Gezer Calendar
c. 925 B.C.
Reproduction
The Gezer calendar is a tablet of soft limestone with the text inscribed in paleo-Hebrew script. It is one of the oldest known examples of Hebrew writing, dating to the 10th century BCE. It was discovered in excavations of the ancient Canaanite city of Gezer, 50 km northwest of Jerusalem, by R.A.S. Macalister in his excavations between 1902 and 1907.
The calendar describes monthly or bi-monthly periods and attributes to each a duty such as harvest, planting, or tending specific crops. It reads:
Two months of harvest
Two months of planting
Two months are late planting
One month of hoeing
One month of barley-harvest
One month of harvest and festival
Two months of grape harvesting
One month of summer fruit
Abijah
Scholars have speculated that the calendar is either a schoolboy's memory exercise or perhaps the text of a popular folk song, or child's song. "Abijah" is, in all likelihood, the name of the scribe. His name means "Yah (abbreviated form of YHWH, the Hebrew name of the God of Israel) is my father." This name appears in the Bible for several different individuals, including a king of Judah (1 Kings 14:31).
The importance of the Gezer Calendar is the early example of paleo-Hebrew text. It is housed in the Museum of the Ancient Orient, one of the Istanbul Archaeology Museums.
The calendar describes monthly or bi-monthly periods and attributes to each a duty such as harvest, planting, or tending specific crops. It reads:
Two months of harvest
Two months of planting
Two months are late planting
One month of hoeing
One month of barley-harvest
One month of harvest and festival
Two months of grape harvesting
One month of summer fruit
Abijah
Scholars have speculated that the calendar is either a schoolboy's memory exercise or perhaps the text of a popular folk song, or child's song. "Abijah" is, in all likelihood, the name of the scribe. His name means "Yah (abbreviated form of YHWH, the Hebrew name of the God of Israel) is my father." This name appears in the Bible for several different individuals, including a king of Judah (1 Kings 14:31).
The importance of the Gezer Calendar is the early example of paleo-Hebrew text. It is housed in the Museum of the Ancient Orient, one of the Istanbul Archaeology Museums.
