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List of inscriptions in biblical archaeology

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 and COS and link to editio princeps (EP), if known.

Egyptian

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 "Å p-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).
  • Ipuwer Papyrus – poem describing Egypt as afflicted by natural disasters and in a state of chaos. The document is dated to around 1250 BC but the content is thought to be earlier, dated back to the Middle Kingdom, though no earlier than the late Twelfth Dynasty. 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.
  • Berlin pedestal relief – considered by many modern scholars to contain the earliest historic reference to ancient Israel. Experts remain divided on this hypothesis.

Cuneiform

Other significant cuneiform artifacts

Canaanite, Aramaic and Hebrew

Other significant Canaanite, Aramaic and Hebrew artifacts

  • Early Paleo-Hebrew writing – contenders for the earliest Hebrew inscriptions include the Gezer calendar, Biblical period ostraca at Elah and Izbet Sartah, and the Zayit Stone
  • Yeho'ezer ben Hosh'ayahu seal – 2,700 year old seal discovered in 2024 in Jerusalem. Neo-Assyrian-style amulet thought to be from First Temple Period, likely Judahite senior administrator
  • Pim weight – evidence of the use of an ancient source for the Book of Samuel due to the use of an archaic term.
  • Khirbet Qeiyafa ostracon – 10th century BC inscription – both the language it is written in and the translation are disputed. Was discovered in excavations near Israel's Elah valley.
  • Tell es-Safi inscription (10th to mid 9th centuries BC) – Potsherd inscribed with the two names "alwt" and "wlt", etymologically related to the name Goliath and demonstrate that the name fits with the context of late-tenth/early-ninth-century BC Philistine culture. Found at Tell es-Safi, the traditional identification of Gath.
  • Ophel pithos is a 3,000-year-old inscribed fragment of a ceramic jar found near Jerusalem's Temple Mount by archeologist Eilat Mazar. It is the earliest alphabetical inscription found in Jerusalem written in what was probably Proto-Canaanite script. Some scholars believe it to be an inscription of the type of wine that was held in a jar.
  • Amman Citadel Inscription – 9th century BC inscription in the Ammonite language, one of the few surviving written records of Ammon.
  • Melqart stele – (9th–8th century BC) William F. Albright identifies Bar-hadad with Ben-hadad I, who was a contemporary of the biblical Asa and Baasha.
  • Ostraca House – (probably about 850 BC, at least prior to 750 BC) 64 legible ostraca found in the treasury of Ahab – written in early Hebrew.
  • Deir Alla Inscription (c. 840–760 BC) 9th or 8th century BC inscription about a prophet named Balaam (cf. the Book of Numbers).
  • Kuntillet Ajrud inscriptions – (9th–8th century BC) Jar and plaster inscriptions, stone incisions, and art with "Yahweh and his Asherah".
  • Sefire steles (8th century BC) – described as "the best extrabiblical source for West Semitic traditions of covenantal blessings and curses".
  • Stele of Zakkur (8th century BC) – Mentions Hazael king of Aram.
  • Shebna Inscription (8th–7th century BC?) – found over the lintel or doorway of a tomb, has been ascribed to Hezekiah's comptroller Shebna.
  • Bullae (c. 715–687 BC or 716–687 BC) (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 and his servants (avadim in Hebrew, [עבדים – slaves])
  • Bulla of Gemariah son of Shaphan (r. 609–598 BC) – possible link to a figure during the reign of Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 36:10). Archaeologist Yair Shoham notes: "It should be borne in mind, however, that the names found on the bullae were popular in ancient times and it is equally possible that there is no connection between the names found on the bullae and the person mentioned in the Bible."
  • Seal of Jehucal (7th century BC) – Jehucal or Jucal is mentioned in chapters 37 and 38 of the Book of Jeremiah where King Zedekiah sends Jehucal son of Shelemiah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to the prophet Jeremiah saying "Please pray for us to the Lord our God" (). His seal and also one of Gedaliah, son of Pashhur (also mentioned in together with Jehucal) were found within a few yards from each other during excavations in the city of David, Jerusalem, in 2005 and 2008, respectively, by Eilat Mazar.
  • Bullae of Eliakhim – In 2019, archaeologist Yosef Garfinkel claimed to have discovered a reference to Eliakhim, son of Hilkiah, in two bullae unearthed at Tel Lachish. He described the seal legends as reading "Eliakim, (son of) Yehozarah". The stratified bulla, publicized with three others, is sibling to an earlier find from the market.
  • 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.
  • Seal of Hezekiah – 8th. c BCE
  • 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" (; ). He worshiped idols and followed pagan practices. "He even made his son pass through fire, according to the abominable practices of the nations" (). 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.
  • 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"
  • 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.

Greek and Latin

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." 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.
  • 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

  • ANET: Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. Third Edition with Supplement. Ed. James B. Pritchard. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1969
  • COS: The Context of Scripture. 3 volumes. Eds. William W. Hallo and K. Lawson Younger. Leiden: Brill, 1997–2002

Other external lists

  • RANE:

See also

References

Sources