Fiscal Bulla from Jerusalem

8th Century BCE

In the seventh (year). Bethlehem. For the King.

Translated by
Ronny
Reich
.

Credits

Fiscal Bulla from Jerusalem, in Ronny Reich, “A Fiscal Bulla from the City of David, Jerusalem,” Israel Exploration Journal, vol. 62, no. 2 (2012), p. 201. Used with permission of Israel Exploration Society and the author.© Zev Radovan/BibleLandPictures/Alamy Stock Photo.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 1.

Engage with this Source

This bulla indicates that the commodities that it accompanied were for the king. It apparently refers to the shipment of taxes in kind to the royal treasury from the location named on the bulla. For that reason, scholars call bullas of this type “fiscal bullas.” They were originally attached to containers holding commodities such as grain or oil, or to letters that accompanied those containers.

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