orderly administrator; And if we haven't found further evidence of this yet - it doesn't teach anything. You remind me of the claims that the kingdom of Edom did not exist before the eighth century - because apparently no archaeological findings prior to the eighth century were found there, and recently it turned out that Edom was the most important copper center in the Middle East in the tenth century, and this is shown by archaeological findings found there and are not disputed. The reading "smooth wine" is the correct reading of the inscription. And if you are so convinced of your words - why are you hiding, wearing a mask and not identifying yourself with your full name and address - I ask that you identify yourself so that we can hold a cultural discussion and not make idle claims and unfounded slanders. I would be happy to send you the article I wrote on the subject - here is my email -
ggalil@univ.haifa.ac.il
The suggested reading is a nice guess and nothing more.
My problem with the reading is mainly with the accompanying interpretation. There is a whole debate about the spelling of "yin", and then about why exactly "smooth wine" and who drank it, while the main thing is missing from the inscription - the word "wine" is a complete guess as to what is written in the missing fragments of the inscription.
In general, to conclude from such a guess about an administration system and the like, is altogether absurd, especially if compared to the characteristics of the administration that existed from the days of Ahaz and Hezekiah onwards, which emerge from the archaeological findings, such as the standardization of measures and weights that did not exist in the 10th century.
Your claim that "in all inscriptions H has three lines of latitude." is not correct. There are six other inscriptions from this period in which the letter HIAT is written as in the Ofel inscription, as Ahitov showed in his article on the subject in the IEJ on page 46. I also sent you this article. I accept your apology for the blunt things you wrote above. My words of sages are easy to hear.
Gershon,
Thanks. By the way, at first I thought the Kyapa address was a student's exercise.
At the end of the tenth century, the reading direction stabilizes from right to left - and the letters also appear in uniform shapes and positions. The Ofel inscription is already written from right to left while the Makiapa inscription is still written from left to right. Many researchers accept my call to the Ofel address. I sent you the article. I don't have a problem with Bekurat - on the contrary - we encourage our students to be in Bekurat.
Hello Gershon, thanks for the direct reference, and I guess there are quite a few who also reject your interpretation, and not just amateurs like me. As far as I remember the Phoenician inscriptions attributed to the 10th century the direction of the letters is uniform. I would love to receive the article yshimron@gmail.com
Leyar - during this period, the positions and shapes of the letters are still not fixed (similar to the pictographic script) - as is also clearly evident from the inscriptions from Maciapa and Mezvet Certe - and this matter is not disputed in the research. Most of the scholars who referred to the Ofel address call it Mad - even though it is the other way around. Also, everyone reads "Hait" and there is no problem with this reading. This is how Hait is written in this period. My reading of the Machiavelli inscription is now accepted by dozens of important researchers in Israel and abroad, and some of them have even published articles based on this reading. If you send me your email, I will be happy to send you a printout of my articles on the Ofel inscription. Here is my email - ggalil@univ.haifa.ac.il
Asaf
Are you claiming that Khartoum script is not based on letters? I know very little about the subject, but I know that they had 24 consonants and, like in Hebrew, they gave up the vowels many times. I remember that N is zigzag, I is knife, S is hook and M is oh - because that's my name 🙂
Did I say something in the generalization? My claim is well-founded and cautious. And not something along the lines of "when".
This decipherment requires a great deal of faith and Professor Galil is known as one who believes his own interpretations as we learned from his decipherment of the inscription of Chirbet Kyapa. As there, here too he smooths over all the problems: some of the letters have to be reversed to read them as Galil read - the two Jews, he taught. What he calls h In all inscriptions h has three lines of latitude. What he reads K can be read R, and especially, if Y and L are reversed, why K, N, M, in the normal direction. And his speculations about M on both sides are worthless. It is not for nothing that less speculative researchers have suggested that it is an incomprehensible language.
Asaf
I didn't understand what you were trying to say. The Khartoum script is a language like Hebrew. For example, it has 24 consonants. It is true that the language is not entirely phonetic, as opposed to a transliteration. But it is wrong to say in general that the hieroglyphic signs express words.
Am I saying something wrong in your opinion?
Miraculously, not every snoozer is opinionated (I know this, because sometimes I act like that). Hartumim wrote - Hezek Hafel. It's nice to hear your opinion, but that doesn't mean you understand what you're writing.
Asaf
Since when does the hieroglyphic alphabet spell words?
Hesus (probably the kings of the Jewish tribes). They are, according to the explanation, the ancestors of the people of Israel. These are tribes from the Canaan region who settled in the Straits (perhaps in the city of Avaris). Under Egyptian influence, they adopted a script, which unlike the hieroglyphic script, the Father pronounced syllables and not words. You can also notice an Egyptian influence In the construction factories, the straits paid the builders of the pyramids in the capital, and in Israel-Judah they paid the workers with wine.
Looks more like English than Hebrew
MPPHNFFW
It can also be...from wine dug from...
The letter K is similar to L in the same name and also the letter L is reversed, and resembles P in mirror script.
(but probably part has more to do with the wine than a dig as explained)
When you can't prove it
He could tell that it says Gefilte Fish there...
I think it's actually an advertisement for Shuka's insurance...
interesting.
So "glat" kosher wine... is it not kosher? 🙂