The City of David excavations in Jerusalem, headed by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), have yielded a remarkable find: a black stone seal bearing an Assyrian genie (apkallu) figure and an inscription in paleo-Hebrew script. Hailed by excavation directors Yuval Baruch and Navot Rom as “one of the most beautiful [seals] ever discovered in excavations in ancient Jerusalem,” the tiny object is less than an inch long and dates to the Iron Age II period (c. 1000–586 BCE). The genie on the seal is a beautiful attestation of a well-known figure from Assyrian royal and mythological iconography. In standard fashion, […]
