List_of_artifacts_significant_to_the_Bible

List of inscriptions in biblical archaeology

List of inscriptions in biblical archaeology

Add article description


The following is a list of inscribed artifacts, items made or given shape by humans, that are significant to biblical archaeology.

Selected artifacts significant to biblical chronology

This table lists inscriptions which are of particular significance to the study of biblical chronology. References are from ANET[1] and COS[2] and link to editio princeps (EP), if known.

Egyptian

More information Name, Image ...

Other significant Egyptian artifacts

  • Execration texts – earliest references to many Biblical locations
  • Papyrus Brooklyn 35.1446 – A document that lists the names of 45 individuals, including a Canaanite woman named "Šp-ra." Scholars assume that this is a hieroglyphic transliteration of the Hebrew name "Shiphrah," which also appears in Exodus 1:15–21. However, while the name may be related, the document dates to c. 1833–1743 BCE (centuries before the biblical Shiphra would have lived).[4][5]
  • Ipuwer Papyrus – poem describing Egypt as afflicted by natural disasters and in a state of chaos. The document is dated to around 1250 BC[6] but the content is thought to be earlier, dated back to the Middle Kingdom, though no earlier than the late Twelfth Dynasty.[7] Once thought to describe the biblical Exodus, it is now considered the world's earliest known treatise on political ethics, suggesting that a good king is one who controls unjust officials, thus carrying out the will of the gods.[8]
  • Berlin pedestal relief – considered by many modern scholars to contain the earliest historic reference to ancient Israel.[9][10] Experts remain divided on this hypothesis.[11]

Cuneiform

More information Name, Image ...

Other significant Cuneiform artifacts

Canaanite and Aramaic

More information Name, Image ...

Other significant Canaanite and Aramaic artifacts

Gezer calendar in the Istanbul Archaeology Museums.
  • Bullae (c. 715–687 BC or 716–687 BC)[47] (clay roundels impressed with a personal seal identifying the owner of an object, the author of a document, etc.) are, like ostraka, relatively common, both in digs and on the antiquities market. The identification of individuals named in bullae with equivalent names from the Bible is difficult, but identifications have been made with king Hezekiah[48] and his servants (avadim in Hebrew, [עבדים - slaves])
  • Seals
    • Seal of Jaazaniah - Features skillfully ground onyx into appearance of eye with black pupil. Cock image proof of chickens in Palestine before Hellenistic times.[52]
    • King Ahaz's Seal (732 to 716 BC) – Ahaz was a king of Judah but "did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God, as his ancestor David had done" (2 Kings 16:2; 2 Chronicles 28:1). He worshiped idols and followed pagan practices. "He even made his son pass through fire, according to the abominable practices of the nations" (2 Kings 16:3). Ahaz was the son and successor of Jotham.
    • Seal of פלטה (Paltah) - one known of at least seven women's names on inscribed Hebrew seals with a pedigree. Provenanced seals constitute 7% of what's on record.[53]
  • Khirbet Beit Lei graffiti contains oldest known Hebrew writing of the word "Jerusalem", dated to 7th century BC "I am YHWH thy Lord. I will accept the cities of Judah and I will redeem Jerusalem" "Absolve us oh merciful God. Absolve us oh YHWH"[54]
  • Yavne-Yam ostracon is an inscribed pottery fragment dated to 7th century BC and written in ancient Hebrew language. It contains early attestation of the word Shabbat.[55][56]
Ketef Hinnom Priestly Blessing

Greek and Latin

More information Name, Image ...

Other significant Greek and Latin artifacts

  • Pilate Stone (c. 36 AD) – carved inscription attributed to Pontius Pilate, a prefect of the Roman-controlled province of Judaea from 26 to 36 AD.
  • Delphi Inscription (c. 52 AD) – The reference to proconsul Gallio in the inscription provides an important marker for developing a chronology of the life of Apostle Paul by relating it to the trial of Paul in Achaea mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles (18:12–17).
  • Erastus Inscription (Roman period) – an inscription found in 1929 near a paved area northeast of the theater of Corinth, dated to the mid-first century and reads "Erastus in return for his aedileship paved it at his own expense."[63] Some New Testament scholars have identified this aedile Erastus with the Erastus mentioned in the Epistle to the Romans but this is disputed by others.[64][65]
  • Judaea Capta coinage (after 70 AD) – a series of commemorative coins originally issued by the Roman Emperor Vespasian to celebrate the capture of Judaea and the destruction of the Jewish Second Temple by his son Titus in 70 AD during the First Jewish Revolt.
  • Nazareth Inscription bears an edict of Caesar prohibiting grave robbing.

