Archaeology · 6 · Jehu and Elisha
Ancient receipts for wine and oil
The Samaria Ostraca are delivery receipts scratched onto pottery shards. They reveal a prosperous kingdom run on olive oil and wine, and full of names honoring Yhwh.
Everyday paperwork can reveal a whole society.
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Under Jehu's descendants, especially Jeroboam II, Israel reached new heights of luxury. Still, its capital, Samaria, was roughly fifty times smaller than the Assyrian capital at Nimrud.
Source: Why the Bible Began, pp. 92–93
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