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Exploration Journal.
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Gabriel Barkay
Tel Aviv University
In the fifth century C.E., the Byzantine Empress Eudocia built a large church at
the site where, according to tradition, the proto-martyr St. Stephanus was stoned
to death. A Crusader church was later built on the same site (Fig. 1), north of
Jerusalem, not far from the city's northern gate (Fig. 2 ). The Dominican fathers,who
purchased that area, conducted extensive archaeological excavations there from 1882
for several years (Fig. 3), under the direction of P?re M. J. Lagrange, who summarized
his work in a comprehensive volume published in 1894.1 After the excavations were
completed, a new church was built over the Byzantine ruins. The ?cole Biblique
et Arch?ologique Fran?aise and the Dominican monastery of St. Etienne were also
built there.
Over a century later, it transpires that many more significant remains had been
uncovered by theDominican fathers. Since archaeological research was in its infancy
at the time, however, the excavators did not save the ceramic finds, being unaware
of their importance for dating purposes. In 1973 it became clear that two burial
caves, uncovered in 1885 in the courtyard of St. Etienne and dated incorrectly by
the excavators, are, in fact, the largest, most magnificent burial caves from the
period of the Judaean monarchy (eighth-seventh centuries B.C.E.) to have been
preserved in this country.2 Other early remains uncovered in the excavations will be
discussed in this article.
THE FINDS
23
Fig. 2. Plan of St. Stephen's church and excavations of theDominican fathers.Note rectangular
n. 7], PL 77).
pitmarked C, where stele fragmentwas found (afterVincent and Abel [below,
(see Fig. 4), and no photograph was appended to the article.5 P?re L.H. Vincent
completely ignores this find in his comprehensive study of the ancient periods of the
city,6 and elsewhere refers briefly to the stele fragment while discussing the Byzantine
remains found in the vicinity of the St. ?tienne monastery,7 without mentioning its
unexpected find-spot or significance, attributing it to the 18th dynasty. It is not
surprising, therefore, that the stele fragment has been ignored in all discussions of the
history and archaeology of ancient Jerusalem, as well as in studies dealing with
Canaanite-Egyptian relations.
The stele fragment under discussion was, however, mistakenly published among
the finds uncovered in excavations at Beth Shean. It is discussed in a report by
James on the Iron Age at Beth Shean,8 as well as in an appendix by Ward,9
who points out that it differs from other Egyptian inscriptions uncovered at Beth
Shean, both in terms of material and quality of writing. The report also mentions
that the field record and field number of the fragment were missing and that the stele
fragment,which had apparently been discarded by the excavators, had not previously
been published.10 It can reasonably be assumed that A. Rowe mistakenly included
a photograph of this inscription among material from Beth Shean when he began
working on the Egyptian inscriptions found there during the 1930s in an effort to
compare his finds with the limited number of Egyptian inscriptions known in Israel
from the period of the New Kingdom.
//'
Ci
t
yww\ is
tr=?l
Fig. 4. Hieroglyphic inscription on stele
fragment(SE 17), as published by Scheil.
The stele fragment (13.5 cm. high; c.12 cm. wide; 5 cm. thick) ismade of white,
chalky, porous stone, showing signs of peeling in certain places. The stele was
apparently inscribed on both sides; the inscription on the obverse is very fragmentary
and the one on the reverse is badly damaged. Part of the rounded top of the stele
was preserved in our fragment, and three vertical columns of carved hieroglyphs
can be seen below it. Each sign is about 2 cm. wide; the upper part of an incised
scene is visible below the signs (Figs. 5, 6). The middle column of hieroglyphs is
approximately 7 cm. high.
The fragmentary inscription on the obverse contains 13 clear signs. It includes the
title 'the foremost of westerners', which is the title of Osiris, the god of the dead who
were buried on the western side of theNile. Scheil suggested reading the inscription:
'[a stele to the god Seth who gave] strength and long life of [Osiris the] foremost of
westerners... to the deceased...'.11 The name of Osiris also appears on an inscribed
stele of Nubian sandstone discovered at Hazor and on stelae of local kurkar stone
found at Deir el-Balah.12
12 Yadin dated the fragmentfromHazor to theNew Kingdom period, see Y. Yadin et al:
Hazor III-IV, Plates, Jerusalem, 1961,PI. 316:1; Y. Yadin: Hazor, The Head ofAll Those
Kingdoms (The Schweich Lectures, 1970), London, 1972, p. 126; PI. 35 (the photograph
was published there upside-down); O. Goldwasser: Some Egyptian Finds fromHazor:
Scheil claimed that part of the rectangular ear of the Egyptian god Seth is visible
underneath the middle column of hieroglyphs, and that one can see part of a
bunch of three lotus flowers embedded in each other to the left of the segment.
