Overview
In 2012 Eilat Mazar's Ophel excavation found fragments of seven large storage jars (pithoi) of the neckless Early Iron IIA type, used as fill beneath the second floor of Building II, about 80 m south of the Temple Mount's southern wall. One pithos shoulder carries seven surviving letters, incised before the jar was fired.
The editio princeps (Mazar, Ben-Shlomo and Ahituv, IEJ 63, 2013) read the letters in an early Canaanite script; the press release stated that the letter combination 'has no meaning in known west-Semitic languages' and that its meaning is unknown. It is the earliest alphabetic inscription so far found in Jerusalem.
Close to a dozen readings have followed. Galil read Hebrew 'yyn ḥlq' ('inferior wine'), followed by Petrovich (PEQ 2015); Vainstub (JJAR 4, 2023) reads Ancient South Arabian script in Sabaean: '[ ]šy ladanum 5'.
What the text says (summary)
]šy lḏn ḫ̇ - '[ ]šy ladanum 5' (Vainstub's reading, right-hand group); editio princeps letter sequence (as reported): m, q, p(?), ḥ, n, (possibly) l, n - meaning unknown.D. Vainstub, Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology 4 (2023): 45, fig. 3; editio princeps letters as summarised in the July 2013 press report of Mazar, Ben-Shlomo & Ahituv, IEJ 63 (2013).
What the evidence shows
- Seven pithoi, neckless type, Early Iron IIA; one inscribed (Vainstub 2023, citing Mazar 2015: 467-468).
- Incised before firing, so the writing was done where the jar was made; Vainstub states the vessel was locally made.
- Seven letters survive (Vainstub 2023, p. 44); letter height c. 2.5 cm (press report).
- Found in secondary use as floor fill, not in the jar's primary use context.
- Editors of the editio princeps: script early Canaanite, meaning unknown (press report, 2013).
Open questions
- Script and language: Mazar, Ben-Shlomo and Ahituv (IEJ 63, 2013) classify the script as early Canaanite and give no meaning; Galil and Petrovich (PEQ 147, 2015) read Hebrew 'yyn ḥlq' ('poor wine'), taking the double yod as southern Hebrew spelling; Vainstub (JJAR 4, 2023) reads Ancient South Arabian letters in Sabaean, '[ ]šy lḏn 5' ('ladanum, 5'), linking lḏn with Hebrew šəḥēlet of Exod 30:34.
- Direction and letter count: Petrovich (2015) argues sinistrograde reading and restores yod-yod; Vainstub divides the text into a right-to-left group and a left-to-right group (fig. 3).
- Date of the context: Mazar (2015) and Winderbaum (2022) place Building II in early Iron IIA (mid-10th c.); Finkelstein (2022) dissents (cited by Vainstub, n. 2); Wightman (PEQ 157, 2024) offers 'a significantly different reconstruction' of the Ophel's 11th-9th c. history; Kleiman (Eretz-Israel 35, 2024) wrote specifically on the inscription's date (text not read).
Since 2024
- 2024Kleiman published an archaeological study of the inscription's date in Eretz-Israel 35 (article not read). [6]
- 2024-07Wightman (PEQ 157.3) re-evaluated the Ophel's Iron Age sequence, offering a different reconstruction of the 11th-9th c. from Mazar's and Winderbaum's. [5]
Sources
- Eilat Mazar, David Ben-Shlomo, Shmuel Ahituv, "An Inscribed Pithos from the Ophel, Jerusalem," Israel Exploration Journal 63.1 (2013): 39-49. link editio princeps
- "Inscription from Time of Kings David and Solomon Found in Jerusalem," Sci.News, 11 July 2013 (report of the Hebrew University announcement). link study
- Douglas Petrovich, "The Ophel Pithos Inscription: Its Dating, Language, Translation, and Script," Palestine Exploration Quarterly 147.2 (2015): 130-145. doi:10.1179/1743130114Y.0000000002 link study
- Daniel Vainstub, "Incense from Sheba for the Jerusalem Temple," Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology 4 (2023): 42-68. doi:10.52486/01.00004.2 link study
- Greg J. Wightman, "The Changing Character of Iron Age Jerusalem as Revealed in the Ophel Excavations," Palestine Exploration Quarterly 157.3 (2024/25): 234-257. doi:10.1080/00310328.2024.2370139 link study
- A. Kleiman, "The Date of the Ophel Pithos Inscription: An Archaeological Perspective," Eretz-Israel 35 (2024): 163-173. link study
Corrected from the earlier edition of this page
- Old entry: 'etched onto a stone slab measuring approximately 30 centimeters by 20 centimeters'. It is incised on the shoulder of a ceramic storage jar before firing (IEJ 63, 2013; Vainstub 2023).
- Old entry: 'written in an early form of the Hebrew script'. The editors classified it as early Canaanite; Hebrew is Galil's and Petrovich's reading; Vainstub reads South Arabian.
- Old entry: 'appears to contain references to a royal building project'. No published reading checked here proposes that; readings are 'unknown' (editio princeps), 'poor wine' (Galil), or 'ladanum 5' (Vainstub).
- Old entry: 'Current Location: City of David, Jerusalem'. Not confirmed by any source checked.
- Old entry: 'dates to the 10th century BCE' as fact. That is the date of the fill context on the excavator's ceramic phasing, contested by Finkelstein (2022) and re-examined by Wightman (2024) and Kleiman (2024).
- Old entry links 1 Kgs 6, 2 Sam 5 and 1 Chr 29 as if the text concerns the Temple; no verified reading supports that.
Checked against new publications through 2026-09.