| DESCRIPTION |
|
| Languages: | Greek and Aramaic |
| Medium: | limestone |
| Size: | 15.5 centimeters high 25.5 centimeters wide |
| Length: | 4 lines of writing |
| Genre: | Votive inscription |
| Approximate Date: | 2nd century BCE |
| Place of Discovery: | Tel Dan aka Tel el-Qadi aka Laish |
| Date of Discovery: | 1976 |
| Current Location: | Israel Museum Jerusalem |
| Director of Excavation | Avraham Biran |
| Inventory no.: | |
| Text no.: | |
| TEXT | |
| GREEK TEXT ("SYMBOL" font required to view in Greek) |
TRANSLATION by K. C. Hanson |
| QEWI WI EN DANOIS ZWILOS EUCHN The fourth line is in Aramaic and says the same as the Greek. |
To the god who is among the Danites, Zoilos made a vow |
| DISCUSSION QUESTIONS |
| 1. Biran's translation reads: “To the God who is
in Dan, Zoilas made a vow” (1998:45).
If you read Greek, what are the linguistic problems with Biran's reading? 2. What would explain not naming the deity? 2. Why did people in the ancient Mediterranean make public vows? 3. In what ways would a vow engage a person's honor? |
| SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY |
Biran, Avraham. Biblical Dan. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1994. Biran, Avraham. “Dan (Place).” In Anchor Bible Dictionary, edited by David Noel Freedman, 2:12–17. New York: Doubleday, 1992. Biran, Avraham. “Sacred Spaces: Of Standing Stones, High Places and Cult Objects at Tel Dan.” Biblical Archaeology Review 24.5 (1998) 38–45+70. Biran, Avraham. “Tel Dan: Five Years Later.” Biblical Archaeologist 43 (1980) 168–82. Parker, Simon B. “The Vow in Ugaritic and Israelite Narrative Literature.“ Ugarit Forschungen 11 (1979) 693–700. |
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