Analogous scenes from Egyptian art suggest that the lotus flowers are part of a
An Offering
Table
The Dominicans' revealed, along the diagonal line of the apse of the
excavations
Byzantine church and beneath the church floor level, an installation made of a slab
of marble-like white stone (0.65 1.09 m.), with another piece of stone with
a spout-like channel attached to it. The channel led to a pit cut into bedrock,
lined with fieldstone masonry (Fig. 7:1-11). The stone slab is divided into three
fields by two shallow channels carved onto its surface (Fig. 8); they are connected
through two additional, perpendicular channels, from which yet another channel
led to the spout. Remains of three circular signs or imprints of three round objects
are visible on the stone slab, one in each field. Holes of two small nails are visible
in each circle. On the reverse of the stone slab there are two signs (Fig. 7:111),
? ? as the
painted in red, which Vincent identified incorrectly, in my opinion
Greek letters eta (or an oddly formed mu) and theta. He dated the installation
to the Byzantine period, claiming that itwas placed under the altar of the Byzantine
church and was used for ablution.14 Based on its position and form, there is no doubt
in my mind that the stone slab, which was discovered in situ, is earlier than the
church structure and was used for pouring some kind of liquid. No other installation
of this kind is known in the study of any of the known Byzantine churches. Indeed,
shortly after this discovery, scholars who had seen the stone slab in situ, such
as C. Mommert and H. Lewis, argued, on the basis of its shape, that the slab
Scarabs, Scarab Impressions and a Stele Fragment, inA. Ben-Tor (ed.): Hazor III-IV,
Text, Jerusalem, 1989, pp. 344-345. Other Egyptian stelaewith the name of Osiris from
the Ramesside period were found in the cemetery of Deir el-Balalj, see R. Ventura:
Four Egyptian Funerary Stelae fromDeir el-Balafc,IEJ37 (1987), pp. 105-115.
13 See, e.g., E. Erman: Life inAncient Egypt, London, 1894 (repr.New York, 1971), p. 268.
14 Vincent and Abel (above, n. 7), pp. 774-775; see also photograph there, II, PL 79:8. This
stone slab was published earlier by Lagrange (above, n. 1), p. 136.
Fig. 7. Egyptian offering table in situ,with stone-lined pit, I) plan; II) section; III) signs on
under-side of table (afterVincent and Abel [above, n. 7]).
must be an Egyptian offering table15 of the htp type, known in Egypt from the
Old Kingdom until the Egyptian Late Periods and characterized by a 'd?versoir'
or spout, as well as channels and sub-channels. Lewis noted that the stone slab
was discovered somewhat lower than the level of thepresbyterium of the Byzantine
15 Vincent and Abel (above, . 7), p. 775, . 1. Vincent rejected this identification.H.
Lewis (Ruins of a Church on the Skull-Hill, Jerusalem, PEFQSt, 1891, pp. 214-216)
concluded that the slab did not belong to the field of early Christian archaeology. See
also idem,Additional Note on theChurch of St. Stephan, PEFQSt, 1891,pp. 298-299,
where he suggested a possible parallel: an ablution installation located under the altar
of a church in Istanbul. This comparison seems forced, and is based on the assumption
that the Jerusalem stone slab was an integralpart of theByzantine church of St. Stephan.
church, 'embedded in the floor'.16 I believe that this item does not belong to the
assemblage of the church, and that, located underneath its floor level, it may
have been in its original location. A great number of Egyptian offering tables are
decorated with hieroglyphic inscriptions and rich decorations of offerings;17many
are divided into three fields, each field containing a relief decoration of round loaves
of bread. In Egypt, offering tables appear in various shapes and sizes, all with
channels and spouts.
As aforementioned, the stone slab uncovered under St. Etienne Church had a
spout aimed towards a stone-lined pit. Similar installations, albeit of a less impressive
shape, are known from Late Bronze Canaanite temples. A stone-lined pit (L.2157),
resembling the one at St. Etienne, was discovered in the Canaanite temple at Area
H of Hazor (Str. Ib, Chamber 2123, defined as the 'holy of holies'). A similar
16 Lewis ([above, . 15, Skull-Hill], p. 214) referred to the red stone mentioned by C.
Schick as 'red polished stone'. to Lewis, the stone was found at a lower
According
level, as the chancel screen of the Byzantine church was found to be built above it. See
ibid., section in Fig. 5.
