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VALUABLE INSCRIPTIONS (1400 BC - 1948)
Starting in 1400 BC a timeline of 60 fascinating inscriptions beautifully illustrates the history of Israel.
BERLIN PEDESTAL
1400 BC- Egypt
Berlin Pedestal is a stone inscription on an ancient Egyptian statue describing Egypt's war victories. It was acquired by Egyptologist Ludwig Borchardt from an Egyptian merchant in 1913. The inscription on the pedestal may have originally contained one of the oldest known references to Israel, equal to or older than the inscription in the Merneptah Stele by two centuries. The hieroglyphic name found on the statue is best translated as: I-3-ŠR-I-L that translates into “Israel.” Another argument strengthens this finding because the translation also mentiones two other names on the pedestal that are geographically very logical: Ashkelon and Canaan.
MERNEPTAH STELE
Egypt, dated: 1208 BC
Although not found in Israel the timeline of valuable inscriptions related to Israel could start with the famous Merneptah stele. The stele (also named Israel stele) was discovered by Flinders Petrie in 1896 at Thebes, Egypt. It is now housed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Most of the inscription deals with Merneptah's victory over the Libyans, but the last 3 of the 28 lines shift to Canaan and also names Israel.
The princes are prostrate, saying, "Peace!"
Not one is raising his head among the Nine Bows.
Now that Tehenu (Libya) has come to ruin,
Hatti is pacified; The Canaan has been plundered into every sort of woe:
Askelon has been overcome; Gezer has been captured;
Yano'am is made non-existent. Israel is laid waste and his seed is not;
Hurru is become a widow because of Egypt.
Medinet Habu showing Ramesses III's victories which shows people from 'Peleset' as prisoners detail By Ollau.
MEDINET HABU
1150 BC - Egypt
During the late 2nd millenium BC many Bronze Age empires collapsed possibly due to raids and invasions by the famous Sea Peoples. The Sea People were a seafaring coalition of the several ethnic groups and some information is still left in the archaeological records. The Sea Peoples attacked the empires in the Eastern Mediterranean and tried to destroy Egypt during the reign of Ramesses III, The mortuary temple of Ramesses at Medinet Habu shows a victorious Egyptian Army that took prisoners from the defeated Sea People. One of these groups were named 'Peleset'. Most scholars believe that this name late revolved into both the Philistines mentioned in the Bible and Palestine. See the timeline of the nam eof Palestine. Although the name survived the Philistines, who originated in Europe later disappeared from the archaeological and genetical records.
EBAL 'CURSE' TABLET
1200 BC - Mount Ebal
Photo: Alamy stock
The fascinating Ebal tablet is according to scolars the earliest proto-alphabetic Hebrew text, including the name of God, “YHWH” , ever discovered in ancient Israel. It was found at Mount Ebal, known from Deuteronomy 11:29 as a place of curses. If the Late Bronze Age (circa 1200 BC) date is confirmed the tiny, 2-centimeter x 2 centimeter folded-lead “curse tablet” may be one of the greatest archaeological discoveries ever!
It would be the first attested use of the name of God in the Land of Israel and would set the clock back on proven Israelite literacy by several centuries. It would show that the Israelites were literate when they entered the Holy Land, and therefore could have written the Bible as some of the events it documents took place! “This is a text you find only every 1,000 years,” Haifa University Prof. Gershon Galil told The Times of Israel on Thursday. Galil helped decipher the hidden internal text of the folded lead tablet based on high-tech scans carried out in Prague at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.
JERUBAAL INSCRIPTION
11th century BC - Israel
In 2021 a 3100 years old pottery shard was unearthened in Israel in Khirbet El-Ra (close to Tel Lachish). On this shard from a jar, an inscription written in ink with the name ‘Jerubbaal’ was deciphered. The name ‘Jerubbaal’ is named in the Bible as alternative name for judge Gideon. Although it is not certain he owned this jar on which the inscription is written the find is important. According to the archaeologist this find proves “The fact that identical names are mentioned in the Bible and also found in inscriptions recovered from archaeological excavations suggests that memory was preserved and passed down from generation to generation. The name ‘Jerubbaal’ only appears in the Bible during the period of Judges, but is now also found in archaeological contexts, in strata dating from this period".
KHIRBET QEIYAFA INSCIRPTION
1000 BC Khirbet Qeiyafa
Photo: Hoshvilim
The Khirbet Qeiyafa ostracon is a shard that was found near the stairs and stone washtub of an excavated home in Khirbet Qeiyafa. Radiometric dating of the relevant layer where this shard has been found, has yielded a date of ca. 1020–980 B.C. It was later discovered to bear characters known as proto-Canaanite, a precursor of the Hebrew alphabet. These proto-Canaanite characters were not only used by the Israelites and some scholars suggest it is difficult to conclude the text is Hebrew. However archaeologist Garfinkel based his identification on a three-letter verb from the inscription meaning "to do," a word according to Garfinkel, existed only in Hebrew. The shard is evidence, Garfinkel believes, that the Israelites were a far from backward and illiterate desert tribe and that David was a head of a powerful civilisation with an administration that employed trained scribes.
Eshba'al inscription, photo Bukvoed
The Biblical name Eshbaal has been found for the first time in an ancient inscription. Incised before firing on a 3,000-year-old pithos (large ceramic storage jar). The Eshbaal inscription reads “Išbaʿal son of Beda” and was written from right to left in the Canaanite alphabetic script. Eshbaal was the second king of Israel, King Saul’s son and a rival of King David.
