Inscriptions from Israel and Palestine
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Images

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Location

JERU0002

Judaea. Jerusalem. 20 BCE to 70 CE. Soft limestone ossuary with chip-carved ornamentation. Funerary.
Transcription

יששבח שלם

Translation

Ish(sh)bah, peace

Diplomatic

[no diplomatic]

Terminus post quem:
Terminus ante quem:
Notes
The small size of this ossuary suggests that it was a child's. It has low feet and a flat, overhanging lid 40 cm long. Ornamentation, on the front side, consists of two metopes in zigzag frames. A twelve-petalled rosette within a zigzag circle sits inside each metope. The incised name יששבח, paralled in Palmyrene and Safaitic, may stand for ישבח with the letter shin doubled, as in the name יששכר. The word שלם is probably "peace," not the female name with similar spelling. The chest's right side has a large mark: a straight vertical line is crossed in its lower half by a horizontal line with ends curved down and inward (so that it resembles a straight line with small circles at either end). This mark may have been intended as a monogram, or it may represent scales, in an allusion to the occupation of the family of the deceased (in this case, as money-changers -- for discussion of other possible occupations such as baker, see Leclercq and Cabrol 1937, Dictionaire d'archeologie chretienne et de liturgie (s.v. ossuaires, cols. 22-27).).

Languages

Hebrew, Aramaic

Dimensions

H: 23 cm; W: 37 cm; D: 20 cm

Date

20 BCE to 70 CE

Current location

No provenance provided.

Figures

  • zigzag circles encircling rosettes

  • zigzag frames front of chest

  • encircled twelve-petalled rosettes within metopes

  • metopes within frames

Bibliography

Source of diplomatic

No bibliography available for diplomatic transcription.

Source of transcription

No bibliography available for transcription.

Source of translation

No bibliography available for translation.

Other sources

  • Rahmani, L.Y. A Catalogue of Jewish Ossuaries in the Collections of the State of Israel. Edited by Ayala Sussmann. Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1994.
    Zotero
  • Rahmani, L.Y. A Catalogue of Jewish Ossuaries in the Collections of the State of Israel. Edited by Ayala Sussmann. Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1994.
    Zotero
  • Rahmani, L.Y. A Catalogue of Jewish Ossuaries in the Collections of the State of Israel. Edited by Ayala Sussmann. Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1994.
    Zotero
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The project can be cited as:

Satlow, Michael L., ed. 2002 - . “Inscriptions of Israel/Palestine.” Brown University. https://doi.org/10.26300/PZ1D-ST89

This inscription can be cited as:

"Inscriptions of Israel/Palestine," JERU0002, 12 June 2026. https:doi.org/10.26300/pz1d-st89