LMLK seal

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LMLK stamps from the Kingdom of Judah atop LMLK-bearing Israeli postage stamps, 2006 LMLK-stamps ancient-and-modern.jpg
LMLK stamps from the Kingdom of Judah atop LMLK-bearing Israeli postage stamps, 2006

The LMLK seal appears on the handles of several large storage jars from the Kingdom of Judah, where it was first issued during the reign of Hezekiah around 700 BCE. Seals bearing these four Hebrew letters have been discovered primarily on unearthed artifacts in and around Jerusalem, with some in northern Israel. Several complete jars were found in situ at the ancient city of Lachish, where they were buried underneath a destruction layer caused by Sennacherib, who reigned over the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 705 BCE to 681 BCE. [1] While none of the original stamp seals have been found, some 2,000 impressions made by at least 21 seal types have been published. [2] The iconography of the two- and four-winged symbols are representative of royal symbols whose meaning "was tailored in each kingdom to the local religion and ideology". [3] [ clarification needed ]

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Type H2D LMLK stamp, 2003 Lmlk-seal impression-h2d-gg22 2003-02-21.jpg
Type H2D LMLK stamp, 2003

LMLK—lamedh, mem, lamedh, kaph—is vocalized in the Hebrew language as lamelekh (Phoenician : 𐤋𐤌𐤋𐤊lāmed-mēm-lāmed-kāp), which can be translated as:

As a prepositional prefix, the lāmed (𐤋) has either a genitive or dative function, and the "to" in each of the above readings can also be read as "for" or "of". The other three letters form the word melekh ; as shown above, its translation can refer to a specific king, to any king, or to the king's government. [4]

A number of jars say "lmlk Ziph", "lmlk Hebron", "lmlk Socoh", and "lmlk mmst" (whose identification is unknown). These jars were all manufactured in a single site in the Shephelah, possibly at Lachish, under the authority of the king (alluded to in 1 Chronicles 4:23, thus 'lmlk' means 'belonging to the king'), and from there they were sent to each one of the four administrative regions, as indicated by the name of the localities on the jars: Ziph, Hebron, Socoh, and MMST). [5]

Discovery sites

LMLK discovery sites, as of February 2008 Lmlk sites map.gif
LMLK discovery sites, as of February 2008

Though most of these stamped jar handles have been found in the territory of the Kingdom of Judah (71 sites in the land allotted to Judah, Benjamin, and Simeon), some have also been found in the territory of the Kingdom of Israel (four sites in the northwest region). [6] Over 2,000 stamped jar handles have been found. The 20 sites where the most specimens have been found are: [7]

Usage theories

LMLK jar of Hebron on display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, 2013 LMLK seal (Hebron). Israel Museum, Jerusalem (2).JPG
LMLK jar of Hebron on display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, 2013

Beginning with the editio princeps by Charles Warren in 1870, a diverse assortment of theories has been promulgated to explain their function.[ citation needed ] Since the landmark excavations at Lachish by David Ussishkin during the 1970s, [9] which established the date of the seals to the reign of Hezekiah, the number of feasible explanations has narrowed down to these (all associated with Hezekiah.[ citation needed ]

In support of the first two theories are the inscriptions, which can be read as the names of four places; in support of the third theory are the geographic statistics, which do not associate any of the four words to a particular place or region other than the entire southern kingdom of Judah. Furthermore, approximately 10–20 percent of the excavated jars and jar handles were stamped.[ citation needed ]

Depending on which of the above theories are preferred, several other aspects of the operation need interpretation:

Engraving styles indicate at least two, possibly five, people made the seals. The 21 types can be grouped together in five or six sets, but they may have been created or utilized in pairs based on quantities of their impressions found so far.[ citation needed ]

Researchers frequently use a lowercase "x" as a wildcard character when referring to a series such as x4C instead of using an uppercase "G", "H", "M", "S", or "Z" for the first letter designator. Likewise, an "x" can be used for the second letter designator when referring to all seals with the same word, such as H2x in lieu of H2D, H2T, and H2U.

Thus far, significant quantities of x4C, x4L, and x2U stamps have been excavated from below the destruction layer caused by the Assyrian conquest of Sennacherib, but only a single specimen each of the G2T and M2D stamps (excavated from Jerusalem, which was not destroyed by Sennacherib). This suggests that 12 of the 21 seals were made prior to the attack, and the remaining 9 afterwards. The first significant evidence to support this datum came from the landmark excavations at Timnah led by George L. Kelm and Amihai Mazar. [10]

Additional impressions

LMLK seal (Hebron) on a jar at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, 2013 LMLK seal (Hebron). Israel Museum, Jerusalem.JPG
LMLK seal (Hebron) on a jar at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, 2013
LMLK seals on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa, 2010 Lmlk Seals - Hecht Museum, Israel 1.JPG
LMLK seals on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa, 2010
LMLK seals on the display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa, 2010 Lmlk Seals - Hecht Museum, Israel 2.JPG
LMLK seals on the display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa, 2010

Several hundred seal impressions made on the same type of jar handle have been found in the same contexts as the LMLK stamps. Over 50 types have been documented, and most of them have a 2-line inscription divided by two somewhat parallel lines. Some have an icon in addition to the inscription; others are strictly anepigraphic (Vaughn 1999).

Incisions

In addition to the seals, which were stamped in the wet clay before being fired in a kiln, certain other marks were incised on these jar handles:

Hundreds of the handles with the circles have been found, but only a few of the plus, hole, and drag marks. Several LMLK stamps may have had additional inscriptions incised over them containing marks resembling the letters "I V" (hence "Ivy incisions"); however, one or more of these handles may just contain stray Drag marks resembling the letters "I V" with no literate semantics intended.[ clarification needed ][ citation needed ]

Israeli postage stamps

In 1948, Israel's postal authority chose the Z2U seal design for the first series of postage stamps to include the name of the renascent state. Five multicolored values (3, 5, 10, 20, and 65-mil denominations; Scott catalog numbers 10-4) were printed in sheets of 300 (six panes of 50). Otte Wallish designed the stamps, which have distinctive tabs written in Hebrew declaring: Flying Scroll: "LMLK" Seal Stamped on the Wine and Oil Jugs Given as Tax to the King. Israel released the stamps on September 26, 1948 in time for the October 4 observance of Rosh Hashanah 5709, the Jewish New Year, and thereby inaugurated its annual series of holiday stamps.

Reconstructive drawings

Types of LMLK seals according to George M. Grena's typology: [11]

H2T Lmlk-seal type-h2t 2005-01-03.gif
H2T
M2T Lmlk-seal type-m2t 2005-01-03.gif
M2T
(reserved
for S2T;
not known
if any
existed)
Z2T Lmlk-seal type-z2t 2005-01-03.gif
Z2T
G2T Lmlk-seal type-g2t 2005-01-03.gif
G2T
(reserved
for H2DR;
not known
if any
existed)
(reserved
for M2DR;
not known
if any
existed)
S2DR Lmlk-seal type-s2dr 2005-01-03.gif
S2DR
(reserved
for Z2DR;
not known
if any
existed)
H2D Lmlk-seal type-h2d 2005-01-03.gif
H2D
M2D Lmlk-seal type-m2d 2005-01-03.gif
M2D
S2DW Lmlk-seal type-s2dw 2005-01-03.gif
S2DW
Z2D Lmlk-seal type-z2d 2005-01-03.gif
Z2D
H2U Lmlk-seal type-h2u 2005-01-03.gif
H2U
M2U Lmlk-seal type-m2u 2005-01-03.gif
M2U
S2U Lmlk-seal type-s2u 2005-01-03.gif
S2U
Z2U Lmlk-seal type-z2u 2005-01-03.gif
Z2U
H4L Lmlk-seal type-h4l 2005-01-03.gif
H4L
M4L Lmlk-seal type-m4l 2005-01-03.gif
M4L
S4L Lmlk-seal type-s4l 2005-01-03.gif
S4L
Z4L Lmlk-seal type-z4l 2005-01-03.gif
Z4L
H4C Lmlk-seal type-h4c 2005-01-03.gif
H4C
M4C Lmlk-seal type-m4c 2005-01-03.gif
M4C
(reserved
for S4C;
not known
if any
existed)
Z4CI Lmlk-seal type-z4ci 2005-01-03.gif
Z4CI
Z4CY Lmlk-seal type-z4cy 2005-01-03.gif
Z4CY

See also

References

  1. Ussishkin (2004), The Renewed Archaeological Excavations at Lachish, p. 89 ("As the work of the renewed excavations developed it became clear that the destruction of Level III must be assigned to Sennacherib's attack in 701 BCE.").
  2. LMLK Research website
  3. Na'aman, Nadav. "The lmlk seal impressions reconsidered." Tel Aviv 43.1 (2016): 115.
  4. "King Seal Artifacts Attest to Hebron's Jewish History". the Jewish Community of Hebron. Retrieved 2024-02-10.
  5. Naʼaman, Nadav. Ancient Israel and Its Neighbors: Interaction and Counteraction. Vol. 1. Eisenbrauns, 2005, 173–174.
  6. "LMLK Seals". www.antiquities.org.il. Retrieved 2024-02-10.
  7. Garfinkel, Yosef; Ganor, Saar; Hasel, Michael (2018). Meiron, Eyal (ed.). In the Footsteps of King David. United Kingdom: Thames and Hudson. p. 174. ISBN   978-0-500-05201-3.
  8. Sapir, Neria; Ben-Ari, Nathan; Koch, Ido; Lipschits, Oded (2023). "A New Assemblage of 'Private' Stamped Jar Handles from the Mordot Arnona Excavations, Jerusalem" (PDF). 'Atiqot. 110: 8, 19. JSTOR   27204896.
  9. Published in Ussishkin, "The Renewed Archaeological Excavations at Lachish."
  10. Mazar and Panitz-Cohen, Timnah (Tel Batash) II.
  11. Grena, George M. (February 23, 2002). "LMLK – Typologies" . Retrieved June 30, 2024.

Bibliography