- Shelomit seal
The Shelomit seal is an elliptical black stone seal (2.1 x 1.8 cm) excavated by
Eilat Mazar inJerusalem , January 2008. It was found in a stratified layer estimated at 2,500 years old, just outside the Old City walls near theDung Gate .Design
Two bearded priests stand on either side of an incense altar with their hands raised forward in a position of worship. A crescent moon, the symbol of the chief Babylonian god Sin, appears on the top of the altar. It's been described as a common and popular Babylonian cultic scene. [ [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1200475897717&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull The Jerusalem Post: First Temple seal found in Jerusalem] ]
At the bottom are four Paleo-Hebrew letters: Shin, Lamed, Mem, Tau. (For a detailed paleographical analysis, see Ryan Byrne's online article published by the Biblical Archaeology Society. [ [http://www.bib-arch.org/debates/seal-controversy-06.asp BAS: Hebrew Seals and the Rush to Biblical Judgment] ]
Controversy
Misreading
Mazar initially read the inscription as "Temech" (three letters: Tau, Mem, Het), and associated it with a family named "Tamah" in Nehemiah 7:55. [ [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1200475897717&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull The Jerusalem Post: First Temple seal found in Jerusalem] ]
Other scholars (initially Peter van der Veen [ [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ANE-2/message/7127 ANE-2: Eilat Mazar finds another seal] ] , followed by others [ [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ANE-2/message/7144 ANE-2: biblical-studies and more from van der veen] ] ) read the seal's letters in reverse order, as normally done, and suggested a reading of "Sh-l-m-t" (Shelomith), a name found in and Ezra 8:10 dating to the same approximate time.
On January 30, 2008, the
Biblical Archaeology Society published analyses by scholars with epigraphy expertise,Robert Deutsch [ [http://www.bib-arch.org/debates/seal-controversy-03.asp BAS: Robert Deutsch to Mazar: Reverse Your Reading!] ] andAnson Rainey [ [http://www.bib-arch.org/debates/seal-controversy-04.asp BAS: Anson Rainey Critiques Mazar’s Interpretation] ] , and Mazar agreed to revise her reading. [ [http://www.bib-arch.org/debates/seal-controversy-05.asp BAS: Mazar’s Revised Reading] ]Biblical connection
Christopher Heard has pointed out that the coincidence of names on the seal and in Chronicles does not necessarily imply that this seal belonged to the person named in the Bible. [ [http://www.heardworld.com/higgaion/?p=896 Higgaion blog: But can it balance a beach ball on its nose?] ]
Gender
Ryan Byrne published an online article presuming the name to be feminine. [ [http://www.bib-arch.org/debates/seal-controversy-06.asp BAS: Hebrew Seals and the Rush to Biblical Judgment] ] Christopher Heard challenged this with a comparison of all examples named in the
Tanakh . [ [http://www.heardworld.com/higgaion/?p=917 Ryan Byrne on the שלמת seal] ]ee also
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Biblical archaeology References
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