GEZER CALENDAR
10 Century BC
The Hebrew Calendar is one of the oldest (the oldest according to World Guinness Book of records) calendars still in use today. The oldest archeological inscription that tell about this calendar is the 'Gezer' calendar a Hebrew inscription of seven lines, These are engraved on a limestone tablet and is written in ancient Hebrew script. The Gezer Calendar is dated by its script to the tenth century B.C. and cites an annual cycle of agricultural activities. According to an accepted view, the inscription first lists:
- two months of fruit picking, particularly olives (Tishri–Ḥeshvan).
- Then follow two months of grain sowing (Kislev–Tevet),
- two months concerned with the late sowing (Shevat–Adar),
- one month of flax harvest (by uprooting with a mattock; Nisan),
- one month of barley harvest (Iyyar), a month of wheat harvest (Sivan),
- two months of vine pruning or of vintage (Tammuz–Av), and, at the end,
- the month of qayiẓ, i.e., the picking or drying of figs (Elul).
The nature and purpose of the calendar are not clear, and many different explanations have been proposed. According to some scholars, the calendar was written as a schoolboy exercise in writing. This view derives from the fact that the script is rather crude. Another view holds that the Gezer Calendar was designated for the collection of taxes from farmers. It is also possible that the content of the inscription is a popular folk song, listing the months of the year according to the agricultural seasons.
Photo: Onceinawhile
GOLIATH INSCRIPTION
950 BC - Tel es-Safi (Picture David and Goliath, Leibnizhaus, Hannover, wikimedia commons)
Archeologist have found a shard of pottery dating between 1000-925 B.C. that bears a proto-Canaanite inscription of the Philistine’s name Goliath. It was found at Tel es Safi, presumably the Philistine city of Gath. The discovery however is not definitive evidence of Goliath’s existence. According to Dr. Aren Maeir, a professor at Bar-Ilan University it means that at the time there were people named Goliath in this area and it shows that "David and Goliath’s story reflects the cultural reality of the time".
Photo: Ymblanter
BLACK OBELISK OF SHALMANESER III
858 -824 BC - Calhu/Calah, Iraq
The royal stele from the Assyrian king, Shalmaneser III, who reigned from 858 to 824 BC can now be seen in the British Museum. Several Judahite or Israelite kings are named in the inscriptions on this famous stele and King Jehu is even depicted on it.
STELE OF ADAD-NIRARI III
810 - 783 BC - Nineveh, Iraq
Tell al Rimah stele of Adad-nirari III or "Mosul marble" stele depicts the Assyrian king Adad-Nirari III, who reigned between 810 and 783 BC in Assyria. The Stele shows the king praying before gods and goddesses symbols (Ishtar, Sin, Sibitti, Nabu, Marduk, Adad, Anu, and Assur). The stele was found in Tell al Rimah near Nineveh in Iraq. The cuneiform inscriptions mention the king's titles and military campaigns. The name of the King of Israel, Jehoash the Samarian was mentioned, who paid tribute to the king Adad-Nirari. The sculpture was made circa 800 BC.
(This beautiful Photo is thanks to Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin Wikimedia commons)
TEL DAN STELE
Between 870 and 750 BC.
The Tel Dan Stele was discovered in 1993 in Tel Dan. Three pieces were found that had been used to construct an ancient stone wall that survived into modern times. The pieces contains several lines of Aramaic, a language closely related to Hebrew. The inscription that is still intact and is dates to the 9th century BC. It seems to tell that 'a person killed Jehoram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel and the king of the house of David'. These writings correspond to the Bible, as the Second Book of Kings mentions that Jehoram, is the son of an Israelite king, Ahab, by his Phoenician wife, Jezebel. From a biblical viewpoint to the inscription, the likely candidate for having erected the stele is Hazael, an Aramean king (whose language would have thus been Aramaic) who is mentioned in Second Book of Kings as having conquered the Land of Israel.
Photo: Oren Rozen
MESHA STELE
840840 BC - Jordan/Louvre
The Mesha Stele, also known as the Moabite Stone, is a stele dated around 840 BC that was discovered in 1868 and houses in the Louvre museum in Paris. It containing a significant inscription that mentions the Moabite phrase "House of David" and the name of King Mesha of Moab. Only very recently the inscription of the name of the biblical king David was confirmed. In 2015, a team from of the University of Southern California took new digital photographs of both the restored stela and the paper squeeze. The team used a method called Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), in which numerous digital images are taken of an artifact from different angles and then combined to create a precise, three-dimensional digital rendering of the piece. This more precise research confirmed the mentioned texts.
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NIMRUD TABLET K3751
733 Century B.C. - Nimrud, Iraq
This fragment of a clay tablet that is also known as Kalhu Palace Inscription 7 is dated at 733 BC from the reign of Tiglath Pileser III (745 to 727 BC). It was excavated by George Smith in 1873 in Nimrud in Iraq. The tablet describes the conquests and building operations, it mentions Ahar of Judah, kings of Ammon, Moab, Ashkelon, Edom, Gaza and Tyre. It holds the oldest description of the name Judah (Yaudaya or KUR.ia-ú-da-a-a) in the archaeological record.
Nimrud Tablet K3751, photo Henry Rawlinson
SAMARIA OSTRACA
9th Century B.C. - Nablus/Samaria
The Samaria Ostraca are 102 pottery shards ('ostraca') that were found in 1910 in excavations near Nablus (ancient Samaria). The ostraca are written in the paleo-hebrew script very similar to the writings of the Siloam inscription. These ostraca were found in the treasury of the palace of Ahab, king of Israel (Samaria) and probably date about his period, 850–750 BC. The Samaria ostraca ca been seen in the Istanbul Archaeology Museum. Some biblical names are found among many other names on these ostraca.
