The Name Jerusalem in a Late Second Temple Period Jewish Inscription

Abstract

The article presents a late Second Temple period Jewish inscription discovered on a column drum at the Binyanei Ha<Umma excavations in modern Jerusalem. The inscription is unique: to the best of our knowledge it is the first occurrence in the archaeological record that contains the full version of the name Jerusalem (YRWÚLYM), with the waw and the final yod. Since the original provenance of the inscription is unknown, its purpose is obscure. One of its outstanding details is the name of the scribe, DYDLWS/DWDLWS, which was probably the moniker of the artist or master craftsman. As he gained fame, perhaps his colleagues gave him, or perhaps he took for himself, this ancient Greek mythological figure’s name. The nickname Daidalos/ Dodlos would have been fitting for someone likely to have worked, like his son Hananiah, in a pottery factory adjacent to where the inscribed column drum was found.