Saturday, September 05, 2015

Jeremiah and the bullae

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Jeremiah, Prophet of the Bible, Brought Back to Life. Clay bullae from the City of David, Jerusalem, provide new evidence for Biblical figures. This is an old article, but I didn't note it the first time around and it says it has been updated.

A "bulla" is a clay impression of a stone seal. These often contained people's names and had the legal function of signatures in ancient Israel. More on the exhibition of the two bullae at Armstrong College is here and links. As noted in that post, these bullae were recovered in a controlled excavation. The "Baruch bullae," which refer to Jeremiah's scribe and assistant, were not and are probably forgeries (see here and here and links).