Controversial (forgery, claimed forgery, or identification disputed)

Significant museums

Concordance of external lists

More information Inscription, COS ...

Other external lists

  • RANE: Readings from the Ancient Near East: Primary Sources for Old Testament Study. Baker Academic. September 2002. ISBN 978-0801022920.
  • Mercer, S.A.B. (1913). Extra-Biblical Sources for Hebrew and Jewish History. Longmans & Company. ISBN 978-0-7905-1132-0.

See also


References

  1. ANET: Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. Third Edition with Supplement. Ed. James B. Pritchard. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1969
  2. COS: The Context of Scripture. 3 volumes. Eds. William W. Hallo and K. Lawson Younger. Leiden: Brill, 1997–2002
  3. Petrie, WM Flinders; Spiegelberg, Wilhelm [in German] (1897), Six temples at Thebes, 1896, London: Quaritch, archived from the original on 3 April 2016, retrieved 29 May 2016
  4. van Heel, Koenraad Donker (2014). Mrs. Tsenhor. Oxford University Press. p. 114. ISBN 978-977-416-634-1.
  5. "Brooklyn Museum". Brooklyn Museum.
  6. Quirke 2014, p. 167.
  7. Veen, Pieter van der; Zwickel, Wolfgang (23 January 2017). "The Earliest Reference to Israel and Its Possible Archaeological and Historical Background". Vetus Testamentum. 67 (1): 129–140. doi:10.1163/15685330-12341266.
  8. Canaan and Israel in Antiquity: A Textbook on History and Religion, Second By K. L. Noll, P:138
  9. The Hebrew Bible: New Insights and Scholarship edited by Frederick E. Greenspahn, NYU Press, 2008 p. 11
  10. Ancient Canaan and Israel: New Perspectives By Jonathan Michael Golden, ABC-CLIO, 2004, p. 275
  11. Unger, Eckhard; Istanbul Arkeoloji Müzeleri (1 January 1916). "Reliefstele Adadniraris 3 aus Saba'a und Semiramis". Konstantinopel Druck von Ahmed Ihsan. Archived from the original on 1 September 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2016 via Internet Archive.
  12. The Philistines in Transition: A History from Ca. 1000–730 B.C.E. By Carl S. Ehrlich P:171
  13. "Discoveries among the ruins of Nineveh and Babylon;". Archived from the original on 27 February 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  14. "Babylonian Chronicle Tablet (The British Museum, #21946)". Archived from the original on 11 June 2016. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  15. Clyde E. Fant, Mitchell G. Reddish, Lost Treasures of the Bible: Understanding the Bible Through Archaeological Artifacts in World Museums Archived 26 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine, p. 228. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2008. ISBN 0-8028-2881-7
  16. Sidney Smith, 1924
  17. Charles F. Horne (1915). "The Code of Hammurabi: Introduction". Yale University. Archived from the original on 8 September 2007. Retrieved 14 September 2007.
  18. "Code of Nesilim". Fordham.edu. Archived from the original on 4 January 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  19. Kelle, Brad (2002), "What's in a Name? Neo-Assyrian Designations for the Northern Kingdom and Their Implications for Israelite History and Biblical Interpretation", Journal of Biblical Literature, 121 (4): 639–666, doi:10.2307/3268575, JSTOR 3268575
  20. Kalimi, Isaac (2005). The Reshaping of Ancient Israelite History in Chronicles. Eisenbrauns. p. 106. ISBN 978-1-57506-058-3. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  21. Dunn, James D. G.; Rogerson, John William (19 November 2003). Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 9780802837110. Retrieved 8 December 2016 via Google Books.
  22. Kitchen, Kenneth Anderson (1 January 2003). On the Reliability of the Old Testament. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 9780802849601. Retrieved 8 December 2016 via Google Books.
