The Lion Stamp Impressions from Judah: Typology, Distribution, Iconography, and Historical Implications. A Preliminary Report

Abstract

We examine here the typology, distribution, iconography and the historical-cultural implications of seal impressions depicting a lion as a lone motif stamped on handles of storage-jars from Judah. These seals were part of an administrative-economic network run by the governing authorities of Judah during the Babylonian rule and in the early phase of the Persian-Achaemenid rule of Judah. The type of storage jars and the very habit of stamping handles on such containers continued as a local administrative practice attested from the late eighth century to the second century in Judah. The current corpus is comprised of some 136 jar handles, a majority of which were found at Ramat Raḥel. Most stamped impressions were uncovered in hill country sites around Ramat Raḥel, Jerusalem, and Nebi-Samwil. They were stamped by ten types of actual seals that are divided thematically to three major groups. The lions represented on these thematic sealings’ types alluded to Yahweh and most probably served as a stand-in of the god of Israel worshiped in Jerusalem.