The seal was discovered in the excavations of the City of David in a garbage dump that was thrown in the days of Hezekiah or shortly thereafter from a state building that was used to store food products
King Hezekiah's seal, courtesy of Dr. Eilat Mazar
A seal with the name of King Hezekiah, dating back nearly 2900 years, was discovered in the renewed excavations of the Hebrew University in Efl, at the foot of the southern wall of the Temple Mount complex.
The stamp was stamped on a soft clay (stamp) measuring 13x12 mm and about 3 mm thick. Originally, the bulla signed a document written on papyrus and kept rolled up and tied with thin threads, the marks of which are seen on the back of the bulla.
The bulla was discovered together with many potsherds and various findings, such as figurines and seals, in the excavation area managed by Hagai Cohen-Klonimos. It was discovered in a garbage dump that was thrown in the days of Hezekiah or shortly after it from a state building that was used to store food products.
This building belongs to a series of buildings, including a gatehouse and towers, that were built in the second half of the 10th century BC (the days of King Solomon) as part of the fortifications of the Afel - the new Kiryat Hashelton that was built in the area connecting the City of David to the Mount of Israel. Together Along with the stamp were found another 33 stamps stamped with other seals, some of them bearing Hebrew names and on the backs signs of coarse fabric and thick threads, which apparently sealed sacks that contained food products.
Around the seal there is an indentation left by the frame of the ring in which the seal was placed, and on it is an ancient Hebrew inscription: "To Hezekiah [son] Ahaz, king of Judah", and a sun symbol with downward-sloping wings and two anach symbols (the symbol of life).
The antiquities thieves discovered this first
According to Dr. Eilat Mazar "Although seals with Hezekiah's name have been known in the antiques market since the nineties of the last century, some with a winged scarab (dung beetle) symbol and some with a winged sun symbol, this is the first time that a seal of a king from Israel or Judah has been found in excavations Scientific Archaeologies".
The symbols that appear on the seal from the Efal testify that it was done in the days of Hezekiah, when the symbols of the state-administrative government and the personal symbol of the king changed from a winged scarab (dung beetle), a symbol of self and rule prevalent in the ancient Near East, to a winged sun model, which was also prevalent in the Near East The ancient one was even used as the symbol of power for the kings of Assyria.
The renewed excavations at Afel have been conducted since 2009 with the funding of Daniel Mintz and Meredith Barkman from New York and in cooperation with the Antiquities Authority, which is carrying out the conservation work and preparing the site for public visits. The excavations are located in the area of the archaeological garden of Ha`afel, which is part of the national park surrounding the walls of Jerusalem under the auspices of the Nature and Parks Authority.
The seal was found during wet filtering of soil layers from the excavation, which was conducted at the filtering facility in Emek Zurim managed by Dr. Gabi Barkai and Tzachi Devira, under the auspices of the Nature and Parks Authority and the Ir-David Foundation.
It was found by Efrat Grinwald, a member of the Ha`efal expedition, who was responsible for the filtration from the excavations. Reut ben-Aryeh, who prepared the Hebrew stamps from the Opal excavations for publication, was the first to identify it as the seal of King Hezekiah.
- More of the topic in Hayadan:
- An administrative center from the time of King Hezekiah was uncovered in Ramat Rachel
- Passover was invented in the days of Hezekiah
- A section of Jerusalem's ancient aqueduct was uncovered in the Umm Tuba neighborhood in the east of the city
- An ancient cash register containing a cache of coins from the days of the Great Revolt was discovered near the Jerusalem - Tel Aviv road
- Herod supports sports in Jerusalem (Episode in the exclusive series for the scientist website "The Muscle Song" by Dr. Yechiam Sorek)
23 תגובות
The legacy survived - the books: the book of books - even in the churches today they say psalms on Sundays - isn't it amazing? 1.5 billion people. The Talmud - studied in South Korea as a key to rational thinking. The Talmud is also studied in Iran and I will not risk much saying that it is a foundation for the jurisprudence of the peoples of Europe even if they deny it. And the Rambam's book of philosophy, Teacher of the Perplexed - which the Jews wanted to boycott, and the Pope who read it, issued a prohibition order in all of Europe to ban the book. Professor Yisrael Uman also describes tractates in the Talmud using mathematical tools of game theory. The late Yeshayahu Leibovitz should not be accused of lack of enlightenment, Look into himself and come to a different conclusion than yours. The global moral theory: Mislat Isharim - to Ramchal. And the people who returned to their homeland. Today nonsense is happening: there are the youth of the hills, there are messianic concepts and a walk to destruction: with an ultra-Orthodox and Arab majority, there will be no resurrection for our people.