LMLK SEAL
8th Century BC
This very old LMLK seal on the handle of storage jar bears the inscription "belonging to the king, Hebron". LMLK seals (with LMLK meaning 'of the king') are ancient Hebrew seals stamped on the handles of large storage jars first issued in the reign of King Hezekiah (circa 700 BC) and discovered mostly in and around Jerusalem. Several complete jars were found at Tel Lachish. For more information on LMLK seals see article. It can now be found in the Israel Museum.
Photo: Chamberi
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TEMPLE MOUNT & CITY OF DAVID SEALS OF THE 8TH AND 7TH C. BC
SHEBNA OR SILWAN INSCRIPTION
8th century BC - Silwan Jerusalem
The inscribed lintel was found by French archaeologist, Charles Simon Clermount=Ganneau in 1870 above the entrance to a home in Silwan, Jerusalem. Clermont-Ganneau arranged for the inscription to be purchased and removed by the British Museum one year after its discovery. The inscription was so severely damaged that it was not possible to completely decipher the script until 1952. Nevertheless, the inscription is significant because it allegedly describes a figure from the Bible called Shebna who was sent by King Hezekiah to negotiate with the Assyrian army. The three-line Hebrew funerary inscription indicates that the cave was the tomb of Shebna, the royal steward of King Hezekiah (715–687 BC). The writing is in Biblical Hebrew in the Paleo- Hebrew script, at the time of its discovery the script was referred to as "Phoenician letters" and can be dated to the seventh century BC.
KING HEZEKIAH INSCRIPTIONS OF JERUSALEM
709 BC - Siloam Pool Jerusalem
Summary inscription 1 of King Hezekiah.
(photo credit: Istanbul Archaeological Museum. Wikimedia Commons: Onceinawhile)
Detailed inscriptions of 8th-century BCE Judean King Hezekiah were discovered in a true monumental archaeological discovery in Jerusalem. According to Prof. Gershon Galil of Haifa University these are the most complete royal inscriptions from Biblical Kings: " they are further evidence that the kings of Israel and Judah wrote royal inscriptions that indicated their name and deeds."
The translated description is as followed:
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Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, king of Judah,
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made the pool and the conduit.
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In the seventeenth year, in the second (day), in the fourth (month),
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of king Hezekiah, the king brought
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the water into the city by a tunnel, the king led
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the water into the pool. He smote the Philistines
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from Ekron to Gaza and placed there the OREB unit of
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the army of Judah. He braked the images and braked in ˹pieces˺ the Nehu˹sh˺tan
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and he removed the high ˹places and˺ cut down the Asherah. Hezek˹ia˺h, the king,
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accumulated in all his treasure houses and in the house of YHWH
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a lot of silver and gold, perfumes and good ointment.
KING HEZEKIAH TABLET
A recent translation of a small tablet with inscriptions is describing the works of biblical King Hezekiah in Jerusalem’s City of David, According to Prof. Gershon Galil, head of the Institute for Biblical Studies and Ancient History at Haifa University, and Eli Shukron, from the Bible and Ancient History research institute this inscription is “one of the most important archaeological discoveries in Israel of all time.” The inscriptions took more than 10 years for two scientists to decipher after they began to examine a stone tablet which was discovered during excavations in the City of David National Park in 2007.
Photo: Meiras
SILOAM INSCRIPTION
700 BC - Jerusalem, Israel
The Siloam inscription is a ancient Hebrew Inscription found in the Siloam tunnel in the city of David in Jerusalem The inscription records the construction of the tunnel, which has been dated to the 700 B.C. It is the only known ancient inscription from ancient Israel and Judah related to public construction work. The passage translation reads:
"the tunnel ... and this is the story of the tunnel while ...
the axes were against each other and while three cubits were left to (cut?) ... the voice of a man ... called to his counterpart, (for) there was ZADA in the rock, on the right ... and on the day of the tunnel (being finished) the stonecutters struck each man towards his counterpart, ax against ax and flowed
water from the source to the pool for 1,200 cubits. and (100?)
cubits was the height over the head of the stonecutters ..."
OFI BEN NETANYAHU INSCRIPTION"
7th Century BC - Khirbet Al Qom
A burial inscription found in a cave at Khirbet al Kum, dated to the 7th century BC, the contents of the inscription are "To Offi Ben Netanyahu this room". In the burial cave another inscription was found dedicated to one of the sons of Netanyahu.
OPHEL OSTRACON
7th Century BC - City of David
The Ophel ostracon or KAI 190 as discovered in Jerusalem in 1924. The ostracon was dated to the 7th century BC, the end of the kingdom of Judah. It contains the names of persons and their provenances and in recent research this was confirmed. According to Tel Aviv University, this inscription is the work of a veteran scribe, well-educated in the formal, standardized Old Hebrew script.
Photo; Wikimedia commons
JERUSALEM CAVE INSCRIPTION
600 BC - Beit Lehi
At the site of Beit Lehi in the Judean hills two rock-hewn burial caves were discovered that have been dated to the late Iron Age (600 B.C.). The southern Jerusalem cave, named after the inscription, has the characteristic layout of a First Temple period burial cave. The southern cave is decorated with inscription and drawings of people praying or playing a harp and sailboats.
