Recently, a seal purchased on the antiquities marked was attributed to Queen Jezebel of biblical fam by Marjo Korpel. Like many looted objects, the seal seems to have drawn a conclusion of biblical identification much too soon. ASOR has two good articles calling it into quest, here and here, by Christopher A. Rollston and Amihai Mazar respectively.
Essentially, the arguments are threefold. First, the script does not match any script used in the 9th century very well at all. This causes problems in matching the seal to Phoenicians and not some other group. Secondly, the name Jezebel is not unique during this period, and without a title or patronymic, there is no way to actually tie the seal to the queen. Finally, there are not inscribed seals from this period, meaning that there is a much higher likelihood that this seal was made a century or two after Jezebel’s life.
As Rollston writes:
Someone could suggest that this seal consists of a script mélange and argue that this inscription is a modern forgery. Ultimately, this script does raise some (modest) concerns for me regarding the alleged antiquity of this piece. Significantly, Avigad noted that this seal comes not from a scientific excavation, but from the antiquities market (Avigad 1964, 274). Furthermore, some of the results of Vaughn and Dobler’s analyses of seal iconography would also suggest that this seal’s authenticity cannot be considered secure (Vaughn and Dobler 2006: 764-767). For the sake of argument, though, if I were to assume that this piece were ancient, I would not be inclined at all to date it to the mid-9th century (the chronological horizon necessary for Queen Jezebel of Israel). Rather, it would need to be dated to some later chronological horizon.
Effectively, the inscription does call into question the actual likelihood of this being a fake, and yet again reinforces the idea that looted objects retain little of their value, and remain questionable in their authenticity. In the end, it is likely nothing more than an attempt to tie something to the bible and grab some publicity that entices Korpel to recklessly attempt to identify the owner of this seal, and the looted nature of the seal makes any attempt to provide such a historic context impossible, and little more than lying to the reader.
Filed under: Archaeoporn, Looting | Tagged: 9th century, Amihai Mazar, Ancient Israel, Archaeoporn, ASOR, Christopher A. Rollston, Jezebel, Looting, Marjo Korpel, Seal
[...] Ossuary at present serves as a fine example. [2] I dealt with this seal in an earlier article, found here.[3] For further information on the context of the Dead Sea Scrolls, see this [...]
… this is an , personal seal,that belonged to a young person , as EDGAR CAYCE( ARE) said in his hypnotic readings about EGIPT . IN HIS PROPHECIES HE SAID THAT LOTS OF SUCH SEALS WILL BE DISCOVERED IN THE LATTER DAYS. AT THE AGE MATURITY EACH YOUNG EGYPTIAN RECEIVED HIS OWN SEAL AFTER VISITING THE HIGH PRIEST . THIS SEAL CONTAINS THE SYMBOLS OF THE TALENTS A ND CRAFTS THAT THAT PERSON, ACQUIRED IN HIS PAST INCARNATIONS , TO REMEMBER , AND USE THEM IN HIS PRESENT LIFE , FOR A FASTER SPIRITUAL PROGRESS\, AND THE FULL BENEFIT OF SOCIETY, only the high priest could give this hidden personal informations , and this seal was taken back ,from the owner, after his death, and carefully stocked in a special underground chamber. THE SEAL CLEARLY STATES THAT ONE OF THIS CHAMBER WAS ALREADY VIOLATED, AND, THAT,OTHER SEALS LIKE THIS ARE TO BE OBJECT OF ILLEGAL TRADE.