Gezer calendar

Gezer calendar
Gezer calendar
	The calendar in its current location
Material	Limestone
Size	11.1 × 7.2 cm
Writing	Phoenician or paleo-Hebrew
Created	c. 10th century BCE
Discovered	1908
Present location	Istanbul Archaeology Museums
Identification	2089 T

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The Gezer calendar is a small limestone tablet with an early Canaanite inscription discovered in 1908 by Irish archaeologist R. A. Stewart Macalister in the ancient city of Gezer, 20 miles west of Jerusalem. It is commonly dated to the 10th century BCE, although the excavation was not stratified.^[1]^[2]

Scholars are divided as to whether the language is Phoenician or Hebrew and whether the script is Phoenician (or Proto-Canaanite) or paleo-Hebrew. Koller argued that the language is Northern Hebrew.^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]

The inscription is not a formal calendar, as it describes agricultural seasons with imprecise dates, rather than precise divisions of time as would be required for a ritual or bureaucratic calendar. As such, some of the time units comprise two months rather than one, and none are referred to by the month numbers or names known from other sources.^[9]

Inscription

The calendar is inscribed on a limestone plaque and describes monthly or bi-monthly periods and attributes to each a duty such as harvest, planting, or tending specific crops.

The inscription, known as KAI 182, is in Phoenician or paleo-Hebrew script:

𐤉𐤓𐤇𐤅𐤀𐤎𐤐.𐤉𐤓𐤇𐤅𐤆‎

𐤓𐤏.𐤉𐤓𐤇𐤅𐤋𐤒𐤔‎

𐤉𐤓𐤇𐤏𐤑𐤃𐤐𐤔𐤕‎

𐤉𐤓𐤇𐤒𐤑𐤓𐤔𐤏𐤓𐤌‎

𐤉𐤓𐤇𐤒𐤑𐤓𐤅𐤊𐤋‎

𐤉𐤓𐤇𐤅𐤆𐤌𐤓‎

𐤉𐤓𐤇𐤒𐤑‎

𐤀𐤁𐤉(𐤄)‎

Which in equivalent square Hebrew letters is as follows:

ירחואספ ירחוז‎

רע ירחולקש‎

ירחעצדפשת‎

ירחקצרשערמ‎

ירחקצרוכל‎

ירחוזמר‎

ירחקצ‎

אבי(ה)‎

This corresponds to the following transliteration, with spaces added for word divisions:

yrḥw ʾsp yrḥw z

rʿ yrḥw lqš

yrḥ ʿṣd pšt

yrḥ qṣr šʿrm

yrḥ qṣrw kl

yrḥw zmr

yrḥ qṣ

ʾby[h]

The text has been translated as:

Two months gathering

Two months planting

Two months late sowing

One month cutting flax

One month reaping barley

One month reaping and measuring grain

Two months pruning

One month summer fruit

Abij[ah]^[10]

Possible equivalent months:

October, November — in the Hebrew calendar Tishrei, Cheshvan

December, January — Kislev, Tevet

February, March — Shvat, Adar

April — Nisan

May — Iyar

June — Sivan

July, August — Tammuz, Av

September — Elul

Scholars have speculated that the calendar could be a schoolboy's memory exercise, the text of a popular folk song or a children's song. Another possibility is something designed for the collection of taxes from farmers.

The scribe of the calendar is probably "Abijah", whose name means "Yah (a shorter form of the Tetragrammaton) is my father". This name appears in the Bible for several individuals, including a king of Judah (1 Kings 14:31). If accurate, then it would be an early attestation of the name YHWH, predating the Mesha Stele by more than a century.^[11]

History

Dig not stratified, as shown here on suppositions of dating in Macalister's second volume on Gezer

The calendar was discovered in 1908 by R.A.S. Macalister of the Palestine Exploration Fund while excavating the ancient Canaanite city of Gezer, 20 miles west of Jerusalem.

The Gezer calendar is currently displayed at the Museum of the Ancient Orient, a Turkish archaeology museum,^[12]^[13] as is the Siloam inscription and other archaeological artifacts unearthed before World War I. A replica of the Gezer calendar is on display at the Israel Museum, Israel.