17 Ahmed Bey Kamal: Catalogue g?n?ral des antiquit?es ?gyptiennes du mus?e de Caire
(Nos. 23001-23256). Tables d'offrandes,Cairo, 1909;W.C. Hayes: The Scepter of Egypt,
I,New York, 1953, pp. 117, 336; L. Habachi: Tavole d'offerta,are e bacili da libagione .
22001-22067 (Catalogo delMuseo Egyzio di Torino, Serie Secunda-Collezioni II), Torino,
1977.
installation was found in the middle of the chamber of the Canaanite temple
in Levels Vllb-VIIa at Megiddo
(Structure 2048).18
To the best of my knowledge, only one Egyptian offering table has been found
in Israel: at Nebi Yunis, in the northern part of present-day Ashdod. This slab, of
polished sandstone, is divided into two cartouche-like fields, with shallow channels
around them. In the middle of each field there are two circles representing bread
loaves. A long Phoenician dedicatory inscription incised on one side of the slab
helped date the object to the end of the Persian or the beginning of the Hellenistic
period.19 Its shape is clearly Egyptian, and it continues a tradition whose roots
in Egypt date back to the third millennium B.C.E. There is some indication that
additional architectural remains may be associated with the finds discussed in this
article. In a report from Jerusalem, Schick referred to a red drum-shaped stone
(granite? porphyry?), discovered in the Dominicans' excavations under the floor of
the Byzantine church.20
18 Yadin et al (above, . 12), Pl. 104:3; Yadin (above, . 12), p. 82; Ben-Tor (above, .
12), Plan 39 and p. 245. The pit in theMegiddo temple was interpretedas an outlet
for the libations performed in this part of the temple,G. Loud: Megiddo II, Chicago,
1948,p. 105.
19 The present location of this table,which was kept at theRussian Consulate in Jerusalem
untilWorld War I, is unknown, see M.J. Lagrange: Une inscription ph?nicien, RB 1
(1892), pp. 275-281; B. Delavault and A. Lemaire: Une st?le 'MOLK' de Palestine d?di?e
a Eshmun? R?S reconsid?r?, RB 83 (1976), pp. 269-283; C. Picard: Le monument de
Nebi-Yunis, RB 83 (1976), pp. 284-287.
20 C. Schick: Discoveries North ofDamascus Gate, PEFQSt, 1980, p. 90; cf. also idem,Die
Stephanskirche der Kaiserin Eudokia bei Jerusalem, ZDPV 11 (1889), p. 254. See also
Vincent's notes about this red stone,Vincent and St?ve (above, n. 6), p. 774, n. 2.
21 Vincent and Abel (above, n. 7), p. 797, Fig. 341; PI. 80:3.
22 See Yadin et al (above, . 12),Pl. 80:3; and Ben-Tor (above, . 12),pp. 330-334, and the
detailed discussion therein.
23 See Loud (above, n. 18),p. 105.
24 See R.A.S. Macalister: The Excavations ofGezer, III, London, 1912,PI. 224:14.
25 The Dominican fathersof the ?cole Biblique entrustedme with the publication of these
vessels. The warmth and kind help of the lateP?re Benoit O.P., who grantedme permission
to reexamine these finds, is especially appreciated. I would also like to thank P?re J.B.
Humbert O.P. for his assistance. The stele fragment was redrawn by R. Barkay and A.
A Stone Statuette
In 1975, a small statuette was found in the garden of St. ?tienne, slightly east
of the apse of the new church. The beautifully-crafted statuette (c. 7.3 cm. high;
Figs. 13-15), of smoothed Egyptian greenish serpentine stone, portrays a male figure
27 Classified by Clamer ([above, . 26], p. 171,Pl. 10) as Type E2a. See also O. Tufnell et
al: Lachish II, The Fosse Temple, Oxford, 1940, p. 64, PI. 26:6, although this vessel is
of green Egyptian serpentine stone.The Lachish reportmentions furtherexamples of this
vessel found inEgypt.
28 V. Hankey: A Late Bronze Age Temple at Amman: II. Vases and Objects Made of Stone,
Levant 6 (1974), pp. 166-167, Fig. 2:17-28, made of calcite or serpentine.
