AHAB’S "IVORY HOUSE.”

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 141, 7 August 1911, Page 8

AHAB’S "IVORY HOUSE.”

EXCAVATIONS IN SAMARIA LEAD TO INTERESTING DISCOVERIES. Again patient excavation work in Bible lands has been rewarded by striking and important discoveries. It is suggested that the remains now unearthed may he those of Ahab’s “ivory house” (I. Kings, xxii., 30). Labels with Hebrew writing, which seem to have been in actual use during the lifetime, and perhaps in the households, of Omri and Ahab have also been found. Many Biblical names appear in these writings, such as Elisha, Asa, Nathan, Uzza, Sheba, and Abiezer. These discoveries have been made at Samarii, the ancient capital of Israel, writes a Jerusalem correspondent. Since 1908 Harvard University has been carrying on excavations here under the patronage of Jacob H. Schiff, of New Y T ork, the chief object being the search for Hebrawnemains. Tho work of each season has been mainly at the summit. Here, in 1908, was excavated an imposing stairway, u'ith a large altar at its foot, and a mutilated statue of white marble and excellent workman-ship probably representing Augustus, lying near the altar. Near the altar also were two stelae, with Latin votive inscriptions dedicated to Jupiter Optimus Maximus. Both date from about the middle of the second century or a little later. The altar seemed to he of earliep date, probably Herodian. South of the stairway were the massive foundations of one or more large buildings. The campaign of 1909 dug out the towers of, tho Herodian gateway and part of the Herodian city wall on the western side' of the hill and a portion of the Herodian basilica adjoining the forum near the village on the eastern side. South of the summit was uncovered a : maze of walls—Roman, Greek, and Hebrew, and others of less certain designation. Near the base of a wall in Babylonian style was found a fragment of a cuneiform inscription. The conditions at the summit were so complicated that the excavations here chllcd for the most minute observation. The great wall found in 1908, running south from the stairway, proved to be tho eastern foundation wall of a large Roman building. This was dug out in its entirety, and there seems to he no doubt that it is tho Augustan temple built by Herod, fn 1908 a coin of Herod had been found on one of the foundation walls of this building. There are oilier walls, not coinciding with those of Herod, which indicate a rebuilding of the temple in inferior style, and this may ho dated ‘with much probability to tho time of Septimus Severus, about A T). 200.

Resting on tho rock were found very heavy walls, so solid that later builders, Greek and Roman, used these walls in places as a base on which to lay their own foundations. Tho masonry was of a style already known as Israelite, consisting oi broad walls of large blocks * roughly laid. In certain places the wall is entirely gone, but its direction can be seen from that of the portions still standing and from trenches cut in the rock. Following up these walls and trenches the general plan of a large building, consisting of chambers grouped around courts in the style of an Assyrian palace, became clear.

Here and there stand portions of the finished wail to the height of several courses of stone. Moreover, two grades of construction appeared, a coarser and a finer. The explorers r.uffger.t that this is the palace of Omri, enlarged in a snnerior style hy his son Allah. Tin's may he, then, the “ivory

house” built by Ahab. At all events, this building is a Hebrew palace, the first and only palace of a He*brew king ever fennel, and likely to remain unique, and therefore of tl’.o deepest interest to Biblical students. The palace lias now- been excavated to an extent amounting to about 270 feet square, and the limits have not yet been reached. Moreover, two additions to the palace have beenjnoted, tentatively assigned to Jehu and Jeroboam 11. Last August Die explorers were rewarded by the discovery of a potshed with writing in the ancient Hebrew script. Subsequently about seventylive others were found, trodden into tho floor of several chambers in a building adjacent to the palace of Ahab. In another room not far from them was found an alabaster vase in scribed with the name cf Ahab’s contemporary Osorkon I. of Egypt. The words are divided by spots, and tho reading of many of tho records is perfectly clear. The script is the same as that of the Siloam Tunnel inscription, about 700 8.C., and tho socalled “Moabite Stone” inscription, about 850 B.C. To the eighth or ninth century, therefore, we should assign tho osfcraca, even if they had not been found in the Ahab building.

A few of them road as follows: 1. In the tenth year. For (or belonging to) Shcmaryo. From the Tell. A jar of fine oil. 2. In the ninth year. From Shaphtan. For a Balsalzamar. A jar of old wine. 3. In tho eleventh year. From Shemida. For Fields, Aphsah, Baals, (and) Zeker. 4. In the tenth year. Wine of the vineyard of tho Til. With a jar of fine oil.

These were probably labels attached to jars, or groups of jars, in a storeroom adjoining the palace. Of special interest are the proper names. The name Skm would seem to be Shechem or Samaria. The vineyard of the Tell may have been royal property, and is reminiscent of Naboth’s vineyard, which was “hard by tiie palace.” Dr. Roisner and Mr Fisher, who have been superintending the excavations, are now at work preparing the results of the three years’ campaign for early publication, and it is to these gentlemen that the writer is indebted for tho foregoing resume of their wonderful discoveries.