The Lachish letters : a reappraisal of the Ostraca discovered in 1935 and 1938 at Tell ed-Duweir
The 21 inscribed ceramic sherds (or ostraca) known as the ~Lachish Letters~, which were discovered during the British Mandate Period excavations of Tell ed-Duweir (Lachish), underwent eighty years of scholarship that improved our understanding of at least some of these inscriptions. The archive is terse and fragmentary, and the least well-preserved and faded ostraca from this collection have been seriously overlooked, ironically when the ~Lachish Letters~ have more or less been regarded as a homogenous group of documents written during the final decades of the Judahite kingdom. Some of the ostraca were discovered in different stratigraphic contexts and pertaining to different settings, if not timeframes. The principal aim of this study is to produce an updated edition of these ostraca by objectively and systematically reassessing and understanding these artefacts, the inscriptions they bear, and their respective stratigraphic layers and archaeological contexts. This is carried out by integrating past studies and modern-day developments on the ostraca (and the site itself) from different perspectives: archaeology, palaeography, philology, the Hebrew Bible, and Classical Hebrew studies. This interdisciplinary
Zammit, Abigail
Lachish Letters ; Lachish (Tell ed-Duweir) ; Classical Hebrew ; Archaeology of Ancient Israel ; North-west Semitic Epigraphy ; Book of Jeremiah ; Ostraca ; British Mandate of Palestine
The Lachish letters : a reappraisal of the Ostraca discovered in 1935 and 1938 at Tell ed-Duweir. The 21 inscribed ceramic sherds (or ostraca) known as the ~Lachish Letters~, which were discovered during the British Mandate Period excavations of Tell ed-Duweir (Lachish), underwent eighty years of scholarship that improved our understanding of at least some of these inscriptions. The archive is terse and fragmentary, and the least well-preserved and faded ostraca from this collection have been seriously overlooked, ironically when the ~Lachish Letters~ have more or less been regarded as a homogenous group of documents written during the final decades of the Judahite kingdom. Some of the ostraca were discovered in different stratigraphic contexts and pertaining to different settings, if not timeframes. The principal aim of this study is to produce an updated edition of these ostraca by objectively and systematically reassessing and understanding these artefacts, the inscriptions they bear, and their respective stratigraphic layers and archaeological contexts. This is carried out by integrating past studies and modern-day developments on the ostraca (and the site itself) from different perspectives: archaeology, palaeography, philology, the Hebrew Bible, and Classical Hebrew studies. This interdisciplinary
letter reappraisal discover tell inscribed ceramic sherd know letters discover british mandate period excavation tell underwent scholarship improve least inscription archive fragmentary least well_preserved collection seriously overlook ironically letters regard homogenous group document write final decade kingdom discover different stratigraphic context pertain different setting principal_aim study produce update edition objectively systematically reassess artefact inscription bear respective stratigraphic layer archaeological_context carry integrate past study modern_day development site different_perspective archaeology palaeography philology hebrew_bible classical hebrew study interdisciplinary