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From the official IAA press release - and light up with prideful joy:
A Stone Bowl Engraved with a Rare Hebrew Inscription – “Hyrcanus” – Dating to the Hasmonean Period was Discovered In the archaeological excavations of the Israel Antiquities Authority in the Givʽati Parking Lot at the City of David, in the Jerusalem Walls National Park.
“Hyrcanus” was a common name at that time, as well as the name of two of the leaders of the Hasmonean dynasty
According to researchers, "This is one of the earliest examples of the appearance of chalk vessels in Jerusalem. In the past, these vessels were widely used mainly by Jews because they ensured ritual purity”.
Who was "Hyrcanus" whose name is engraved in Hebrew on a stone bowl from Jerusalem 2,100 years ago? In 2015 a fragment of a bowl fashioned from chalk (a type of limestone) was unearthed in the Israel Antiquities Authority archaeological excavation in the Givʽati parking lot at the City of David, in the Jerusalem Walls National Park. The vessel was published today and immediately aroused the curiosity of researchers.
According to Dr. Doron Ben-Ami of the Israel Antiquities Authority and Professor Esther Eshel of Bar-Ilan University, "This is one of the earliest examples of chalk vessels to appear in Jerusalem. These stone vessels were extensively used by Jews because they were considered vessels that cannot become ritually unclean".
The bowl was discovered during an archaeological excavation beneath the foundations of a miqwe dating to the Hasmonean period, which was part of a complex of water installations that were used for ritual bathing.
The Givʽati parking site in the City of David is among the largest excavation areas opened so far in Jerusalem. The excavations at the site, sponsored by the ʽIr David Foundation, have so far uncovered a wealth of artifacts from different periods...
Was Hyrcanus, whose name is engraved on the bowl, a high-ranking person, or perhaps simply an ordinary citizen during the Hasmonean period? According to the researchers, it is difficult to ascertain. Since there are few vessels in the archaeological record of this period which are engraved with names, it is not known whether this type of engraving was a routine act or a special tribute. "The name Hyrcanus was fairly common in the Hasmonean period," say Dr. Ben-Ami and Prof. Eshel. “We know of two personages from this period who had this name: John Hyrcanus, who was the grandson of Matityahu the Hasmonean and ruled Judea from 135–104 BCE, and John Hyrcanus II, who was the son of Alexander Jannaeus and Salome Alexandra; however, it is not possible to determine if the bowl belonged specifically to either of them”.
Have a happy and historically-significant Jewish narrative-filled Hanukkah (or however you spell it).
^
Now, I now there has always been a strong Jewish presence in Arabia. The fact that Mohammed tried first to convert the Jews with Jerusalem as the First Qibla and then, despairing, eventually slaughtered thousands, I knew. The kingdom of Mar Zutra II I knew. I had a faint recall of the Himyar Kingdom from college.
But this article has opened up another avenue of perception, for example,
While the Koran and later Muslim tradition make no bones about the presence of Jewish and Christian communities across the peninsula in Mohammed’s day, the general picture that is painted of pre-Islamic Arabia is one of chaos and anarchy. The region is described as being dominated by jahilliyah – ignorance – lawlessness, illiteracy and barbaric pagan cults...Reexamination of works by Muslim and Christian chroniclers in recent years, as well as finds like the one in Saudi Arabia, are producing a much more elaborate picture, leading scholars to rediscover the rich and complex history of the region before the rise of Islam.
One of the key, but often forgotten, players in Arabia at the time was the kingdom of Himyar.
Established around the 2nd century CE, by the 4th century it had become a regional power. Headquartered in what is today Yemen, Himyar had conquered neighboring states, including the ancient kingdom of Sheba (whose legendary queen features in a biblical meeting with Solomon).
In a recent article titled “What kind of Judaism in Arabia?” Christian Robin, a French epigraphist and historian who also leads the expedition at Bir Hima, says most scholars now agree that, around 380 CE, the elites of the kingdom of Himyar converted to some form of Judaism.
And more:
Until 300 AD, southern Arabia had many kingdoms and principalities of very variable size...The creation of ever larger political entities remains a trend, which is observed from the beginning of the South Arabian civilization in the eighth century BC Saba'impose its supremacy for two centuries (seventh to sixth century) then it was the turn of Qataban, but neither one nor the other of these realms conquers all of southern Arabia. The first to succeed, in the late third century AD, is Himyar. Now all southern Arabia has the same sovereign, uses the same language - at least in the inscriptions - and shares some institutions, such as the calendar. In order to deepen its hold, the Himyarite dynasty religiously endeavors to unify the country. Monotheism is in the air. The choice of Christianity have the disadvantage of involving a liability to Byzantium. Himyar The kings therefore make the choice of Judaism, convert but do not make the official religion.