One inscription has the phrase “God of Jerusalem” (Elohei Yerushalem). Joseph Naveh (1928-2011), Israel’s preeminent paleographer, proposed reading the inscription as: “Yahweh (is) the God of the whole earth; the mountains of Judah belong to Him, to the God of Jerusalem. The (Mount of) Moriah Thou hast favoured, the dwelling of Yahweh. Yahweh deliver (us).” Frank Moore Cross Jr. (1921-2012), a renowned epigraphist translated the inscription: “I am Yahweh thy Lord. I shall accept the cities of Judah and I will redeem Jerusalem. Absolve us oh Yahweh.”
Photo : Yael Y.
'HOUSE OF YAHWEH' OSTRACON
6th Century BC - Tel Arad
Archaeologist Yohana Aharoni excavated in the 1960's the Arad Ostraca, also known as the Eliashib Archive. An impressive find of more than 200 inscribed pottery shards. Tel Arad was fortified city that was part of the Kingdom of Judah. A fascinating example from Tel Arad is the ostraca that was found when Aharoni excavated a Judean temple. The incense altars and two "standing stones" of this temple may have been dedicated to Yahweh due to inscription on Ostracon 18 that mentions a "House of YHWH". According to scholars this was either a reference to the temple at Arad or the Temple in Jerusalem.
Jehoiachim Ration's tablet: photo Wikipedia by Scallaham
JEHOIACHIM'S TABLETS
6th Century BC - Iraq
Jehoiachin's rations tablets written in Akkadian cuneiform date from the 6th century BC. Thhe tablets that are preserved in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin describe the oil rations set aside for a royal captive identified with the Judean King Jeconiah. These tablets from the royal archives of the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar were unearthed during excavation in 1899 in the ruins of Babylon. The nscriptions detail contain food rations paid to captives and craftsmen who lived in and around the city. On one of the tablets, "Ya’u-kīnu, king of the land of Yahudu" is mentioned along with his five sons listed as royal princes.
SEALS/BULLA - 6TH C. JERUSALEM
NATHAN MELECH BULLA
6th Century BC - Jerusalem
A 2,600-year-old bulla (seal) from the Kingdom of Judah bearing the inscription "[belonging] to Nathan-Melech, Servant of the King," unearthed in Jerusalem's City of David earlier this year. The title 'Servant of the King' and the name 'Nathan-Melech' appear in the Hebrew Bible, the latter in II Kings 23:11, where he is described as an official in King Josiah's court. Found in the Givati Parking Lot excavations, part of the City of David area in ancient Jerusalem, the bulla mentioning Nathan-Melech dates to about 600 BC and was recovered in the same context as a blue agate seal inscribed with “belonging to Ikar son of Matanyahu.” Mattaniah was the original name of King Zedekiah before Nebuchadnezzar II installed him as a puppet king and changed his name.
NEBUCHADNEZZAR CHRONICLE
6th-5th century BC - Iraq
This remarkable inscription is an official Neo-Babylonian document which chronicles some events that happend during the reign of king Nebuchadnezzar II (who ruled between 605-562 BC). The cuneiform inscription in clay details the conquest of Jerusalem (city of Judah) and the surrender of the Kind (Jehoiakim, king of Judah) in 597 BC. The tablet that can be found in the British Museum tells: "In the seventh year (of Nebuchadnezzar) in the month Chislev (Nov/Dec) the king of Babylon assembled his army, and after he had invaded the land of Hatti he laid siege to the city of Judah. On the second day of the month of Adar (16 March) he conquered the city and took the king (Jeconiah) prisoner. He installed in his place a king (Zedekiah) of his own choice, and after he had received rich tribute, he sent forth to Babylon. (Rev.11-13). Nebuchadnezzar's conquest of Judah is detailed in the Bible in 2 Kings 24.
Great picture by Osama Sukir Mohammed Amin
Photo: Amit Avidan
AL- YAHUDU TABLETS
572 BC - 477 BC - Iraq
The Al-Yahudu tablets are a collection of about 200 clay tablets on the exiled Judean community in Babylon after the destruction of the first Temple of Jerusalem in 587 BC. The tablets contain information on the physical condition of the exiles and their financial condition in Babylon. The tablets are named after the central settlement mentioned in the documents, al-Yahudu (meaning city of Judah in Akkadian). The earliest tablets go back to 572 BC, during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. The most recent tablet dates back to 477 BC, during the reign of Xerxes I approximately 60 years after the Return of the Exiles to Judah and about 20 years before the rise of Ezra the Scribe.
HELIODORUS STELE
178 BC - Jerusalem
The so-called Heliodorus stele displays a correspondence between King Seleucus and his minister Heliodorus and it provides us with new insights into the dramatic story of Heliodorus and the Temple in Jerusalem, as related in the Second Book of Maccabees. Heliodorus, according to the Second Book of Maccabees, received orders to seize the treasure in the Temple in Jerusalem.
It confirms the important episode in the history leading up to the Maccabean Revolt and the way Judaism survived (until today this event is celebrated each year during the Jewish festival of Hanukkah).
Photo: Hanay
GREEK INSCRIPTION FROM JAMNIA-ON-THE-SEA
Yavne - Beit Mirjam Museum in Palmachim Kibutz
At Palmachim near the sea an inscription is kept in the local Beit Miriam Museum. This Yavne inscription is a Greek inscription engraved in hard limestone from the Hasmonean period. The inscription tells that the Yavne residents of Antiochus V Eupator ask the son of the "evil" Antiochus Epiphanes to give them tax breaks for the sea services they gave his grandfather. Antiochus III, the grandfather of Eupator, whose name is engraved on the stone is also mentioned in the book of Maccabees.