  23. Bible.org Archived 2 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Quote: "For a defense of the idea that Azariah of Judah headed up an anti-Assyrian coalition, see Tadmor, 'Azarijau of Yaudi' Scripta Hierosolymitana 8 (1961): 232–271. However, Israelite and Judaean History, Old Testament Library. Edited by John H. Hayes and J. Maxwell Miller. London: SCM Press, 1977 says, 'Recently, Na'aman [Nadav Na'aman. "Sennacherib's 'Letter to God' on His Campaign to Judah", BASOR CCXIV (1974) 25–39] has shown conclusively that the fragment presumably mentioning Azriau king of Yaudi actually belongs to the time of Sennacherib and refers not to Azariah but to Hezekiah. In Tiglath-Pileser's annals there are two references to an Azariah (in line 123 as Az-ri-a-[u] and in line 131 as Az-r-ja-a-í) but neither of these make any reference to his country. Thus the Azriau of Tiglath-pileser's annals and Azariah of the Bible should be regarded as two different individuals. Azriau's country cannot, at the present, be determined.' Na'aman separates the country (Yaudi) from the name Azriau (p. 36). Also p. 28 on line 5 where the original transcription was '[I]zri-ja-u mat Ja-u-di' he reads 'ina birit misrija u mat Jaudi'. However, Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament (OROT), p. 18, is less dogmatic. He says 'Hence we cannot certainly assert that this Azriau (without a named territory!) is Azariah of Judah; the matter remains open and undecided for the present and probably unlikely.' See Also CAH, 3:35–36."
  24. Davies, Philip R. (June 1992). In Search of "Ancient Israel": A Study in Biblical Origins. A&C Black. p. 63. ISBN 9780567449184. The reference to az-ri-a-u (? ANET ia-u-ha-zi) (mat)ia-u-da-a is seen by a minority of scholars (see e.g. ANET) as a reference to Azariah of Judah; the majority, however, identify the state in question as Y'di, mentioned in the Zinjirli inscription and located in northern Syria.
  25. Levinson, Bernard M. (2010). "Esarhaddon's Succession Treaty as the Source for the Canon Formula in Deuteronomy 13:1". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 130 (3). American Oriental Society: 337–347. JSTOR 23044955. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  26. Steymans, Hans U. (1 January 2013). "Deuteronomy 28 and Tell Tayinat : original research". Verbum et Ecclesia. 34 (2). University of Pretoria. doi:10.4102/ve.v34i2.870. hdl:2263/33483. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  27. Thomas, D. Winton (1958) Documents from Old Testament Times; 1961 ed. Edinburgh and London: Thomas Nelson and Sons; p. 84.
  28. Grabbe, Lester L. (28 April 2007). Ahab Agonistes: The Rise and Fall of the Omri Dynasty. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 9780567251718. "The Tel Dan inscription generated a good deal of debate and a flurry of articles when it first appeared, but it is now widely regarded (a) as genuine and (b) as referring to the Davidic dynasty and the Aramaic kingdom of Damascus."
  29. Cline, Eric H. (28 September 2009). Biblical Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199711628. Today, after much further discussion in academic journals, it is accepted by most archaeologists that the inscription is not only genuine but that the reference is indeed to the House of David, thus representing the first allusion found anywhere outside the Bible to the biblical David.
  30. Mykytiuk, Lawrence J. (1 January 2004). Identifying Biblical Persons in Northwest Semitic Inscriptions of 1200–539 B.C.E. Society of Biblical Lit. ISBN 9781589830622. Some unfounded accusations of forgery have had little or no effect on the scholarly acceptance of this inscription as genuine.
  31. Biran, Avraham; Naveh, Joseph (1993). "An Aramaic Stele Fragment from Tel Dan". Israel Exploration Journal. 43 (2–3). Israel Exploration Society: 81–98. JSTOR 27926300.
  32. Warren, Charles (1870). "Phoenician inscription on jar handles". Palestine Exploration Quarterly. 2 (30 September): 372.
  33. Aderet, Ofer (9 March 2017). "The Writing on the Wall, Tablet and Floor". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 1 September 2014. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  34. "What's the Oldest Hebrew Inscription? A Reply to Christopher Rollston". Biblical Archaeology Society. 22 August 2012. Archived from the original on 12 April 2014. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  35. "Archaeology: What an Ancient Hebrew Note Might Mean". Christianity Today. 18 January 2010. Archived from the original on 20 December 2011. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  36. "Decoded: Jerusalem's oldest Hebrew engraving refers to lousy wine". Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 13 February 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  37. Hoftijzer, J. & van der Kooij, G. (1976) "Aramaic Texts from Deir 'Alla", in: Documenta et Monumenta Orientis Antiqui 19. Leiden: Brill