And further history:
[as] reported in The Martyrdom of Saint Arethas and his companions in the city of Najran (Asian Journal - 1873). The Martyrdom tells of a Jewish king took power in Yemen. Because of winter - a time of strong winds in the Red Sea - the Ethiopians were not able to react. The Jewish king then laid siege to Najran, large oasis where Christians dominate. The town surrendered after having the assurance that the people would be spared. The king did not keep his word and force Christians to convert to Judaism; those who refuse are executed. Several hundred faithful perish during this persecution, dated fall 523.
Of course, the Christian world can not stand idly by. Religious leaders of the Byzantine Empire and the Emperor himself ask the Christian king of Ethiopia, Kaleb, organize the response. Kaleb gathers seventy ships and, after Pentecost 525, through the Red Sea. Ethiopian fleet arrives at the entrance to the harbor of Shaykh Sa'id, barred by a chain, while a storm arises. While part of the fleet breaks the chain, the rest with the king, is rejected and further north arrives - he seems - to al-Makha '(Moca), site of the decisive battle. Kaleb outweighs the Jewish king is defeated and executed; then he seized all of Yemen, imposed Christianity, founded churches everywhere, creates an ecclesiastical hierarchy and retires in Ethiopia where he became a monk...
... he growing outside pressures ultimately took their toll on Himyar. Sometime around the year 500, it fell to Christian invaders from the Ethiopian kingdom of Aksum.
In a last bid for independence, in 522, a Jewish Himyarite leader, Yusuf As'ar Yath'ar, rebelled against the puppet ruler enthroned by the negus and put the Aksumite garrison to the sword. He then besieged Najran, which had refused to provide him with troops, and massacred part of its Christian population – a martyrdom that sparked outrage amongst Yusuf’s enemies and hastened retribution from Ethiopia.
In 2014, the French-Saudi expedition at Bir Hima discovered an inscription recording Yusuf’s passage there after the Najran massacre as he marched north with 12,000 men into the Arabian desert to reclaim the rest of his kingdom. After that, we lose track of him, but Christian chroniclers recorded that around 525 the Ethiopians caught up with the rebel leader and defeated him.
According to different traditions, the last Jewish king of Arabia was either killed in battle, or committed suicide by riding with his horse into the Red Sea.
(If you read French, here's a book and also a monograph)
The point I'd like to make need recall Saeb Erekat's 2014 statement
“I am the son of Jericho. I am 10,000 years old … I am the proud son of the Netufians and the Canaanites. I’ve been there for 5,500 years before Joshua Bin Nun came and burned my hometown Jericho. I’m not going to change my narrative,”
The credulousness of that claim is non-existent.
But more importantly, we now know, through inscriptions and texts
that included Hebrew writing
and not just handed-down traditions, that Jews were the forefathers of Arabian political development:
For fifty years, archaeological research provides confirmations [through] the discovery of dozens of inscriptions and graffites in Yemen and Saudi Arabia [that] showed that Judaism was rooted in northwestern Saudi from the first centuries of the Christian era and was dominant in Yemen from the fourth century. Christianity, which had many followers in the islands of the Arabo-Persian Gulf and the coasts, has not spread to Yemen belatedly in some peripheral regions. Now, more than about the extent of Judaization that need be asked, but rather on the nature of Judaism that spread in Arabia from the second century.
It appears Erekat has a new narrative challenge to face.
^
I read this at The New Yorker:
Recently, in a piece for our Web site called “How Stories Deceive,” the science writer Maria Konnikova explained that con men take advantage of a psychological fact: when we’re caught up in a narrative, we become less skeptical. If anything, we want to believe. Afterward, we look back with astonishment at how easily we became characters in a made-up drama.
What narrative of negativity has 'caught' too many "want to believers" in a made-up drama?
Well, the list is very long but here's my Top Ten, in no preferred order of importance:
- that "apartheid" exists in Israel/Judea & Samaria.
- that Jews have no rights to Judea & Samaria.
- that Arabs are not occupiers of the Jewish national historic homeland.
- that under international law Israel is occupying the West Bank illegally.
- that the two-state solution is the sole diplomatic option.
- that Israel's democracy is turning fascist.
- that the New York Times is a fair and balanced newspaper vis a vis Israel.
- that only the so-called "illegal Jewish settlements" constructed on "occupied Palestinian lands" are what drive Arab animosity.
- that chanting “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” doesn't mean the complete eradication of the state of Israel.
- that you can be an anti-Zionist and not anti-Jewish.
^
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