అనుబంధం E: పురావస్తు రికార్డులో మనస్సే యుగాన్ని గుర్తించడం

English original

APPENDIX E

Identifying the Era of Manasseh in the Archaeological Record It is not easy to pinpoint Manasseh archaeologically, that is, to identify the specific city levels built during his reign in sites throughout Judah. Although the pottery of the Late Iron II in Judah is known better than that of any other phase of the Iron Age, its dating is not yet precise enough to distinguish the styles of a specific generation. The main reason for this less-than-desired situation is that in order to date pottery assemblages in a precise way, we need to uncover destruction layers that can safely be assigned to a particular historical event. The entire pottery chronology of the last phase of the history of Judah after the fall of Israel is therefore based on one site, Lachish in the Shephelah, which twice provides this combination of an unambiguous archaeological destruction layer with rich finds and a reliable historical source. First, the Assyrian annals, the Nineveh relief, and the Bible leave no doubt that the city was devastated by Sennacherib in 701 BCE. Second, the biblical reference to Azekah and Lachish as the last strongholds to withstand the Babylonian assault (Jeremiah 34:7), confirmed by an ostracon found at the site, provides clear evidence that Lachish was annihilated by the Babylonians in 587/6

BCE.

These two destructions of Lachish were linked to the end of strata III and II at the site. Comparing Late Iron II assemblages that were exposed in other Judean sites to the two rich, well-dated pottery assemblages of Lachish, scholars were able to distinguish two horizons in eighth–seventh centuries BCE Judah: sites that were destroyed by the Assyrians in the late eighth century BCE and those the Babylonians destroyed in the beginning of the sixth century. The reign of Manasseh falls between these two horizons. Since Manasseh was a loyal vassal of Assyria there were no wars in his time; no great destructions took place. His days were peaceful times for Judah. Yet what was good for the people of Judah is, ironically, bad for archaeologists. We do not have even one stratum that

English original

can safely be dated to his days. Cities established by Manasseh survived until the final fall of Judah and therefore destruction layers feature the material culture of their last years rather than that of their early days. Hence the only way to pinpoint Manasseh is to outline the general settlement and demographic trends in Judah between 701 BCE and the late seventh century. Bearing in mind that the reign of Manasseh comes right after Sennacherib’s campaign, and represents a significant period of economic recovery, even this very general information is of much value.