the seal's ownership. Then the name of the seal's owner, the name of his father and the function of the seal's owner. The second object is a bulla found in Jerusalem in 1982. A bulla was used to seal a document. The owner of the document took a lump of soft clay; he affixed the clay to the string binding the document and then stamped it with his seal. This bulla was one of the fifty-one bullae discovered during excavations in the eastern slope of Jerusalem, in a clearly dated archaeological context. This collection of bullae was found in level 10, dated between Josiah's rule and the destruction of the city by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II in 586 BC, and more precisely from the highest ground of the building (level 10B). This level was destroyed by the final burning which baked the bullae and so provided a better conservation. On one bulla is a two-line inscription, in paleo-Hebrew script as on the seal. The inscription reads: "(Belonging) to Azaryah, son (of) Hilkiah". The inscription indicates the name of the seal's owner and the name of his father, but not his function. Azariah and Hanan, sons of Hilkiah Azaryah and Hanan, sons of Hilkiah, both held a sacerdotal function in the Temple of Jerusalem. In the late roster of high priests referred to in 1 Chronicles (6:13, 9:11), Azaryah IV was the successor of Hilkiah in this function and probably his eldest son, while his other son, Hanan, served by his side as a priest. The seals of the two brothers Hanan and Azaryah, engraved by the same master engraver, belong to what has been called the "generation of sons" and date, not from Josiah's reign but from one of his successors' (before 586). The seal of Azaryah was made before he became high priest because his function is not mentioned on it. The seal of Hanan and the bulla of Azaryah, two sons of the high priest Hilkiah, represent testimonies of the last years of Solomon's Temple, the first Temple of Jerusalem, before its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar II in 586. Patrilineal Ancestry As per 1 Chronicles chapter 6 See also Eliakim, son of Hilkiah References External links Biblical Archaeology Society Online Archive 7th-century BCE High Priests of Israel Jeremiah Books of Kings people