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‘Atiqot 60 (2008)
ISBN 2948-040X
Four Hebrew Seals, One Depicting and Assyrian-Like Archer, from the Western Wall Plaza Excavations, Jerusalem
(pp. 115–129)
Tallay Ornan, Shlomit Weksler-Bdolah, Zvi Greenhut, Benjamin Sass and Yuval Goren
Keywords: epigraphy, glyptic, Assyrian art, Davidic dynasty
Four Hebrew seals were unearthed in an Iron Age II building excavated opposite the Western Wall, Jerusalem. All four seals are inscribed in Hebrew of the eighth–seventh centuries BCE, but each was executed by a different ‘hand’. One of the seals (No. 4) exhibits the image of a standing archer, inspired by Assyrian imagery, depicted here for the first time on a seal with a Hebrew inscription. The seals, and the pottery found in association with them, indicate that the building belonged to people of an upper class, possibly holding a high rank in the kingdom of Judah.