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441 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

441 and most of the the

seals date

Hebrew language,

from precxilic liiiics. Like Hebrew Alplmbet at tliis time was abnost exclusively used in Pal-

the

Only tbe upwho were

estine.

per classes,

with fnrspoke and wrole Aramaic (II Kinsjs. xviil. 20; comin relalions

eifiii

lands,

pare G. llollniann. in Stade's"Zeitschrift," i. 337, note 1 to Isa. viii.l). I5ul a marked change took ])lace after tlu^ Habylonian exile.

The Aramaic

lanjjuajre.

then over Asia used Trade-Mark on Pottery Founrl at

which had

already spread

whole of Minor, though by the side of the

the local dialects,

was

Alphabet

fore appeared accidental, became essential parts of the letter, while other original parts have been considerably reduced. Another iiiculiarity of this writing is the freedom observed in placing the character (see Plate I,, cols. 4-6). For about a hundred years these characters were used upon the coins; they were then supplanted by the Greek. Not until the revolts against Nero and against Hadrian did the Jews return to the use of the old Hebrew script on their coins, which they did from similar motives to those which had governed them two or three centuries previou.sly; both times, it is true, only for a brief period (see ('oins, and Bibliography ti). In addition to the above, there exists only one other small monument bearing the same sort of letters. It is the capital of a cobnnn, discovered in 1881 byM. Clennoiit-Ganneau near Arawas, with the in-

IDC -'- and 'E/f Oc6(* ("God is This may, however, possibly be of Samaritan rather than of Hebrew origin. Whih' the Jews adopted tlar Aramaic alphabet, gradually abandoning their own, the Samaritans held scriptions dIjU'^

One").

Lai'lilsli.

with

its script.

jiradwally accei)ted by the Jews, toirether But inasmuch as the Hebrew was literary, the "lioly," hinguage, the

used as the writers did not altogether give up the use of the an-

still

cient

Hebrew

characters. centuries after the Exile, the Jews certainly used Hebrew in their writings. From this period up to the time of the JIaccabees there are extant no monuments bearing inscriptions; for the following one there exist many remains, though in small

During

the first

dimensions, being maiidy contincd to coins. One would think that the characters usimI on a coin would be those most widely kn.own; and. Coins. indeed, in Syria, Aramaic script and language are principally used upon coins. But the right to coin money was in olden times as to-day looked upon as a .sign of polit ical independence. Therefore, when the J(nvs, aft Madden, " Coioi of the Jews.")

A, o'^t^n' (After

fast to the original forms, in order to show themselves the veritable heirs of ancient Ilebrai.sm. They then not only used the Hebrew text for sacred books, but employed it in secular writings as well, and later on even used it for both Aramaic and Arabic, The letters already adorneil with angles and Samaritan corners were still further overloaded

under their hands and developed into a Gothic (see Plate I., cols. K-liI), It is the same character used in all the Samaritan books of to-day, ami remains the oidy otTslioot of the old Hebrew script extant, while the modern Hebrew

Alphabet,

sort of

is of Aramaic origin. The Aramaic characters had undergone many changes in development before the .lews became acThe oldest moinuuinls with <|iiainted with them.

-Vlpbabet

Shekel of Simon Maccobeus, St'cond Year of Indemndence (140l;iS)

A, 3[PJ1E'

Snic"

B.C.I.

''lie'

(AfUr MuMcn, "Coins of

_^^^rjr^7ip^rr^..'i^'u,^Z,-i'^^

B, ne-ni-in B-'>e'n' Iha Jiwi.")

cessful revolt against the Seleucids, felt themselves masters in their own land, they not oidy wanted to have their own coins, but, to give more forcefid expression to their newly won in(h'i)endence, they

in.scribeiUcgemlsintheirown languagi-and tlicirown script. The letters on these coins resemble very closely tho.st! of the Siloam inscriptions and the smaller monuments. But what is there I'vidently the llourish of the reed as it hurried ovir the surface, or an indtation of it, appears here in fixed form. The curvrd stems of the old script have been broken at right angles, upon the lower leg of which the letter appears to rest. The appended stroke and nourishes, which be-

In.scrl|)Uon

on Column

Dlscovt-rcd Near Amn'&s Cleniioni-lfunueuu.

by

this alphabet are tho.se discovered, about ton j'cars ago, in or near the ruineil mound of Zingirii, north of Nieopolis (Islalile), and dating fn>m the eighth • III,

('oiiipnn' "Anlilvi's ili-s Missions Sok'ntlflqtics et Lllterulnw," sfrifM, x. at', II. Sll.