Traces of the Old Hebrew Alphabet among the Israelite Peoples of Eurasia (original) (raw)
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The article deals with the chronology and geographic distribution of the Late Bronze II to late Iron IIA alphabetic inscriptions found in the Levant, ca. 1300-800 B.C.E., with an emphasis on the archaeological context. It traces the expansion of the alphabet from its core area in the Shephelah in the Late Bronze age to the rest of the Levant starting in the early Iron IIA, ca. 900 B.C.E., and the parallel development of the alphabet away from Proto-Canaanite. Recent discoveries of stratified early alphabetic inscriptions at Tel Zayit, Tell eṡ-Ṡafi, Beth-shemesh, Tel Rehov and Khirbet Qeiyafa 1 have in some ways revolutionized our knowledge of the early alphabet in Israel, and by association also in the rest of the Levant. At issue are the Proto-Canaanite inscriptions of the Late Bronze II-III to early Iron IIA, and their earliest more developed descendants of early Iron IIA to early Iron IIB. 2 Before the discoveries just mentioned, there were very few inscriptions of Iron I and early Iron IIA from reliable archaeological contexts. 3 A fresh look at the alphabet during this period is also warranted considering recent progress in the study of the relative and absolute chronology of the Late Bronze II-III and the Iron Age. The spatial and temporal distribution of the inscriptions in question illuminates the spread of the alphabet before the
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The article focuses on the use of the Paleo-Hebrew script versus the square script (known also as “Jewish script†or “Assyrianâ€) by the Jews of Judea during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. From the Persian period until the Bar Kokhba Rebellion, Paleo-Hebrew script was used in various Jewish contexts (official, sacred, funerary) and on a variety of substrates (parchment, stone, coins, and pottery). The most representative artefacts bearing inscriptions in the Paleo-Hebrew script are Jewish coins of that time and the Dead Sea Scrolls. One common view is that because the Hasmoneans and the rebels in both revolts sought to establish their sovereignty, they employed symbols of Jewish significance and the archaic and obsolete – but prestigious – Paleo-Hebrew script, which was a reminder of the glorious past. Studies of the Dead Sea Scrolls commonly premise that greater holiness and value was attached to the Paleo-Hebrew script than to the square script. The article shows th...
Recently Discovered Hebrew Inscriptions
Tyndale Bulletin, 1962
THE EARLY HEBREW texts known before 1950 have been collected and discussed in the works of Diringer and Moscati. 1 Since the publication of Moscati's corpus a number of inscriptions have come to light as the result of excavation and of chance discovery. Although there are few which contain more than half a dozen words, they have some significance for Old Testament studies. It may therefore be useful to make a brief survey of them in con junction with those already known. All the ones we shall consider date from the last century of the kingdom of Israel and the ensuing years of the state of Judah. There have been press reports of earlier texts from Arad, near : Masada, but no details have yet been announced,2 Before turning to the early Hebrew texts, we should notice a group of three bronze arrowheads found near Bethlehem. They have the owner's name engraved upon them in early 'phoenician' letters: bf 'bdlb't, 'arrowhead of 'Abd-leba'at'. The type of arrow head and the form of the characters point to a date in the twelfth century n.c. 3 These, then, are examples of Canaanite writing from the time of the Judges, from the days when Gideon made a boy at Succoth write out a list of the elders of the city for him (Jdg. viii.14). The finest specimens of Hebrew writing are naturally those which may be supposed to have emanated from the royal chancelleries in Jerusalem and Samaria. The text from the Siloam tunnel is rightly the most renowned of these and its script clearly shows the trans ference of the cursive hand to stone. The wealthy Judaeans who could afford the construction of tombs in the rock of the Siloam valley may well have used the skills of the royal scribes in the com position and engraving of their epitaphs. Remains of three of these have been found. Two are merely fragments. 4 The third has been