58 DEIRDRE DEMPSEY BASOR 289

The ostracon was recovered from Locus 7 in N25/
W20. Locus 7 consisted of a thin layer of fine black
ash, along a north-south axis from 20 to 80 cm
below the surface. The ash layer was truncated by a
modem army trench at the southern end of the excava-
tion square. The disturbed nature of the locus precludes
the of assigning its contents secure dates but
the layer itself appears to have been deposited during the
late Persian or the Hellenistic period.
21 thank the directors of the Tell Nimrin project,
J. W. Flanagan and D. W. McCreery. Special thanks to
Wayne Pitard and Edward M. Cook for their help with
this article. Any errors are my responsibility. ISRAEL
I"""""'·"'t,; of Jerusalem
Mount '-''-'VIJUG. Jt:I'usalt::Ul, Israel

Kin-
L H'C''',,''L, W. F. Naveh, J. rot and measures Gate" that existed
1925 The Evolution of the West-Semitic Divinity 1970 The Development the Aramaic Script. The in ancient Palestine. the Gate" and, ~i"",i l n'rl"
cAn-CAnat-CAtta. American Journal of Semitic Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities the Temple") there were two additional systems in the ancient Near East, that
Languages and Literatures 41: 73-101. Proceedings VIi. Jerusalem: Israel Academy " and that the King." These systems and tuncl'i011eci
AP= Cowley, A. of Sciences and Humanities. different levels of economic and !Jolitieal organization.
1923 Aramaic Papyri of the Fifth B.C. Ox- 1982 History the Alphabet. Jerusalem:
ford: Clarendon. Magnes.
Brockelmann, K. Smith, J.
1928 Lexicon ",if·iar'l1m HaHe: Niemeyer. THE TEXTS larly "The name slsro is not a
1903 A Compendious Syriac Oxford:
CIS= Clarendon.
divine name, as Franken and HCittl.lzf~r SlJgj~es,t, but
1889 In.~'Crliptlionum Semiticarum. Pars Se - M. with the publication of the Deir CAlla rather an officia1 name. In Greenfield's
cunda. Inscriptiones A ramaicas. Paris: Acad- 1965 Anat. Pp. 235-4 1 in Warterbuch del" texts, two short Aramaic (1980: 251), it may be int,"'..n",.pt",rI
emic des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. ogie: Abt. I: Die alten Kultervolker: Bd. I the eighth century B .C.E., found on the but a hVJ:,ocilOfJlsti(;on
Donner, H., and Rollig, Gatter and My then im vOl"deren Orient. ed.
1964 Kanaanaische und aramaisclze lnschriflen II. H. W. Haussig. Stuttgart: Klett.
Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Porten, B., and Yardeni, A. incised firing) on the shoul-
Dornemann, R. H. 1986 Textbook of Aramaic Documents An- der of a
1990 First Preliminary of the 1989 Tell Nim- cient Egypt: I. Letters. Jerusalem: Hebrew engraved on a stone .
rin Project. Annual the An- University.
tiquities 34: 153-81. 1989 Textbook of Aramaic Documents An-
,.~ J. Of those mscnDtl ~,ms the
. . , 1 __ ,
cient Egypt: If. Contracts. Jerusalem: Hebrew
1967 The Aramaic of Sefire. Rome: excavator, function
Pontifical Biblical Institute. J. of stone is written ... ex-
Flarlaga:n, l . D . W. 1954 Some Syriac on the eludes the possibility that sr c~ is a proper name or
1990 of the 1989 Tell Century A.D. Bulletin the School of Orien- be either the lows 1,
tal and Studies 16: 13-36.
1983 North .)aaOl'lra with Some
Ex-
zum should be
M.
1969

~okoIott. M.
60 NAVEH BASOR 289 1993 THE 61

Drawing of the Tel Kinrot inscriptions (made by

. The jar inscription from Tel Israel Antiquities Authority). the same way can
Judaean lmlk stamps on
in the
62 EPHCAL AND NAVEH BASOR 289 1993 THE JAR OF THE GATE 63