29 Ibid., p. 172 (under No. S16); R. Hachman: Fr?he Ph?niker im Libanon, 20 Jahre
deutsche Ausgrabungen imK?mid el-L?z, Mainz am Rhein, 1983, pp. 52, 53, 131, 133
(Nos. 31, 35). In that excavation, parallels of the alabaster bottle-jar fromJerusalemwere
also excavated. See ibid., pp. 35,134 (Nos. 37-38).
seated on a chair; the head and the upper part of the body are missing. The figure
wears a long garment reaching down to the ankles, emphasizing the leg muscles
and knee contours. The arms, not preserved, were probably stretched forward and
held a staff or a standard in front of the face. The back of the chair narrows
towards the top. The statuette can be definitely identified as Egyptian, on the basis
of its shape; it dates from the New Kingdom, and may portray the god Amon or
Ptah.30
An Egyptian-style Capital
In his publication of the Egyptian inscribed stele fragment, Scheil wrote that
Egyptian-style capitals were also uncovered. Since they were not published, it is
? ?
not known how many were found.32 A capital possibly one of these is now
built into a low stone fence on the Garden Tomb premises near the entrance
to the garden (Figs. 16, 17), apparently found by members of the Garden Tomb
Association, whose premises are just south of the buildings of the Dominican
fathers.33 Judging from the capital's shape, it does not belong to the rich collection
figurine to representPtah.
31 See J.W. Crowfoot and G.M. Fitzgerald: Excavations in theTyropoeon Valley, Jerusalem
1927,Annual of thePalestine Exploration Fund 5 (1929), p. 93 (note), PL 16:29.
32 Scheil (above, n. 4), p. 116. Several Egyptian-style column capitals were unearthed in
contexts of LB temples in Palestine: at Beth Shean, Megiddo and Lachish. See A.
Rowe: The Four Canaanite Temples at Beth Shean, I, The Temples and Cult Objects,
Philadelphia, 1940, pp. 8, 16; Pis. 26:20; 52 A:4; James (above, n. 8), p. 17,Fig. 95:4; A.
Siegelmann: A Capital in theForm of a Papyrus Flower fromMegiddo, Tel Aviv 3 (1976),
?
p. 141,PL 10:3-4; D. Ussishkin: Excavations at Tel Lachish 1973-1977, Preliminary
Report, Tel Aviv 5 (1978), pp. 22-24, Fig. 6, PL 9:1.
33 According to the late Colonel O. Doby, warden of theGarden Tomb, during the early
1960s the warden, Mr. Mattar, used to collect differentstones from the area west of
?
Nablus Road ? where the new bus station is presently located and bring them
to the premises of the Garden Tomb. I discovered the capital under discussion during
a visit to the site on 7 June 1980, and photographed it; the drawing was sketched
byMs. T. Kofyan.
Eight leaves are modelled in low relief around the capital. The maximal width of
each leaf is 22 cm. (Vi cubit?). They have pointed tops, and each has a triangular
protrusion on top (of which only one is now intact), 10 cm. high and 9 cm. wide.
The triangles protrude about 3 cm. Smaller leaves (17 cm. high; 10 cm. wide)
are modelled between the large ones, each with a protruding central ridge. The
capital has a faceted abacus, 12 cm. high, above the leaves. The shape of the
capital resembles palm capitals of ancient Egyptian architecture. Many are known in
Egypt from the New Kingdom period; the closest to our type, from Soleb, is dated
to the 19th dynasty (Fig. 18).34
CONCLUSIONS
slopes of the Mount of Olives, which was located opposite the city or in its
close vicinity. Moreover, the tombs excavated around the city primarily contained
locally-made pottery and imports fromMycenae and Cyprus, with only a minimal
amount of Egyptian objects. Furthermore, the architectural finds, i.e. capitals and
an offering table, the latter found in situ on bedrock under the floor of the Byzantine
church, rule out the possibility that the objects originated in tombs.
At this stage, the finds described above can tentatively be associated with an
isolated Egyptian temple located on the main road leading north about 1 km.
from Late Bronze Age Jerusalem, similarly to the Late Bronze temple discovered
near the Amman airport, which does not have any LB settlement remains near
it. In my opinion, it is not likely that the finds were brought to the area north
of Damascus Gate in soil from the City of David, since there is no evidence of soil
being moved such distances in ancient times. They seem to be related to the
architectural elements discovered there in situ or near their original site.
