The Uzziah Tablet, also known as the Epitaph of King Uzziah of Judah and the Uzziah Inscription, is an ancient limestone funerary plaque bearing an Aramaic inscription in Jewish Hebrew script that commemorates the reburial of King Uzziah of Judah. Discovered in 1931 within the collection of a church on the Mount of Olives, the inscription is generally dated to the first century CE, several centuries after the reign of Uzziah in the 8th century BCE. It is thought to have been created when his remains were transferred, possibly due to construction activities in Jerusalem or concerns related to ritual purity during the late Second Temple period. The tablet is currently housed in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.
The artifact is a bright limestone plaque measuring 35cm by 34cm, with a thickness of 6cm.[1] Despite minor edge and surface damage, it survives in very good condition. The inscription is framed by a shallow bevel roughly 6mm high. Around this lies a smooth border about 3½–4cm wide, inside which is a decorative moulding of similar width.[1] The rear and sides of the stone were left only roughly worked.[1]
The Uzziah inscription
The inscription consists of four short lines, each 16–17cm long. The letters are about 2cm high, deeply incised, and separated by small gaps. With the exception of one ambiguous character in the first line, the text is easily legible. The script shows features familiar from Jewish ossuary inscriptions of the Second Temple period, including triangular flourishes at the ends of strokes and variation in the form of individual letters within the same text.[2]
Comparisons of the lettering and phrasing indicate that the inscription was produced between the first century BCE and the first century CE.[5] The closing warning not to disturb the remains corresponds to a formula also found on an ancient Jewish ossuary from Jerusalem, where the same expression appears without word breaks.[3]
Explanation
According to the Hebrew Bible, the reign of Uzziah (r. 8th century BCE) was initially prosperous, marked by military victories, fortification projects, and agricultural development. However, the Books of Chronicles record that Uzziah was stricken with צרעת (ṣara'at, often rendered "leprosy" or "skin disease") after attempting to usurp priestly prerogatives by burning incense in Solomon's Temple.[6] As a result, he was forced to live in isolation until his death, while his son Jotham assumed governmental duties on his behalf. The book states that Uzziah was denied burial in the royal tombs of David because of his affliction, instead being interred "in a field belonging to the kings" (2 Chr. 26:23).[6]
The inscription indicates that centuries after his death, Uzziah's remains were moved and reburied, with the tablet serving as a marker for the new location. Such practices fit well with Jewish customs in the late Second Temple period, when marking burials was considered a communal duty. Rabbinic sources note these customs, for example: MishnahSheqalim 1:1, which describes graves being marked with lime during the month of Adar, and Mishnah Mo'ed Katan 1:1, which allows the marking of tombs when required for the public good.[7] Archaeologists Amos Kloner and Boaz Zissu suggest that the relocation may have been necessitated by the construction of Jerusalem's Third Wall, which required the movement of earlier graves.[8]
Most scholars agree that the Uzziah tablet is an authentic artifact dating between 100 BCE and 100 CE, based on paleographic and linguistic analysis.[5] A minority dissent was voiced by Italian orientalist Giovanni Garbini in 1985, who argued that the piece was a modern forgery, though this view has found little support.[9] More recently, Anthony Giambrone (2024) has proposed that the tablet is a genuine ancient object but should be seen as an ancient forgery, created within the context of Second Temple–period pilgrimage and "biblical tourism," in which tombs of famous figures were sometimes staged as attractions.[10]
Discovery
The plaque came to scholarly attention in February 1931, when the archaeologist Eleazar Sukenik examined the museum of the Russian OrthodoxEleona Church on the Mount of Olives.[1] The museum housed antiquities collected by Archimandrite Antonin, who led the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Ottoman Palestine in the late 19th century. With the Mission's permission, Sukenik studied the object and later published his findings.[1]
The inscription is currently held in the collection of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.[5]
Cranz, I. (2019). "The motif of Uzziah's צרעת in the Deuteronomistic History, Chronicles, and beyond". Journal for the Study of the Old Testament. 44 (2): 233–249. doi:10.1177/0309089219868896.
Giambrone, Anthony (2024). "The Aramaic Uzziah Inscription and the Syntax of an Ancient Forgery". Journal for the Study of Judaism (Research article). 55 (4–5). Brill: 518–549. doi:10.1163/15700631-bja10092. eISSN1570-0631. ISSN0047-2212.
Kloner, Amos; Zissu, Boaz (2007). The Necropolis of Jerusalem in the Second Temple Period. Leuven: Peeters Publishers. ISBN978-9042917927.
McCarter, P. Kyle (1996). Ancient Inscriptions: Voices from the Biblical World. Biblical Archaeology Society. ISBN9781880317495.
Sukenik, E. L. (1931). "Funerary Tablet of Uzziah, King of Judah". Palestine Exploration Quarterly. 63 (4): 217–221.
Further reading
Albright, W. F. (1931). "The Discovery of an Aramaic Inscription Relating to King Uzziah". Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. 44 (1): 8–10. doi:10.2307/1354886. JSTOR1354886.
Wright, G. E. (1938). "A Gravestone of Uzziah, King of Judah". The Biblical Archaeologist. 1 (2): 8–9. doi:10.2307/3209077. JSTOR3209077.
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