s.v. m,Jinn ru' pp. stamps on the jar-handles from Judah, over 1500 measure of Bel Marduk) 1, no. 86:5-6; The bronze lion-shaped weights from Nineveh
s.v. of which have been' discovered, indicated that the VAS 3, no. 187:13), "-of Samas" (VAS 6, no. 13:2, (CIS II: nos. 1-14) have two to four inscriptions,
Administrative documents from Mari attest to royal authorities approved the standard volume of 10), "-of the Lady-of-Uruk" 6, Nos . 40:16; each of which was designed for a different group
the of silver-ina "in those U ssishki n, after measuring nine such 47:8; YOS 7, no. 169:6), "-of the Eanna Temple" of users. Weight no. 2 grams), for example,
the stones of the >1an/n"'"lI' points out that "the differences in volume are (YOS 7, no. 72:6); and in pt~ "by the has the
205, 2 considerable (39.7 to 51.8 litres) making it most stone (weight)s of Ptah" 1923: no. 11:2). Aramaic mnn 5 bzy :JrqJ "5
that the stamps were a of A morc common system of weights and capac- minas by (the of the country" (cf. ADD:
no. 1983: the measures, beside the local systems "of the no. 376: 11' [ina] MA .NA-e sa KUR-e "[by] the
lt appears that these like do relate to the '-''''T'''''''' ' ~U of the mal:JIrulof the temple," was the "royal" one . mina of the country").
those in the Deir cAlla and Tel Kinrot inscriptions do not indicate that all the Most of the following examp]es span the eighth to (b) Five vertical strokes mCUc<H1flg the numeri-
with similar formulations, standard same but rather that their contents were of fifth centuries B.CE. : cal size of the for who read neither
and measures of the market i.e., of the same volume, having been filled by approved 1'?f.Jil pN (2 Sam Aramaic nor Assyrian.
standard measuring vessels of the type under dis- mlF (e.g., Cowley 1923: no. 15:10); (c) Aramaic m[n]y mlk "Five
mscflptl~::mS refer to cussion here Aharoni 981: no. 17, J[ cf. also the bronze weight from Gezer inscribed royal mi[nJas.
commercial where that [wft b J Jiysb bn wlql;zt m[sm] 1 smn lmlk 2, "2 (shekels by the weight) of the king". (d) Assyrian ekal mSulmiinu-
took Hebrew expres- l .. mhrh Jth Nahum, [and] (Macalister 1912, 2: 285, fig. 433); cf. also bmtqlt asaredu sar kurAS§ur 5 mana sa sarri "(Weight of)
in the Bible as well as in the Deir cAlla and now: Go to the house of Eliyashib son of I-lcf"",.,hll mlP "by the weight of the king" (Cowley 1923 : the palace of Salmaneser of 5
Tel Kinrot indicate first and foremost and take from [there] 1 (jar oil, and send (it) no. 28 : 11); and NIG . su LUGAL "weight stones royal minas."
the location of the activi ty, the gate. to . . . and seal it with your seal"). Thus, of the royal property" 7: no. 145:2; ARM 8: According to our view, each of the Aramaic in-
That is natural: in some were filled to the whereas others nos. 89:2, 91 :2). scriptions represents a distinct standard: zy
where was mainly over water and to were fined to a lower level, but the volume of the mina: (ina) mane sa sarri (ADD: nos. JrqJ "of the country," i.e., of proper; zy
a lesser on land, goods could be assembled contents was the same in all cases . 9: 1; 33: 1 etc.); mnn 2 zy mlk (CIS II: no. etc. mlk "royal," i.e., the imperial one. Since the stan-
and traded m both and land centers. As both systems of and seah: VII A:235. dard of Assyria proper was identical to the
the Akkadian terms for "market measures-that "of the gate" and the one--- no. 124:2. ian) royallimperial one, the unit numbers on the
such as kant (originally place, anchor- existed side side. close examination of their Local weights for Cf. also "the standard measure of the Nineveh weights were the same. Outside
biibu " and siiqu "street" features reveals the circumstances under which masil:Ju sa sarri (VAS 3: no. 74:6; YOS 6; no. proper, however, where the local standards differed
local markets!
1975-1976: relate to both of trans- each system functioned. One in "sellers 150:9) . from the imperial one-for in
pa,Lestlne, on both sides of the Jordan 'C , in which the merchandise CmnplrIS-
L U U L U , ... with the general designations mentioned Judah, and Carchemish
surpl uses of homes and families above, which do not specify the kingdoms that numbers on weights to differ accord-
from to without l l H UUl'-'I.U'-'lCl, used those units, there were others to ing to local and imperial standards.
of the ancient Israelite market """<",,,1-,,'" kingdoms, as follows: One can, therefore, three standards
1961: Such a market demanded, of "H,ahlvllrmiian mina" no. 180:9, rev. of and measures that might conceivably
course, and measures; but there was "mina of Carchemish" have been in use at the same time:
no need between the local system 67: 1). 1. The local standard: for in tenlpl(~S
and other markets. contrast, the admin- (Bordreuil and Gube1 and "of the gate."
ISH'anon, whose economic activities included the 2. The standard of the with explicit
collection of various groups and their names of countries and "of the country," as well as
territorial 1976: 29: 1, the "royal" one there was no overall im-

no.

