Ancient Seal Found Belonging to a Jerusalem ruler who lived 2700 years ago
On Monday, January 1, 2018, the Department of
Antiquities of Israel announced a unique discovery: during the excavations near
the Wailing Wall, a unique seal was found, which belonged to a Jerusalem ruler,
who lived 2700 years ago, as the Israel mass media say.
The seal has the shape of a clay oval (13-15 mm) and
is 2-3 mm thick. Two men dressed in striped clothes and greeting each other
with raised hands are pressed on the seal.
The scientists decoded the inscription on the seal as,
“belongs to the Ruler of Jerusalem”.
According to the archeologists, the finding dates back
to the 7-6th century B.C., which is the late period of the Solomon’s
Temple. The Department of Antiquities states that “rulers of Jerusalem” (another
variants of translation are “town governor”, “governor”) are mentioned twice in the Torah. The same name belonged to Joshua, who ruled in Jerusalem during the time of Hezekiah’s
reign (the 8th century B.C.), as well as Maaseah, who was the governor of Jerusalem during the reign
of Josiah (the 7th century B.C.).
Shimon Kohen, an archeologist, found the seal when he was
sifting the soil near the ruins of the building, which dates back to the late
period of the Solomon’s Temple. This building is 100m to the West from the
western wall of the Temple (the Wailing Wall).
It is not a fact that the seal belonged to one of the
Jerusalem governors. His owner could be one of the reputable citizens, who received
it from the governor as the sign of their friendship or just as a souvenir. Such
seals could be also used as stamps on goods.
Another version says that this is a seal used for
covering letters. Earlier, archeologists
have found dozens of such seals of that time, but none of them had inscriptions
indicating that the seal belonged to the governor of Jerusalem.
Source: http://pravoslavie.by/news/u-steny-placha-nashli-pechat-prinadlezhavshuju-pravitelju-ierusalima-kotoryj-zhil-2700-let-nazad