'HYRCANUS' INSCRIPTION
2nd Century BC - Jerusalem
Ancient stone bowl fragments which bears the name “Hyrcanus,” was found in Givaty parking lot, Jerusalem. It is not certain who is mentioned because the name Hyrcanus was used more often in hasmonean times and much remains uncertain. It was found in Jerusalem close to what used to be the famous fortress built by Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes in order to control the city and the Temple.
Photo: Clara Amit
JERUSALEM INSCRIPTION
1st Century BC - Jerusalem
Archaeologists Dr. Yuval Baruch, head of the IAA's Jerusalem district, and Prof. Ronny Reich, of the University of Haifa uncovered the oldest known stone inscription bearing the full Hebrew spelling of the name Jerusalem. The column was found earlier this year during an excavation of a pottery workshop used by the Roman Tenth Legion. At the foundations of a structure, a stone column was unearthed with the words: “Hananiah son of Dodalos of Jerusalem.” The column was made in the Jewish Hasmonean Period, but reused by the Romans as part of a plastered wall of a workshop.
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UZZIAH GRAVE STONE
!st century AD
In 1931 archaeologists found this stone in a collection of the Russian Orthodox Eleona convent (Convent of ascension) on Mount of Olives. The inscription in an Aramaic dialect is very similar to Biblical Aramaic and this stone was dated by this type of writing around 30–70 CE. The inscription tells of a reburial of King Uzziah of the house of David. King Uzziah of Judah, who had lived and died about seven hundred years earlier might have been reburied centuries later.
Photo: P K
Photo; Andrey Zeigarnik
TRUMPETING INSCRIPTION
1st Century AD - Jerusalem Temple mount
The Trumpeting Place inscription is an inscribed stone from the 1st century AD discovered in 1968 by Benjamin Mazar in his early excavations of the southern wall of the Temple Mount. The stone, showing just two complete words written in the Square Hebrew alphabet, was carved above a wide depression cut into the inner face of the stone. The first word is translated as "to the place" and the second word "of trumpeting" or "of blasting" or "of blowing", giving the phrase "To the Trumpeting Place". The subsequent words of the inscription are cut off. Present location Israel Museum.
PILATE STONE
Roman era: dated 26-37 AD
The Pilate Stone (26-37 AD) is showing both the name Pontius Pilate and the area were he Ruled: Judea. The Pilate Stone was discovered in the coastal town of Caesarea (capital of Province Judea) on June 1961 by the Italian archaeologists led by Dr. Antonio Frova. The stone was partly damaged and was found as a reused building block for a set of stairs daing tp the 4th century AD. The partial inscription reads (conjectural letters in brackets):
[DIS AUGUSTI]S TIBERIÉUM
[...PONTI]US PILATUS
[...PRAEF]ECTUS IUDA[EA]E
[...FECIT D]E[DICAVIT]
The translation from Latin to English for the inscription reads:
To the Divine Augustis [this] Tiberieum
...Pontius Pilate
...prefect of Judea
...has dedicated [this]
NAZARETH INSCRIPTION
1st century AD
The Nazareth inscription is a controversial inscription dating from the first century AD stating that no 'bodies could be taken out of their graves'. While there are many contradicting theories it gives important indications that the story of the resurrection of Christ was already well known very early, possibly even to the Emperor Claudius in ca. 41 A.D. This gives strong arguments for the theory that the story of the resurrection of Christ was widely known and even almost immediately after the crucifixion of Jesus. The story of the resurrection of Christ could indeed have been told by his apostles themselves as the bible states. Surely it was not a later invention by gentile Christians of the post-apostolic period, as a few modern scholars in the past have argued.
Photo: Cumont F.
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MENORAH STONE
1th century AD -Old City Jerusalem
An Archaeologist of the Israel's Antiquities Authority shows a menora carved on stone. It was found in what archaeologists say is a 2,000-year-old drainage tunnel leading to Jerusalem's Old City. A menorah, a seven-branched Jewish candelabra, was one of the central features of the Jewish Temple. It was found in 2011 during excavations of an ancient drainage tunnel beneath Jerusalem. The excavation of the tunnel has yielded new artifacts from a war here 2,000 years ago shedding light on a key episode of the past.
MIGDAL /MAGDALA STONE
1st Century AD - Israel
The Magdala stone is a carved stone block found by archaeologists in Migdal/Magdala Synagogue dating to the 1st century AD and before the destruction of the second temple in Jerusalem (70 AD). The stone showes its detailed carvings depicting the Second Temple and it bears the earliest known depiction of a Temple Menorah found within a synagogue. The carvings seems to be created while that Temple still existed and the artist must have seen the Temple before the Romans destroyed it. According to some archaeologist this synagogue and stone shows that synagogue were already a sacred place while the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem still existed. The original point of views was that until the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, synagogues were just a place for studing Torah, assembly and speaking out loud the readings of the sacred book.
