event · E0303
Trumpeting Place Inscription כתובת לבית התקיעה
A monumental parapet stone inscribed in square Hebrew script לבית התקיעה להכ… — "To the place of trumpeting, to decl[are…]" — found where it fell from the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount onto the Herodian street below, in the destruction of 70 CE. It marked the spot on the parapet where, as Josephus describes, a kohen sounded the trumpet to announce the arrival and close of Shabbat over Jerusalem. The original is at the Israel Museum; a replica lies where it landed, on the Herodian street in the Davidson Center archaeological park.
I. Who
- Hebrew
- כתובת לבית התקיעה
- Also known as
- LeBeit HaTekiah inscription
- Era
- second-temple
II. When
- Traditional
- c. 3742–3830 AM — carved for Herod's Temple complex and thrown down in the churban (3830)
- Civil (computed)
- 3742–3830 AM · 19 BCE – 70 CE
- Academic
- 1st century CE, before the destruction of 70 CE
- Date range
- 1st century CE, before 70 CE
- Duration
- ≈88 years
- Precision
- approximate
III. Where
- Places
- Jerusalem
Why it matters
Every erev Shabbat, a kohen stood on the parapet at the Temple Mount's southwestern corner and blew a trumpet so that all Jerusalem would know work must stop. This is the stone he stood beside — its Hebrew label, "to the place of trumpeting," carved so plainly that it reads like a signpost. It was found exactly where the Roman demolition of 70 CE flung it, smashed on the paved street eleven meters below. One stone therefore tells both stories at once: Shabbat announced over a living Jerusalem, and the corner of the Temple complex coming down.
V. How do we know
| Claim | Evidence | Confidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| The stone was found in 1968 in Benjamin Mazar's excavations at the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount, lying on the Herodian street among the destruction debris of 70 CE, having fallen from the parapet above. The original is held by the Israel Museum (collection no. 191539); a replica lies in situ in the Davidson Center archaeological park. | archaeology external | ★★★★★ | |
| The inscription reads לבית התקיעה להכ…, "To the place of trumpeting, to decl[are…]" — the last word is broken, restored as "to declare" or "to distinguish" (between sacred and profane). It matches Josephus's report (War 4.582) that a kohen trumpeted from that very corner to signal the start and end of Shabbat, and the rabbinic institution of trumpet blasts announcing Shabbat over the city.
Only the restoration of the broken final word is discussed; the surviving words and the Josephus parallel are not.
|
archaeology rabbinic external | ★★★★★ |
Referenced by: Herod