Abstract
The excavations at Ras el-‘Amud yielded a partially preserved Hebrew inscription engraved on the handle of a storage jar before firing. The surviving part of the inscription reads: נחם ⸱ [ל ] ר̇̇ם—“(belongs) [to ]rm (son of) Nḥm.” All the letters of the inscription are paleographically consistent with the Hebrew script of the eighth–seventh centuries BCE. A short, semi-oblique stroke descending from upper-left to lower-right was used to divide the words. Personal names constructed on the root nḥm (“console”, “comfort”) are very common in the Hebrew onomasticon, as well as in other West Semitic languages. The suffix רם (“high”, “exalted”) is also very common in Hebrew and West Semitic personal names and is well attested in both biblical and epigraphic sources.
Keywords
Hebrew, inscription, epigraphy, paleography, Nḥm, word divider
Recommended Citation
Vainstub, Daniel
(2025)
"Ras el-‘Amud, Jerusalem: A Hebrew Inscription Engraved on a Jar Handle,"
Qadum: Journal of Excavation Reports from Israel: Vol. 1, Article 25.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.70967/3078-8528.1024
Available at:
https://publications.iaa.org.il/qadum/vol1/iss1/25
Included in
Archaeological Anthropology Commons, History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons
