appear on the bulla. The inscription is divided into two registers by the common double line and surrounded by a framing border line. The letters are typically Ammonite.#8 Two dots are marked at the end of the second line to fill the empty space. The bulla, like the seal of Ba'alis, was purchased in London from a Jordanian antiquities dealer. The inscription reads: ("lbrk'l") "Belonging to Barak'el" "hmlk" "the king" The name Barak-el means "Blessed of God (El)" ("El" is a generic term for God used in the Hebrew Bible). The same name also appears in the Bible: The father of Job's friend Elihu is named Barak-el (Barachel) (Job 32:2,6). The name was apparently common among the Ammonites; we know of three Ammonites called Barak-el.#9 However, now we know that there was a hitherto unknown king by this name as well. The paleography—the shape and form of the letters—indicates that he ruled sometime in the first half of the 7th century BCE. The list of known Ammonite kings is short, so the discovery of a new one is especially important. Some are mentioned in the Bible. In addition to Ba'alis, the Bible also refers to an Ammonite king named Nahash, who threatened to gouge out the right eyes of the men of Jabesh-Gilead (1 Samuel 11:1-2). Nahash ruled in the tenth century BCE, the time of David. Nahash's son, who succeeded him as king, is identified as Hanun (I Chronicles 9:1-2). A number of other Ammonite kings are known from cuneiform inscriptions. The total, until the appearance of Barak-el, was nine. Now it is ten. Sources https://web.archive.org/web/20110518153408/http://www.robert-deutsch.com/en/monographs/m7 Kings of Ammon Monarchs of the Hebrew Bible 7th-century BC people