from words
, for
and
64 EPHCAL AND NAVEH BASOR 289 1993 THE JAR THE GATE 65

was still in use 5That the two latter units were of different capacity, Jerusalem, April 1984. Jerusalem: Israel Ex - TCL 1 Thureau-Dangin, F.
when its rate of exchange d . VAS 8: no. 80: 1-4; CT 2: no. 29: 19-20. ploration 1910 Lettres et contrats de l'epoque de la premiere
shekel; cf. Tosefta, Bekhorot 13: 3. Macalister, R. A. S. /1"""-":T1L> bai'lylon.lenne. Musee du Louvre, De-

1912 The Excavations of Gezer. 1902-1905 and partment des Antiquites, Textes Cuneijorms,
1907-1909, vols. 1-3. London: Palestine Ex- 1. Paris: Geuthner.
plC1ratlOIl Fund. Tufnell. O.
McCarter. P. K. 1953 Lachish Ill: The Iron London: Oxford.
R.p. CIS = Im'cn'vtl'onum Semiticarum. 1980 The Balaam Text from DeiI' CAlla: The First Ussishkin, D.
and 1891- Paris: Academie des Belles- Combi nation. Bulletin the American 1983 Excavatiolls at Tel Lachish 1978-1983: Sec-
1914 Schools Oriental Research 239: 49-60. Tel Aviv 10: 97-175.
sewn . '-.--llH_!lF;V. A. Naveh,
= Johns, C. 1923 Aramaic Papyri of the Fifth B.C. Ox- 1979 Review of Aramaic Texts from Deir 'Alla, by :icJzriJ'td(;mkmafer der Konig-
1898- Assyrian Deeds and Documents . . . nn>sp r ll/'fJ ford: Clarendon. J. and G. van der 1976. Israel 1909 lichen Museen Heinrichs.
1923 the Collections the British CT 2 = Pinches , Th. G. ~x"JloratlOn Journal 29 : 133-36. de Vaux, R.
Museum. London: Bell. 1896 Texts Tablets in Postgate, J. N. 1961 Ancient Its Life and Institutions. Lon-
Aharoni, Y. the British Museum. British Museum.
",-,U'BYVU. 1976 Fifty Neo-Assyrian Documents. War- don: Darton. LuugJlHiin , and Todd.
at Tel Beer Sheba, Pn~hnllinary and Naveh, J . minster: Aris and Phillips . Welten, P.
of the Fifth and Sixth Seasons, 1973- 1989 Hazael's Israel r.XJ'JJlIffl- Rabinowitz. 1969 hG1nl;r;S-LJu::mJ'Je1. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
1974. Tel Aviv 2: 146-68. tion Journal 39: 192-200, 1956 Aramaic of the Fifth Century YOS 6 = UOlJgh,erty
1981 Arad Inscriptions. Jerusalem: Israel L<AU1"'lU- Fritz, V. B.C.E. from a North-Arab Shrine in 1920 Records Erech, Time Nabonidus
tion 1986 Kinneret, Vorbericht tiber die Journal Eastern Studies 15: -9. (533-538 s.c.). Yale Oriental Series,
7 = Bottero, J. auf dem Tell el-cOreme am See Genazaret in W. nian Texts 6. New Haven: Yale.
1956 Textes de la salle J 10. A r- den J ahren 1982-1985. Zeitschr~ft des Deut- 1975- Der Markt. Die Welt des YOS 7
chives royales de Mari 7. Paris: lmpnme:ne schen Paliistina- Vereins 102: 1-39. 1976 Orients 8: 286-95. Cyrus and Cam-
nationale. Gibson, J. C. L. Sukenik, E. L. Oriental Series ,
ARM 8 = Boyer, G. 1975 Textbook Semitic voL 1942 The Meaning of the 'Le-Melekh' Inscriptions. Babylonian Texts 7. New Haven: Yale.
1957 Textes 1I1 f 'U1I.{}lJ,>S Archives 2: Aramaic lW'CflptiolllS. Oxford: Clarendon. Kedem 1: 32-36. (Hebrew)
Jmpnme:ne nation- Gordon, C. H.
ale . 1965 Ugaritic Textbook. Rome: Pontifical Biblical
= Dossin, G., al. Institute.
Textes divers. royales de 13. Greenfield, J. C.
Paris: Geuthner. 1980 Review of H()ttIlz.;~r 1976.
= Durand, J.-M. Journal Studies 25:
j 983 Textes adJ'nl11isl'ra,uJs du ljn:~ennel,d, J. c., and Shaffer, A.
pafais de Mari. n. ; ·U HVCJ de Mari 21. 1983 Notes on the Akkadian-Aramaic
Statue from Tell 45: 109- 16.
Heltzer, M.
1978 Goods, Prices and Trade in
W iesbaden : Reichert
1989 Questions
in Judah, Phoenicia,