Language:
French
Year of publication:
2022
Titel der Quelle:
Semitica et Classica; revue internationale d'études orientales et méditerranéennes
Angaben zur Quelle:
15 (2022) 153-173
Keywords:
Inscriptions, Aramaic
;
Inscriptions, Greek
;
Ostraka
;
Names, Hebrew
;
Machaerus (Jordan) Antiquities
Abstract:
During various seasons of excavations on the fortress of Machaerus, a rather large number of ostraca were discovered, with some other Greek and Latin inscriptions. Their late and partial publication leaves open some questions concerning the reading and their interpretation. In 1994 the last Franciscan Father who dug there, Michele Piccirillo, entrusted me with the study of all the ostraca of the Studium biblicum Franciscanum excavations. I was therefore able to join a small number of them, reducing their number to 22 from an original total of 26. However, due to a lack of time, I was unable to complete the written report. Thus, now I am able to compare my first readings with the latest publication and give quite different conclusions; and in this note I am also publishing some ostraca which are unedited. I am also providing a revised reading of the ostraca discovered by the Hungarian mission, as well as of some of the American “Baptist Mission.” It is also the opportunity to collect the other Greek and Latin inscriptions for a general overview of this entire corpus, and to expose what is possible to gain from the history of the fortress in the first century aD. The Aramaic ostraca all date from the period of the reign of Herod Antipas, but not from the time of the Zealots’ presence at Machaerus. These ostraca are unique and important as they document for the first time the supplies to the royal palace at the time of the imprisonment and execution of John the Baptist. The memento of this event is still present on the small inscribed stone of the monk Markos from the Byzantine period.
DOI:
10.1484/J.SEC.5.133132
URL:
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