Strata: IEJ Article: Not Biblical Jezebel

Our March/April 2008 issue featured an article by Dutch scholar Marjo C.A. Korpel on an unprovenanced seal initially published by Israeli archaeologist Nahman Avigad that Korpel reconstructed as the seal of the Biblical queen Jezebel.^a This was followed by a robust debate, first in our May/June issue and then in our July/August issue, in the latter of which Korpel answered her critics led by American paleographer Christopher A. Rollston.

Rollston has now published an article in the Israel Exploration Journal reiterating and expanding his arguments.¹ Rollston concludes, “Korpel’s proposal is interesting, but the evidence cannot carry the weight with which she saddles it.”