Photo: Hanay
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MIRIAM DAUGHTER OF YESHUA SON OF CAIAPHAS
(Caiaphas ossuary - 70-135 AD)
This famous ossuary was seized from tomb robbers and at first the identification with Caiaphas has been challenged by some scholars on various grounds. Also forgery is common in the world of biblical artefacts. The ossuary was subject to further analysis and according to the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) microscopic tests have confirmed the inscription is “genuine and ancient.” The 2,000-year-old burial box is bearing the Aramaic inscription “Miriam daughter of Yeshua son of Caiaphas, priest of Maaziah from Beth Imri.” Caiaphas was mentioned in the New Testament as a temple priest and an adversary of Jesus and the priest played a key role in his crucifixion.
Photo: Deror Avi
THEODOTOS SYNAGOGUE INSCRIPTION
1st-3rd century AD
The Theodotos inscription is the earliest known inscription from a synagogue. It was found in December 1913 by Raymond Weill in Wadi Hilweh (known as the City of David). The text is written in Greek and the translation reads: 'Theodotos son of Vettenus, priest and head of the synagogue (archisynágōgos), son of a head of the synagogue, and grandson of a head of the synagogue, built the synagogue for the reading of the law and for the teaching of the commandments, as well as the guest room, the chambers, and the water fittings as an inn for those in need from abroad, the synagogue which his fathers founded with the elders and Simonides.'
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Photo: Ranbar
BOAT INSCRIPTION IN CHAPEL OF VARTAN
330 AD - Saint Helena'chapel - Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Within the Armenian Chapel of Saint Helena (part of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre) the Chapel of Saint Vartan and the Armenian Martyrs is located. During excavations ancient walls dating to the 2nd and 4th century AD were found. On one of the Hadrianic (2nd century) walls a drawing of a ship was found, possibly made by a pilgrim. It seems to depict a byzantine ship and bears the inscription: "DOMINE IVVIVS - Lord we have gone"
ESHTEMOA SYNAGOGUE MENORAH
4th - 5th century AD - as-Samu
The Eshtemoa Synagogue in as-Samu near Hebron was decorated with a mosaic floor and ornamental carvings. Four seven-branched Menorah were carved onto door lintels and the picure shows one of them on diplay in Jerusalem's Rockefeller Museum. hese Menorahs origibally were coloured. See for more information on Eshtemoa synagogue.
Photo : David Bena
Photo: Andrey Zeigarnik
CAPERNAUM 'STAR OF DAVID'
4th - 5th century - Capernaum
The Star of David can be found as early as 4th century probably used as a decorative motif. It could have a religious meaning since the symbol was linked to the Kabbalah from the 3th century AD already. More ancient churches of the byzantine period show this now famous symbol as can be seen in Tell Shiloh but also in the Armenian churchcs (see article)
Photo: Berthold Werner
SHIVTA LINTEL
4th century AD - Shivta
Photo : Talmoryair
A limestone Lintel , from Shivta, Southern Church, Byzantine period, 4th-6th century CE. The lintel bears an inscription that dates the construction of the church: "This edifice was built during the ministry of Aedon (=A'id) in the year 3..."
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INSCRIPTION 'JESUS BORN OF MARY'
5th-6th Century CE
Archaeologist in northern Israel's have unearthed a 1,500-year-old inscription dedicated to Jesus Christ "born of Mary". Experts believe the inscription was intended to protect its readers from the cursed "evil eye". The archaeologist have dated the incredible find to the late fifth century AD. The inscription, which is engraved in stone in Greek, was most likely incorporated into the walls of a building from the Byzantine or Early Islamic period. The inscription was recovered the artefact during excavations in the village of et-Taiyiba in the Jezreel Valley.
Mosaic of Mary of the Church of Saint Etienne in Jerusalem. Photo by: Deror Avi
A Poem by the Empress Eudocia and Two Building Inscriptions Photo : JUDITH GREEN and YORAM TSAFRIR
EMPRESS EUDOCIA'S POEM
5th Century CE
Aelia Eudocia Augusta (c. 401 – 460 AD), also called Saint Eudocia, was an Eastern Roman empress by marriage to Emperor Theodosius II (r. 408–450), and a importantGreek historical figure during the beginning of the Byzantine Empire. She wrote a poem entitled The Martyrdom of St. Cyprian in three books and an inscription of a poem on the baths at Hmat Gader in the Galilee. The Greek poem inscribed on the baths at Hamat Gader was very short, and can be included here, as evidence of her hexameter writing style. The poem was inscribed so visitors could read it as they went into the pool.
Picture: Mboesch / wikimedia commons
'SEAT OF MOZES' INSCRIPTION
4th-6th Century
The fabulous carved block of basalt was found in 1926 in Chorazin, Israel, Together with two other synagogues this synagogue was abandoned after a devastating earthquake and the site was never again inhabited. It aramaic inscription in stone reads: “Remembered be for good Judah ben Ishmael who made this stoa and its staircase. As his reward may he have a share with the righteous”. The decorated stone seat was placed near the wall of the synagogue that faced Jerusalem. Scholars believe the stone chair was the so-called Seat of Moses. According to Jesus, as quoted in the Gospel of Matthew, rabbis made authoritative pronouncements from the Hebrew Scriptures while sitting in this chair. Jezus mentioned the seat of Mozes in Matthew 23:2 in his famous wise words: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in chair of Moses. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach…”. These words mean that people should obey the commandments of Moses but they should not copy the deeds of the Pharisees. The original chair is in the Israeli Museum in Jerusalem, but a replica can be found in the beautiful synagogue in Chorazin.
