The Element שלם in Hebrew Personal Names in the Land of Israel during the Iron Age ii Period
In this study, I investigated all personal names with the element שלם in the Land of Israel during the Iron Age II period. I collected the names from archaeological and biblical sources, analyzed and compared their distribution according to geography, chronology, and political affiliation. The results show that while שלם is a popular element in Judah from the eighth to the early sixth centuries, it is absent from Israel. The element שלם in unvocalized names from archaeological sources is interpreted mostly as ‘replacement, substitute’ (for the deceased child). However, the popularity of the element שלם solely in Judah may indicate that שלם was used more often than we assume as a divine name referring to YHWH, as do all other Judean popular names. In addition, the comparison between the names from archaeological and biblical sources may be interpreted to indicate that the Bible reflects Judean and not Israelite onomastic traditions.
Writing and Rewriting the Story of Solomon in Ancient Israel
CHAPTER 1 An Introduction 3 I. State of Research 5 II. Purpose 8 III. Methods 11 IV. Outline 13 CHAPTER 2 Sources: Epigraphical, Archaeological, and Biblical 19 I. Availability of Epigraphical Evidence 19 II. Archaeological Finds 24 III. Biblical Sources 32 1. The Books of Samuel and Kings 32 2. The Book of Chronicles 37 3. Allusions to Solomon in the Hagiographa 39 IV. Conclusion 40 CHAPTER 3 Challenging Recent Dismissals of the United Monarchy 41
Royal Judean Storage Jars and Private Seal Impressions
The present excavation project at Tell Lachish (Tell ed-Duweir) was started in 1973 by the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University and the Israel Exploration Society with the support of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation in New York, the Wolfson Foundation in London, and other public bodies. One of the three selected areas was the complex Judean city gate (Area G), which is still being excavated under the supervision of Y. Eshel. So far, efforts have been concentrated on uncovering the left, northern half of the inner gatehouse of (J. L. Starkey's) Level III. The inner gatehouse consists of six chambers, three on each side, and seems to be larger in size than similar gates at other sites. The gatehouse was totally destroyed by fire. The excavation of this area produced two royal Judean storage jars, Type 484 according to Olga Tufnell's division (1953: 315-16), which form the starting point of our discussion. The first storage jar was discovered in 1974 in a room (Locus 4014) which apparently served as a storeroom, situated behind and adjacent to the Level III gate. The room produced much pottery, mainly storage jars, all of which were crushed when the gatehouse was destroyed. Our storage jar, no. 10074, was badly damaged by the conflagration but it could be reconstructed (fig. 1) and is now exhibited in the Israel Museum (no. 75-244). The storage jar has two handles positioned adjacent to each other with royal stamps of the two-winged type (Diringer's Class III). The third handle carries a private stamp, while the fourth handle is plain (fig. 2). The handles have a protruding central rib along which the royal stamps were impressed, but in a very careless manner. As a result, the symbol is quite clear but the inscription above and below the symbol is missing. The private stamp is round, ca. 11 mm. in diameter, and a central dividing line which separates the two lines of the inscription can clearly be distinguished. The rest is blurred. Remains of letters can be discerned, but the reading is doubtful and obscure.