  38. Stern, Philip. Balaam in scripture and in inscription. Midstream (2002), (accessed 27 February 2009).
  39. Kaufman, S. A. Anchor Bible Dictionary. pp. 173–178.[dead link]
  40. See William F. Albright for the former and for the latter Edwin R. Thiele's, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings (3rd ed.; Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan/Kregel, 1983) 217. But Gershon Galil dates his reign to 697–642 BC.
  41. Grena (2004), p. 26, Figs. 9 and 10
  42. Shoham, Yair. "Hebrew Bullae" in City of David Excavations: Final Report VI, Qedem 41 (Jerusalem: Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2000), 33
  43. Kantrowitz, Jonathan (3 January 2012). "Archaeology News Report: Seals of Jeremiah's Captors Discovered!". Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  44. Garfinkel, Yosef; Klingbeil, Martin; Hasel, Michael G.; Petruk, Néstor H. (May 2019). "Four Judean Bullae from the 2014 Season at Tel Lachish". Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. 381 (6): 41–56. doi:10.1086/703122. ISSN 0003-097X.
  45. A Manual of Excavation in the Near East: Methods of Diging and Recording of the Tell en-Nasbeh Expedition in Palestine | Wm Frederic Badè | Palestine Inst Arch Berkeley CA | 1934
  46. Biermann, Bruno (1 March 2024). ""Male until Proven Otherwise?": Searching for Women with the Help of Inscribed Stamp Seals from Jerusalem". Near Eastern Archaeology. 87 (1): 32–40. doi:10.1086/727577. ISSN 1094-2076.
  47. "Site History". Archived from the original on 29 July 2012. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
  48. "Mezad Hashavyahu Ostracon, c. 630 BC". Archived from the original on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
  49. "Solving a Riddle Written in Silver". The New York Times. 28 September 2004. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
  50. "Biblical Artifact Proven to Be Real". Webcenters.netscape.compuserve.com. Archived from the original on 10 November 2007. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  51. "Lachish letters". Formerthings.com. 10 January 1938. Archived from the original on 4 January 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  52. T. C. Mitchell (1992). "Judah Until the Fall of Jerusalem". In John Boardman; I. E. S. Edwards; E. Sollberger; N. G. L. Hammond (eds.). The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 3, Part 2: The Assyrian and Babylonian Empires and Other States of the Near East, from the Eighth to the Sixth Centuries BC. Cambridge University Press. p. 397. ISBN 978-0521227179.
  53. "PH209961". Searchable Greek Inscriptions. The Packard Humanities Institute. Archived from the original on 18 May 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  54. Friesen, Steven (January 2007). "The Wrong Erastus: Status, Wealth, and Paul's Churches". Corinth in Context. Institute for the Study of Antiquity and Christian Origins. Archived from the original on 13 October 2012. Retrieved 18 May 2012. Thus the Erastus inscription soon became a linchpin in 20th century reconstructions of the social status of Pauline Christianity. Unfortunately, the inscription was incorrectly published and the identification of the two Erastus references is wrong. - Abstract Only.
  55. Gill, David W. J. (1989). "Erastus the Aedile". Tyndale Bulletin. 40 (2): 298. doi:10.53751/001c.30545. S2CID 245872410.
  56. Allegro, John Marco (1965). The Shapira affair. Doubleday. ISBN 9789120009094.
  57. Vermès, Géza (2010). The story of the scrolls: the miraculous discovery and true significance of the Dead Sea scrolls. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-104615-0.
  58. "Biblical artifacts". Athenapub.com. Archived from the original on 23 December 2011. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  59. Goren, Yuval; Arie, Eran (2014). "The Authenticity of the Bullae of Berekhyahu Son of Neriyahu the Scribe". Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. 372: 147–158. doi:10.5615/bullamerschoorie.372.0147. ISSN 0003-097X. S2CID 164807979.
  60. "New exhibit: Three Faces of Monotheism". Archived from the original on 24 July 2008. Retrieved 28 August 2009.

Sources


Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article List_of_artifacts_significant_to_the_Bible, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.