NEA CHURCH INSCRIPTION
534/535 AD - Jerusalem
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Emperor Justinian (527-565) was one of the most important Byzantine rulers who both harshly oppressed the Jews and supported the building of numerous buildings in the Holy Land. Under his rule the “Nea” (New) Church in Jerusalem, dedicated to Mary Theotokos (Mother of God) was build. The church complex also included a hostel for pilgrims, a hospital, and a monastery. It was one of the most important churches and depicted on the famous Madaba map. A mosaic of the the hostel was found (see byzantine mosaics) and an inscription with a cross can still be seen in the Israel Museum.
SUSYA MOSAIC INSCRIPTIONS
4th-6th Century - Susya
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The Susya synagogue is loated south of Hebron and conatins beautiful mosiacs. One of the mosaic reads: "May he be remembered for good, the holy one of my lord [and] my rabbi, the honorable Issi ha-Kohen the son of the Rabbi, who made this mosaic and plastered its walls with lime, how that he willingly contributed [of his fortune] in the supper of his son, Rabbi Yohanan ha-Kohen the scribe, the son of the Rabbi. May peace be upon Israel. Amen." Also a mosaic inscription with the name Yeshua (Jesus) was found.
Photo by Gary Todd - Wikimedia - Israel museum
4th - 5th CENTURY MENORAH INSCRIPTIONS
Many menorah inscriptions were found during the Roman and Byzantine periods in Israel.
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Beit She’an is a city in the North District of Israel which has played historically an important role due to its geographical location, at the junction of the Jordan River Valley and the Jezreel Valley. Ruins and mosaics were excavated by Dan Bahat in 1970, Research revealed that they might be a 6th century AD, “study house” based upon its inscriptions. It is located in a complex containing the “house of Leontis”. An Aramaic inscription reads:
דכירין לטב כל בני חבורתה קדישתה דהנון מתחזקין בתקונה דאתרה ]קדי[שה ובשלמה תהוי להון ברכתה אמן . . . רוב שלום חסד בשלום This translates into: "Remembered for good all the members of the holy society (ḥavurta qadisha) who support the repair of the holy place and its completion. May they have blessing. Amen . . . in abundant peace, covenant love in peace".
6th - 7th CENTURY MENORAH INSCRIPTIONS
MENORAH FLASK
CA. 600 ad, Israel
The fascinating Walters Museum shares some important Jewish object dating to the Byzantine period in Israel. This hexagonal flask is decorated with a menorah, a palm tree, and geometric forms. Many similar flasks substitute crosses for the Jewish symbol, indicating that a single workshop served the needs of both Christians and Jews in the area around Jerusalem. Menorah flasks, often discovered in graves, were used as funerary offerings, and to hold holy oil that came from synagogues and holy places on Mount Zion.
Glass bottle for pilgrims or oceremonial tasks. ca 600 AD. Walter Museum (wikimedia commons)
MU'AWIYA I/ TIBERIAS INSCRIPTION
7th Century AD - Hammat Gader
A Greek inscription on a marble slab (50 x 80 cm) from the Roman-era baths at the site of Hammat Gader in northern Israel. The inscription is the only known epigraphic attestation of Umayyad Caliph Mu'awiya I in the region of Syria, the province which he governed from 639 until 661 and which served as the metropolis of his caliphate from 661 until his death in 680. The inscription, which begins with the symbol of a cross, translates in English as: In the days of Abd Allah ("Servant of God") Mu'awiya, the commander of the faithful, the hot baths of the people there were saved and rebuilt by Abd Allah son of Abuasemos (Abu Hashem?) the Counsellor, on the fifth of the month of December, the second day of the 6th year of the indiction, in the year 726 of the colony, according to the Arabs the 42nd year, for the healing of the sick, under the care of Joannes, the official of Gadara The years quoted correspond to the year ca. 663 AD.
Hirschfeld, Yizhar and Solar, Giora (1981). "The Roman Thermae at Ḥammat Gader: Preliminary Report of Three Seasons of Excavations". Israel Exploration Journal, 31: 3/4. pp. 197-219.
Photo: Zeev Radovan - Public Domain
'BAYT AL-MAQDIS' INSCRIPTION
9th-10th Century - Nuba
Nuba is a village located eleven kilometers north-west of Hebron. The Mosque of Umar holds an unknown dedicatory inscription that mentions the village as an endowment for the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque. Strickingly the Dome of the Rock is referred to in the text as “the rock of the Bayt al-Maqdis” which literally translates into “The Holy Temple” a translation of the Hebrew term for the Jerusalem temple.
Mosque of Umar inscription; Photo by Asafa01
ABBASID INSCRIPTION OF JERUSALEM
A home renovation in Jerusalem''s Old City yielded a rare Arabic inscription offering insight into the city's history under Muslim rule, Israeli archaeologists said on Wednesday. The fragment of a 1,100-year-old plaque is thought to have been made by an army veteran to express his thanks for a land grant from the Caliph al-Muqtadir, who the inscription calls "Emir of the Faithful". Dating from a time when Jerusalem was ruled by the Abbasid empire, the plaque shows one way rulers rewarded their troops and ensured their loyalty.
10th Century - Jerusalem Old City
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FATIMID PERIOD ARABIC INSCRIPTIONS
11th Century - Caesarea
The much celebrated Israel Museum in Jerusalem (IMJ) houses some ancient earthenware dating to the Fatimid period. Two bowls are on display from the 11th century that are decorated with the Arabic text: "Blessed". This pictures shows another Fatimid jar and bowl from Caesarea. For the bowls with the Arabic inscriptions you can go to the Israel Museum (see links below)..
Earthenware form Caesarea, 8th-11th century .