Joseph
"I meant that the people survived"
In what sense did the people survive? Are there people living today who claim to be part of the same people who lived in the historical kingdom of Judah?
If I tell you that there is a group of people in Siberia who claim to be part of the same people who lived in the historical kingdom of Israel, does that mean that this people also survived 2700 years?
If I tell you that there is a group of people in South Africa who claim to be part of the same people who lived in the pharaonic kingdom of Egypt, does that mean that this people also survived 5000 years?
If I tell you that there is a group of people in Southern California who claim to be part of the same people who lived in the kingdom of Atlantis, does that mean that this people also survived 10000 years?
I meant that the people survived. The kingdom was destroyed in the Hasmonean period and even before that in the time of Jeremiah. Regarding the honorable Israel Finkelstein, it is said in Wikipedia "Although he accepts the historical existence of David (among other things because of the Tel Dan inscription from the ninth century BC in which the House of David is mentioned as the name of the Kingdom of Judah), he does not accept that there was a united kingdom under his leadership due to the poverty of Judah and Jerusalem during his time He finds signs of Saul's reign in the inscription of Pharaoh Shushank (Shishek) that describes his journey through the mountain regions that appear in the stories Shaul". We don't have to agree on everything and still respect each other's opinion.
The modern scientists (Israel Finkelstein) believe that the kingdom of Israel was the strongest and it is mentioned in stelae of foreign kings - for example Ahab who had an iron chariot. The southern kingdom of Judah was, according to archeology, much weaker but more fanatical and insisted on a pilgrimage to sacrifice the victims in the exclusive store in Jerusalem. Over time the kingdom of Israel was destroyed by Assyria, and the tribes were scattered, while the kingdom of Judah gathered the remnants of Israel and we are among them and has survived to this day. In my opinion the truth lies in the middle. There was the kingdom of Judah and there was the house of David, but the kingdom of Israel was perhaps stronger.
Joseph
"The small and weak kingdom of Judah survived for 2700 years"
Which kingdom of Judah exactly are you talking about?
Let's not forget that due to the same fanaticism or similar fanaticism the small and weak kingdom of Judah survived for 2700 years and the more liberal kingdom of Israel (Ahab who married Jezebel) disappeared. 2 other great religions undoubtedly grew out of the same sect that we can consider as pantheistic. The religions that have survived to this day for better or for worse are the fighting religions.
The cult of Isis did not survive and in Tibet pacifist Buddhism did not manage to defend itself from China.
Buddhism also has a warrior branch in Myanmar. About a decade ago they had a demographic problem with Islam. Without expressing identification with what they did which reminds of what was done in Germany 1939, they left today 5% Muslims in Myanmar.
walking dead
I will tell you what the problem is with all the converts and in a blunt way. They think that if they grasped God (because according to them he exists) in eggs, then all the absolute truth is theirs. And believe me, the issue needs to be dealt with mercilessly, otherwise it is. We will get a Taliban with hoods and talismans and probably also a junta of Steyrmels. Years ago someone said that the problem of the converts is that they jump over the navel, a hint to Arnon's navel.
Life
For some reason, I have the feeling that in this vision of Raphael, people like me don't get to stay alive.
walking dead
And from the Prophet's article, it would be possible to say that he lived walking death with Raphael without his destiny.
walking dead
Everyone will live under the laws of Raphael the Rebbe Shalita. Then they will also eat kosher whales
Raphael
"ISIS? Heaven forbid! Messiah son of David will bring world peace!!!"
