Image Details

“Belonging to the king” (“lmlk”) reads the inscription on this jar handle from the time of King Hezekiah (729–686 B.C.E.). The two-winged disk is considered an early symbol of the Israelite monarchy. The lmlk-stamped storage jars are shorter and wider than later rosette-stamped ones. Both types have been found primarily inside Judah and are made from the same kind of clay, suggesting that they may have come from the same production center. Given these similarities, Cahill argues that the rosette replaced the lmlk stamp as a symbol of Judah’s royalty in the late seventh century B.C.E.