SEAL OF NACHMANIDES
13th Century - Acre
This picture shows the wall Painting of Nachmanides in Acre. The Seal of Rabbi Moshe ben Nahman was found in 1972 in Acre. The text on the Seal reads: 'Moshe b'Rabbi Nahman. Nuah Nefesh Gerondi Hazak'. "Moses de son of Rabbi Nachman of restful soul the Gerundian Be strong". (Atlas of Medieval Jewish History. Haim Beinart). For the seal of Nachmanides: see link
Photo: Rabbi Yosef Jacobs
Frederick II meets Al-Kamil
EMPEROR FREDERICK'S ARABIC INSCRIPTION
A rare Arabic inscription from the Crusades has been deciphered, with scientists finding the marble slab bears the name of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, a colorful Christian ruler known for his tolerance of the Muslim world. Part of the inscription reads: "1229 of the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus the Messiah." Once built into the city wall at Jaffa, this marble slab bears the only Crusader-period Christian inscription known to be written in Arabic. It is attributed to the Holy Roman Emperor Frederic II who secured Jaffa for the Crusader kingdom during his Sixth Crusade of 1228-1229, and was accompanied by another inscription in Latin, which together would have proclaimed Frederic II’s achievements to both the native population and Christian newcomers.
It is known that he was fluent in Arabic, his court was attended by many Muslim scholars and ambassadors and for that he was excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX. He was friendly with the Egyptian Sultan and won from him an armistice that made him King of Jerusalem without a fight. The titles of the inscription are readable in the Arabic but the remaining text has not survived. It is not yet clear where and when the slab will be exhibited to the public.
MAMLUK INSCRIPTION OF ST JAMES MONASTERY
15th century AD - Jerusalem
On the wall above the main entrance to the St. James Armenian Convent, there is an elaborately carved inscription in Arabic dating to the reign of the Mamluk Sultan al-Ẓāhir Sayf al-Dīn, nicknamed Jaqmaq (1373–1453). In 1450, when Patriarch Abraham Msrc‘i headed the St. James Brotherhood of Jerusalem Sayf al-Dīn al-Maqarr al-Sharafī al-Anṣārī imposed heavy taxes upon the monastery.
The Armenian monks complained about this unprecedented tax to Sayf al-Dīn al-Maqarr al-Sharafī al-Anṣārī. Listening to the complaints of the Armenians, the latter communicated with the Sultan al-Ẓāhir requesting further clarifications on this issue. As there were many complaints in Egypt and throughout the kingdom against ibn al-Naḥḥās and his actions, and seeing that the Egyptian population turned to mass riots against the Sultan because of food-shortages and panic, he dismissed and removed ibn al-Naḥḥās from all his positions and put him in jail in Tarsus. The Sultan transferred all the positions al-Naḥḥās had held to Sharaf al-Dīn Mūsā al-Tātā’ī al-Anṣārī who is to be identified with Sayf al-Dīn al-Maqarr al-Sharafī al-Anṣārī. The same year, the Sultan ordered the cancellation of the unprecedented tax imposed on the Armenian Monastery of St. James and showered curses against those who dared to impose any tax or inflict an injustice upon this Holy Place
The Ashkenazi Ari Synagogue was built in the sixteenth century on the northern fringes of the Sephardic neighborhood in the Old City of Safed. It was originally founded by Spanish exiles who had settled in Greece and then immigrated to Safed, earning it the name "Gerigos". Its congregation were Kabbalists, mostly followers of Rabbi Moshe Cordovero and they were joined in 1570 by Rabbi Isaac Luria (known by his acronym "Ari"). His custom was to pray in the synagogue on the Eve of Sabbath, proceeding from there with his disciples to a nearby field (Hakal Tapuchin) to welcome the Sabbath. It is said that it was during these sessions that popular Shabbat melody, Lecha Dodi, was created.
In the eighteenth century, with the arrival of a large group of Hasidim from Europe, the congregation changed. The synagogue was destroyed in the earthquake of 1837, and its reconstruction was completed in 1857, which in Hebrew numerology is equivalent to "and My Temple shalt thou revere" - the inscription in Hebrew that appears above the entrance.
DEDICATORY INSCRIPTION OF MISHKENOT SHA'ANANIM NEIGHBOURHOOD
1860 - Jerusalem
Mishkenot Sha'anim was built by British Jewish banker and philanthropist Sir Moses Montefiore in 1860, after he acquired the land from the Governor of Jerusalem, Ahmad Agha Duzdar.
Photos; British Museum
MEZUZAH & MAGICAL DISK
1893 & 1895 (acquisition date) - Jerusalem
Two fascinating objects in the magnificent British Museum testify to the Jewish traditions in Jerusalem and land of Israel during the end of the 19th century.
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A mezuzah; wooden cylinder containing scroll marked with name of Jerusalem
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A magical disc made from mother-of-pearl and engraved with star of David and golden Hebrew inscriptions
MEMORIAL FOR FALLEN SOLDIERS OF ALL FAITHS (WWI)
WW I - Mount Zion Jerusalem
Between 1914 until januari 1917, during World War I, the German Army created out a section of the cemetery a war cemetery for Austro-Hungarian (5), British (2) and German soldiers (11) of all religious denominations but killed in action in the battles close to Jerusalem (retrieved by the German medical corps). After the British capture of Jerusalem on 9 December 1917 the British army also buried its soldiers on Mount Zion Cemetery, before the separate Jerusalem War Cemetery was inaugurated on Mount Scopus.
Photo: DiggerDina