The Gezer calendar is a small limestone tablet with an early Canaanite inscription discovered in 1908 by Irish archaeologist R. A. Stewart Macalister in the ancient city of

Gezer Gezer, or Tel Gezer ( he, גֶּזֶר), in ar, تل الجزر – Tell Jezar or Tell el-Jezari is an archaeological site in the foothills of the Judaean Mountains at the border of the Shfela region roughly midway between Jerusalem and Tel Av ...

, 20 miles west of

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. It is commonly dated to the 10th century BCE, although the excavation was unstratified and its identification during the excavations was not in a "secure archaeological context", presenting uncertainty around the dating. Scholars are divided as to whether the language is Phoenician or

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

and whether the script is Phoenician (or

Proto-Canaanite Proto-Canaanite is the name given to :(a) the Proto-Sinaitic script when found in Canaan, dating to about the 17th century BC and later. :(b) a hypothetical ancestor of the Phoenician script before some cut-off date, typically 1050 BCE, with an u ...

) or

paleo-Hebrew The Paleo-Hebrew script ( he, הכתב העברי הקדום), also Palaeo-Hebrew, Proto-Hebrew or Old Hebrew, is the writing system found in Canaanite inscriptions from the region of biblical Israel and Judah. It is considered to be the script ...

Inscription

The calendar is inscribed on a limestone plaque and describes monthly or bi-monthly periods and attributes to each a duty such as harvest, planting, or tending specific crops. The inscription, known as KAI 182, is in Phoenician or

script:
.
.

:: Which in equivalent square Hebrew letters is as follows: : : : : : : : :: This corresponds to the following transliteration, with spaces added for word divisions: :yrḥw ʾsp yrḥw z :rʿ yrḥw lqš :yrḥ ʿṣd pšt :yrḥ qṣr šʿrm :yrḥ qṣrw kl :yrḥw zmr :yrḥ qṣ :ʾby The text has been translated as: : Two months gathering (October, November — in the

Hebrew calendar The Hebrew calendar ( he, הַלּוּחַ הָעִבְרִי, translit=HaLuah HaIvri), also called the Jewish calendar, is a lunisolar calendar used today for Jewish religious observance, and as an official calendar of the state of Israel ...

Tishrei Tishrei () or Tishri (; he, ''tīšrē'' or ''tīšrī''; from Akkadian ''tašrītu'' "beginning", from ''šurrû'' "to begin") is the first month of the civil year (which starts on 1 Tishrei) and the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year ...

Cheshvan Marcheshvan ( he, מַרְחֶשְׁוָן, Standard , Tiberian ; from Akkadian , literally, 'eighth month'), sometimes shortened to Cheshvan (, Standard Tiberian ), is the second month of the civil year (which starts on 1 Tishrei), and the e ...

) : Two months planting (December, January —

Kislev Kislev or Chislev (Hebrew: כִּסְלֵו, Standard ''Kīslev'' Tiberian ''Kīslēw''), also 'Chisleu' in the King James (authorized English) Bible, is the third month of the civil year and the ninth month of the ecclesiastical year on the H ...

, Tevet) : Two months late sowing (February, March — Shvat,

Adar Adar ( he, אֲדָר ; from Akkadian ''adaru'') is the sixth month of the civil year and the twelfth month of the religious year on the Hebrew calendar, roughly corresponding to the month of March in the Gregorian calendar. It is a month of 29 ...

) : One month cutting flax (April —

Nisan Nisan (or Nissan; he, נִיסָן, Standard ''Nīsan'', Tiberian ''Nīsān''; from akk, 𒊬𒊒𒄀 ''Nisanu'') in the Babylonian and Hebrew calendars is the month of the barley ripening and first month of spring. The name of the month i ...

) : One month reaping barley (May —

Iyar Iyar ( he, אִייָר or , Standard ''ʾĪyyar'' Tiberian ''ʾĪyyār''; from akk, 𒌗 𒄞 itiayari " rosette; blossom") is the eighth month of the civil year (which starts on 1 Tishrei) and the second month of the Jewish religious year ...

) : One month reaping and measuring grain (June —

Sivan ''Sivan'' (Hebrew: סִיוָן, Standard ''Sīvan'', Tiberian ''Sīwān''; from Akkadian ''simānu'', meaning "Season; time") is the ninth month of the civil year and the third month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar. It is a ...

) : Two months pruning (July, August — Tammuz, Av) : One month summer fruit (September —

Elul Elul ( he, אֱלוּל, Standard ''ʾElūl'', Tiberian ''ʾĔlūl'') is the twelfth month of the Jewish civil year and the sixth month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar. It is a month of 29 days. Elul usually occurs in August� ...

) :: Abij h Scholars have speculated that the calendar could be a schoolboy's memory exercise, the text of a popular

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...

or a children's song. Another possibility is something designed for the collection of taxes from farmers. The

scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of automatic printing. The profession of the scribe, previously widespread across cultures, lost most of its promi ...

of the calendar is probably "Abijah", which means "Yah (a shortened form of the

Tetragrammaton The Tetragrammaton (; ), or Tetragram, is the four-letter Hebrew theonym (transliterated as YHWH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four letters, written and read from right to left (in Hebrew), are ''yodh'', '' he'', '' waw'', and ...

) is my father". This name appears in the Bible for several individuals, including a king of Judah (1 Kings 14:31). If accurate, then it is the earliest attestation of the name YHWH currently known, predating the

Mesha Stele The Mesha Stele, also known as the Moabite Stone, is a stele dated around 840 BCE containing a significant Canaanite inscription in the name of King Mesha of Moab (a kingdom located in modern Jordan). Mesha tells how Chemosh, the god of Moab, ...

by more than a century.

History

The

calendar A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is also a phy ...

was discovered in 1908 by

R.A.S. Macalister Robert Alexander Stewart Macalister (8 July 1870 – 26 April 1950) was an Irish archaeologist. Biography Macalister was born in Dublin, Ireland, the son of Alexander Macalister, then Professor of Zoology, University of Dublin. His father w ...

of the

Palestine Exploration Fund The Palestine Exploration Fund is a British society based in London. It was founded in 1865, shortly after the completion of the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem, and is the oldest known organization in the world created specifically for the stud ...

while excavating the ancient

Canaan Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...

ite city of

, 20 miles west of Jerusalem. The Gezer calendar is currently displayed at the Museum of the Ancient Orient, a Turkish archaeology museum,Istanbul Archaeological Museums, Artifacts
as is the Siloam inscription and other archaeological artifacts unearthed before

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. A replica of the Gezer calendar is on display at the

Israel Museum The Israel Museum ( he, מוזיאון ישראל, ''Muze'on Yisrael'') is an art and archaeological museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world’s leading encyclopa ...

, Israel.

References

External links

Details of the calendar including transcription and translation.

{{Istanbul Archaeology Museums 10th-century BC inscriptions 1908 archaeological discoveries Ancient Israel and Judah Ancient Near East steles Archaeological artifacts Hebrew inscriptions KAI inscriptions Earliest known manuscripts by language Collection of the Istanbul Archaeology Museums Archaeological discoveries in Israel Specific calendars

Inscription

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links