And under what system of laws will everyone live in this world peace?
my father
Not only you it looks like a shield with three spears. But what to do that there are "historians" with an agenda?
Only to me it looks more like a shield and three spears than a shen with horns down?
The response of Dr. Yehiam Sorek
First of all, I am happy about the interesting find of the impression of the seal of King Hezekiah ben Ahaz, just as I welcome every archaeological find that is uncovered in Israel as well as in the wider world.
Second, and I'm sorry if I disable joy in the context of the above finding, as follows:
King Hezekiah organized a total revolt against the Assyrians, considering it an illusory adventurous move whose price was heavy and almost ended in the destruction of Jerusalem. He did this after he brought about a Yahwistic reform in Judah, which involved the uprooting of every pagan ritual pattern that the Jews worshiped, such as Ashura and death, in order to gain God's blessing for the Assyrian rebellion, and moreover, Hezekiah sought to center the worship in Jerusalem, supervising it and consequently centralizing his state rule.
However, Hezekiah failed to uproot the worship of the Egyptian snake, the "copper" as it appears in the Bible and which the Israelites worshiped, probably in the temple itself since the days of Moses (the exodus from Egypt...at least in the mythological-legendary context). It seems strange on the face of it, unless Hezekiah was afraid of uprooting a pagan symbol that was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
And see it's a miracle - on top of the impression of Hezekiah's royal seal that was recently found in Jerusalem, two Egyptian pagan symbols appear - the symbol of life and more than that - a winged scarab occupying a dominant place in that seal.
The scarab is the dung beetle, the dung beetle, which was very sacred in ancient Egyptian worship and often appears on paintings, reliefs, papyri and more in a deep religious context and in close proximity to one pharaoh or another. The scarab was associated with the worship of the Egyptian god Hepheri.
Beyond the connection between the copper, the symbol of life, and the scarab, which tattoo the purity of Hezekiah's ritualistic religious reform, these points to Egyptian religious and cultural influences on Judah even without Judah being subject to Egypt, since Hezekiah sought through rebellion to free himself from the bonds of slavery to the Assyrian kingdom. And if so, wouldn't it be far from assuming that Hezekiah wanted to harness the Egyptians to rebellion as well or at least see himself as a ruling king like the pharaoh in Egypt. We know in this context that Egypt dreamed of regaining control over the area of the ancient kingdom of Canaan - Israel and Judah, as she would try later, in the days of King Josiah, Hezekiah's successor, against the Babylonian kingdom.
wd,
ISIS? God forbid! Messiah son of David will bring world peace!!!
Raphael
"After all, we are still not a "free people in our country" and we cannot express ourselves freely yet"
right. The State of Israel is truly one of the countries with the least religious freedom for the Jews who live there. (It's because of this section that you really like about the lack of separation of religion and state)
But if we're already here, maybe just stop playing games and ignore everything the gentiles say, stop pretending, and just start the 'ISIS is here' organization already, like in your real vision.
K.,
Tell life and miracles, they start with me. Tell them to stop already.
Raphael
I don't need to look for UFOs today. I found it. It's you.
Haim,
Have you finished checking how many UFOs have been discovered today?
Besides, wasn't it you who reprimanded Nissim for answering me? What, you have no integrity? Are you preaching to others what you are unable to live up to?
And don't worry, even if you disguise yourself and respond as Elisha ben Abuya I will recognize you.
Raphael
I understand that you are going to be the next Rebbe of Lubovitz and from now on your name will be the Rebbe Shalita Raphael. from Lubewitz In Kfar Chabad they are waiting for you. Best wishes.
WD
God forbid that I will tell in detail and exactly what I meant, because we are still not a "free people in our country" and we cannot yet speak freely about the redemption of the people of Israel because we fear that the Gentiles will attack us (Amal'ah).
Raphael
Feel free to tell the readers here in detail what you mean when you say what you wrote here and what it means.
May the kingdom of the house of David be renewed soon in our days