Endnote 2 – Biblical Detective Work Identifies the Eunuch

There is now abundant evidence of the preponderant aniconism of Hebrew seals from the last century of the kingdom of Judah, at least in the vicinity of Jerusalem (Nahman Avigad, Ensiqlopediya Miqra’it [Jerusalem: Bialik Institute, 1958] 3.76, 81; Ruth Hestin and Michal Dayagi-Mendels, Inscribed Seals. First Temple Period. Hebrew, Ammonite, Moabite, Phoenician and Aramaic. From the Collections of the Israel Museum and the Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums [Jerusalem: Israel Museum, 1979], p. 56). Only 13 of the 255 bullae included in the assemblage Avigad recovered in the mid–1970s bore decorative motifs such as animals, birds or fish (Nahman Avigad, Hebrew Bullae from the Time of Jeremiah: Remnants of a Burnt Archive [Jerusalem: Israel Explorations Society, 1986], esp. pp. 118–119). Simple floral and geometric designs were somewhat more common. None of the 51 bullae in the hoard found in the City of David excavations had human or faunal ornamentation (Yigal Shiloh, “A Group of Hebrew Bullae from the City of David,” Israel Exploration Journal 36 [1986], pp. 16–38, esp. pp. 27–28; Avigad [Hebrew Bullae, p. 118] mentions “a single bird” in the City of David group), though again some bore simple geometric designs.