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 The circular inscription, on a piece of clay less than a
centimeter (0.4 inches) long, may very well have been made by
the king himself, said Eilat Mazar of Jerusalem's Hebrew
University who directed the excavation where it was uncovered.
Hezekiah ruled around 700 BC and was described in the Bible as a
daring monarch - "There was no one like him among all the kings
of Judah, either before him or after him" (II Kings 18:5) - who
was dedicated to eliminating idoltary in his kingdom.
"This is the first time that a seal impression of an Israelite
or Judean king has ever come to light in a scientific
archaeological excavation," Mazar said.
The clay imprint, known as a bulla, was found at a dig at the
foot of the southern part of the wall that surrounds Jerusalem’s
Old City, an area rich in relics from the period of the first of
two ancient Jewish temples.
It had been buried in a refuse dump dated to the time of
Hezekiah and was probably tossed from an adjacent royal
building, Mazar said. It contains ancient Hebrew script and the
symbol of a two-winged sun.
The bulla was initially catalogued and put in a closet, along
with 33 others, after a first inspection that failed to
establish its true identity.
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Only five years later, when a team member scrutinized it under a
magnifying glass and discerned dots in between some of the letters,
did the meaning become clear.
The dots help separate the words: "Belonging to Hezekiah (son of)
Ahaz king of Judah."
Mazar said the back side of the clay imprint of the seal had
markings of thin cords that were used to tie a papyrus document.
"It’s always a question, what are the real facts behind the biblical
stories," Mazar said. "Here we have a chance to get as close as
possible to the person himself, to the king himself."
(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Jeffrey Heller and Gareth
Jones)
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