Table Of ContentIDENTIFYING BIBLICAL PERSONS IN NORTHWEST
SEMITIC INSCRIPTIONS OF 1200–539 B.C.E.
Academia Biblica
Saul M. Olyan,
Old Testament Editor
Mark Allan Powell,
New Testament Editor
Number 12
IDENTIFYING BIBLICAL PERSONS IN NORTHWEST
SEMITIC INSCRIPTIONS OF 1200–539 B.C.E.
Identifying Biblical Persons in Northwest
Semitic Inscriptions of 1200–539 B.C.E.
Lawrence J. Mykytiuk
BRILL
LEIDEN BOSTON
2004
IDENTIFYING BIBLICAL PERSONS IN NORTHWEST
SEMITIC INSCRIPTIONS OF 1200–539 B.C.E.
Copyright © 2004 by the Society of Biblical Literature
This edition published under license from the Society of Biblical
Literature by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mykytiuk, Lawrence J.
Identifying Biblical persons in Northwest Semitic inscriptions
of 1200-539 B.C.E. / by Lawrence J. Mykytiuk.
p. cm. — (Society of Biblical Literature Academia Biblica ;
no. 12)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 90-04-12724-0 (cloth binding : alk. paper)
1. Names in the Bible. 2. Inscriptions, Semitic. 3. Inscriptions,
Hebrew. 4. Paleography, Semitic. 5. Bible. O.T.—Antiquities.
I. Title. II. Academia Biblica (Series) (Brill Academic Publishers) ;
no. 12.
BS435.M95 2004b
221.9'22—dc22
2004010939
ISSN: 1570-1980
Printed in The Netherlands
on acid-free paper
To my wife,
Joy A. Mykytiuk,
to my father,
Nicholas S. Mykytiuk,
and to the memory of my mother,
Ruth E. Mykytiuk,
and of my stepmother,
Mary F. Scheckel Mykytiuk
Contents
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Abbreviations xv
Symbols and Chronological Conventions xvii
Figures xix
Introduction: Background and Statement of Thesis 1
Part 1: An Identification System
Chapter 1: Identification Criteria 9
1.1 Three approaches which call for an identification system 9
1.2 Development of basic criteria for making identifications 10
1.3 Definitions 10
1.4 Underlying factors in the process of identification 11
1.5 Ancient Near Eastern ways of identifying an individual 12
1.6 Prosopography 13
1.7 Survey of the literature, first of two parts 15
1.8 Methodology for choosing criteria 18
1.9 Instructive misidentification number one: the seal of “Jotham” 19
1.10 Instructive misidentification number two: the seal impressions of
Eliakim, steward of “Jehoiachin” 23
1.11 The criteria not met by these two misidentifications 26
1.12 Avigad’s criteria 27
1.13 Survey of the literature, second of two parts 29
1.14 Foundational data for making identifications 31
1.15 Non-foundational facts relevant to identifications 34
1.16 Rationale for a way of evaluating identifications that is more
refined and more complete than Avigad’s 34
1.17 Principles for measuring the strength of identifications 37
1.18 The three main diagnostic questions about potential identifications 38
1.19 A three-question system for evaluating potential identifications 40
1.20 Question one: how reliable are the inscriptional data? 40
1.21 Criterion 1, means of acquisition or access 40
1.22 Criterion 2, provenance of the inscription 40
1.23 Criterion 3, how the matter of the inscription’s authenticity
has been or should be regarded 41
vii
viii Contents
1.24 Question two: does the general setting of the inscription permit a
match between the inscriptional person and the biblical person? 43
1.25 Criterion 4, the date of the person 43
1.26 Criterion 5, the identity of the language of the inscription 45
1.27 Criterion 6, the socio-political classification of the inscription 47
1.28 Question three: how strongly do specific identifying data in the
the inscription count for or against an identification? 49
1.29 Criterion 7, the name of person in the inscription 49
1.30 Criterion 8, family and other interpersonal relations 50
1.31 Criterion 9, title information 52
1.32 Criterion 10, other identifying information (marks of the individual) 53
1.33 Criterion 11, identification on grounds of singularity 54
1.34 Summary and Limitation 56
Chapter 2: Taxonomy of Identifications and Two System Refinements 57
2.1 Taxonomy: grades of identifications and of non-identifications 57
2.2 Grade S identifications, including SI and SB: certain 57
2.3 Grade 3 identifications: virtually certain to reliable 67
2.4 Grade 2 identifications: reasonable but uncertain 73
2.5 Grade 1 identifications: doubtful 77
2.6 Grade 0 (zero) non-identifications: without any clear basis 79
2.7 Grade D non-identifications: disqualified 82
2.8 The place of explanatory hypotheses in evaluation 84
2.9 Historical frameworks to minimize the danger of circularity 85
2.10 Potential circularity in the interpretation of inscriptional data 85
2.11 The purpose and composition of historical frameworks 86
2.12 The procedure of evaluation 86
2.13 An example of the anti-circular identification system: Is the
biblical Hoshea, king of Israel, named in the seal of Abdi? 87
Part 2: Application of the Identification System
to Hebrew Inscriptions and Two Stelae from before the Persian Era
Published before October 1997
Chapter 3: Identifications in Provenanced Inscriptions 93
3.1 The scope and possible evidential value of potential identifications
evaluated in Chapters 3 and 4 93
3.2 The order of research and presentation 95
3.3 Is the biblical Mesha, king of Moab, named in the Mesha
Inscription? 95
3.4 Is the biblical Omri, king of Israel, named in the Mesha
Inscription? 108