References

^ Tappy, Ron E.; McCarter, P. Kyle; Lundberg, Marilyn J.; Zuckerman, Bruce (2006). "An abecedary of the mid-tenth century B.C.E. from the Judaean Shephelah". Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. 344 (344): 41. doi:10.1086/BASOR25066976. JSTOR 25066976. S2CID 163300154. ...compromised archaeological contexts (e.g. the unstratified Gezer calendar...
^ Aaron Demsky (2007), Reading Northwest Semitic Inscriptions, Near Eastern Archaeology 70/2. Quote: "The first thing to consider when examining an ancient inscription is whether it was discovered in context or not. It is obvious that a document purchased on the antiquities market is suspect. If it was found in an archeological site, one should note whether it was found in its primary context, as with the inscription of King Achish from Ekron, or in secondary use, as with the Tel Dan inscription. Of course texts that were found in an archaeological site, but not in a secure archaeological context present certain problems of exact dating, as with the Gezer Calendar."
^ Koller, Aaron (2013). "Ancient Hebrew מעצד and עצד in the Gezer Calendar". Journal of Near Eastern Studies. 72 (2): 179–193. doi:10.1086/671444. S2CID 161247763.
^ The Calendar Tablet from Gezer, Adam L Bean, Emmanual School of Religion Archived March 2, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
^ Is it “Tenable”?, Hershel Shanks, Biblical Archaeology Review Archived December 25, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
^ Spelling in the Hebrew Bible: Dahood memorial lecture, By Francis I. Andersen, A. Dean Forbes, p56
^ Pardee, Dennis. "A Brief Case for the Language of the 'Gezer Calendar' as Phoenician". Linguistic Studies in Phoenician, ed. Robert D. Holmstedt and Aaron Schade. Winona Lake: 43.
^ Chris A. Rollston (2010). Writing and Literacy in the World of Ancient Israel: Epigraphic Evidence from the Iron Age. Society of Biblical Lit. pp. 30–. ISBN 978-1-58983-107-0.
^ Seth L. Sanders, “Writing and Early Iron Age Israel: Before National Scripts, Beyond Nations and States,” in Literate Culture and Tenth-Century Canaan: The Tel Zayit Abecedary in Context, ed. Ron E. Tappy and P. Kyle McCarter, (Winona Lake, IN, 2008), p. 100–102
^ Coogan, Michael D. (2009). A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament: The Hebrew Bible in Its Context. Oxford University Press. p. 119. ISBN 978-0199830114.
^ Hoffmeier, James (2005). Ancient Israel in Sinai. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 240–241.
^ Gezer calendar Archived 2012-11-01 at the Wayback Machine
^ Istanbul Archaeological Museums, Artifacts Archived 2012-11-01 at the Wayback Machine

External links

Details of the calendar including transcription and translation. Archived 4 February 2006 at the Wayback Machine
Another translation and a picture of the calendar.

[1] Tappy, Ron E.; McCarter, P. Kyle; Lundberg, Marilyn J.; Zuckerman, Bruce (2006). "An abecedary of the mid-tenth century B.C.E. from the Judaean Shephelah". Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. 344 (344): 41. doi:10.1086/BASOR25066976. JSTOR 25066976. S2CID 163300154. ...compromised archaeological contexts (e.g. the unstratified Gezer calendar...

[2] Aaron Demsky (2007), Reading Northwest Semitic Inscriptions, Near Eastern Archaeology 70/2. Quote: "The first thing to consider when examining an ancient inscription is whether it was discovered in context or not. It is obvious that a document purchased on the antiquities market is suspect. If it was found in an archeological site, one should note whether it was found in its primary context, as with the inscription of King Achish from Ekron, or in secondary use, as with the Tel Dan inscription. Of course texts that were found in an archaeological site, but not in a secure archaeological context present certain problems of exact dating, as with the Gezer Calendar."

[3] Koller, Aaron (2013). "Ancient Hebrew מעצד and עצד in the Gezer Calendar". Journal of Near Eastern Studies. 72 (2): 179–193. doi:10.1086/671444. S2CID 161247763.

[4] The Calendar Tablet from Gezer, Adam L Bean, Emmanual School of Religion Archived March 2, 2011, at the Wayback Machine

[5] Is it “Tenable”?, Hershel Shanks, Biblical Archaeology Review Archived December 25, 2010, at the Wayback Machine

[6] Spelling in the Hebrew Bible: Dahood memorial lecture, By Francis I. Andersen, A. Dean Forbes, p56

[7] Pardee, Dennis. "A Brief Case for the Language of the 'Gezer Calendar' as Phoenician". Linguistic Studies in Phoenician, ed. Robert D. Holmstedt and Aaron Schade. Winona Lake: 43.

[Rollston2010-8] Chris A. Rollston (2010). Writing and Literacy in the World of Ancient Israel: Epigraphic Evidence from the Iron Age. Society of Biblical Lit. pp. 30–. ISBN 978-1-58983-107-0.

[9] Seth L. Sanders, “Writing and Early Iron Age Israel: Before National Scripts, Beyond Nations and States,” in Literate Culture and Tenth-Century Canaan: The Tel Zayit Abecedary in Context, ed. Ron E. Tappy and P. Kyle McCarter, (Winona Lake, IN, 2008), p. 100–102

[10] Coogan, Michael D. (2009). A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament: The Hebrew Bible in Its Context. Oxford University Press. p. 119. ISBN 978-0199830114.

[11] Hoffmeier, James (2005). Ancient Israel in Sinai. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 240–241.

[12] Gezer calendar Archived 2012-11-01 at the Wayback Machine

[13] Istanbul Archaeological Museums, Artifacts Archived 2012-11-01 at the Wayback Machine

[1]

Gezer calendar

Inscription

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links