I would venture to say that this activity can be dated to the 19th dynasty, since
the Egyptians took a greater interest in the central hill country of Canaan during
the reign ofMerneptah (1212-1202 B.C.E.). Papyrus Anastasi III mentions a fort of
Merneptah near Sar-ram,38 which has been identified with Salem (cf. Gen. 14:18;
Ps. 76:3).39 Another section mentions the arrival of an Egyptian officer from the
'Wells of Merneptah' located in the mountainous area. These have been associated
with Me-Nephtoah ('the waters of Nephtoah') mentioned in Joshua (15:9, 18:15),
located north-west of Jerusalem. This is essentially the only evidence of Late Bronze
Egyptian activity in the central hill country of Canaan. It should be noted that Late
Bronze finds on the central mountainous range of Judah and Benjamin are few, and
most originate in tombs.40 This dating is corroborated by the fact that Scheil identified
part of the ear of the god Seth on the stele. Seth played a major role during the
19th dynasty: he was popular during the Hyksos period, but did not appear on
any of themonuments of the 18th dynasty. The name of Seth is also incorporated in
the name of the founder of the 19th dynasty, King Seti I.
The finds presented here clearly belong to the Late Bronze Age city-state of
Jerusalem. Letters in the El-Amarna archives written by Abd-Hepa, King of
Jerusalem (Nos. 285-291), show that during that period, in the 14th century B.C.E.,
38 J.B. Pritchard (ed.): ANET, p. 258. In a preliminary report on the excavations at St.
?tienne, itwas mentioned that theDominican fathersbelieved the place 'firstserved as a
fortress (or barracks) of an army that came from Sudan in Egypt(?)\ See L. de Vaux:
D?couvert r?centa J?rusalem,Revue Arch?ologique, 1886,p. 371, who did not explain to
which period theEgyptian military connection is related in this report or why.
39 Y. Aharoni: The Land of theBible, A Historical Geography, Philadelphia, 1979, p. 184.
40 R. Gonen: Urban Canaan in theLate Bronze Age Period, BASOR 253 (1984), p. 65; idem,
Burial Practices and Cultural Diversity inLate Bronze Age Canaan (ASOR Dissertation
Series 7 ),Winona Lake, IN, 1992.
there was only a small Egyptian garrison stationed in Jerusalem.41 Moreover, there
is no basis for dating the above-mentioned finds to the El-Amarna period, as
the Egyptians showed little interest in the hill country and engaged in minimal
activity there, as indicated in the El-Amarna correspondence. This is themost logical
? ? were
conclusion, even though parallel finds particularly of the alabaster vessels
found in contexts dating from the time of the 18th dynasty. Moreover, stone vessels
were probably used for a considerable time after their production.
The Egyptian finds from the Late Bronze Age uncovered in the area of the St.
Etienne monastery, which include a stele fragment with a hieroglyphic inscription,
thus provide a basis for assuming that at some point towards the end of the 13th
century B.C.E., there was an Egyptian temple north of Jerusalem.42 Thus, once
?
41 W.L. Moran: The Amarna tetters, Baltimore London, 1992, pp. 325-334. N. Na'aman:
again, Jerusalem has proven to be full of surprises, and more will surely be revealed
as additional investigations are undertaken.43
43 Following the lecture that served as the basis for this article, the late Zvi Ilan published
an article in theHebrew daily newspaper Davar (29May 1981), inwhich he mentioned a
large clay scarab (9x5 cm.), shaped like a human head, thatmight be connected with
the finds discussed here. According to R. Giveon, the scarab is authentic and the name
engraved on its base could refer to Seti I or Seti II. The scarab, kept in the collections
of theCatholic school at St. Paul's hospice, between Damascus Gate to the south and
the premises of theDominican fathers to the north,was reported to have been unearthed
when the foundations of St. Paul's hospice were being dug, but the excavators, Schoeneke,
Dunkel and Schick, did not mention the scarab. See L. Schoeneke: Ein Felsblock mit
Gr?bern bei Jerusalem,Mitteilungen und Nachrichten des Deutschen Pal?stina Vereins,
1897, pp. 36-37; C. Schick: Newly Discovered Rock Block with Tombs, PEFQSt, 1897,
pp. 105-107; A. Dunkel: Excavations at Jerusalem, PEFQSt, 1902,pp. 403-405.