Ancient magical bowls with spells in Hebrew script were unearthed in a house in Jerusalem

Hundreds of ancient finds, including rare artefacts and ivory from the biblical period, were seized during an operation by the Antiquities Authority's robbery prevention unit and the Lev HaBira police against a resident of Jerusalem suspected of illegal trade in antiquities.

Ziv Reinstein

07/03/2022

Monday, 07 March 2022, 09:03 Updated: 09:16

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Ancient magical bowls were uncovered in the home of a Jerusalem resident (Photo: Yuli Schwartz, Israel Antiquities Authority)

Decorated and rare bone and ivory items from the biblical period and ancient bowls dating back some 1,500 years, bearing spells and spells in Hebrew, were uncovered in the home of a resident of the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood of Jerusalem, suspected of illegal trade in antiquities.

Hundreds of antique coins, glassware and weapons were also discovered during a search of the inspectors of the Antiquities Authority's Robbery Prevention Unit in cooperation with Lev HaBira police.

The spell bowls, known as the "swearing bowls," were used as a kind of amulet in ancient times, and date back to the 8th-4th centuries AD.

Most of the time, they used to bury them under the floor of the house for protection.

Inside the bowls were written magic circles in circles, in Hebrew script and in the Aramaic-Babylonian language.

The sentences and words in the bowls are meant to fight curses, demonic diseases and pests.

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Inauguration bowls (Photo: Israel Antiquities Authority, July Schwartz)

Assyrian calendar (Photo: Israel Antiquities Authority, July Schwartz)

Antique coins (Photo: Israel Antiquities Authority, July Schwartz)

A suspect glued the bowls to sell them

According to Amir Ganor, director of the Antiquities Authority's Robbery Prevention Unit, "Bowls of this type came from antiquities sites in the Mesopotamia area of ​​present-day Iraq. The text was written by artists for a specific client, according to his personal needs." "The" nocturnal "field in which the bowl is to be fought.

The Antiquities Authority believes that the suspect glued the bowls and restored them to put them up for sale.

In addition to the antiquities, chemicals were seized in his house, which were allegedly intended for the restoration of the pottery, as well as for cleaning ancient metals and coins.

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The Shiva bowl bears the figure of an elf (Photo: Israel Antiquities Authority, Yuli Schwartz)

The Shiva Bowl (Photo: Israel Antiquities Authority, July Schwartz)

Expected sentence: up to 3 years in prison

In addition to hundreds of coins, rare items from the biblical period were discovered in the suspect's house - bone and ivory objects decorated in a Phoenician style, with Egyptian motifs, and including scenes from the animal world, alongside geometric ornaments.

In one of the panels appear two griffins - winged lions (having wings) whose human face, facing each other.

In the second panel, there is a description of a convoy of four winged lions marching one after the other.

Similar ivory slabs have been discovered in the past in excavations at an antiquities site in Samaria, where a large group of ivory known as "ivory of Samaria" was discovered - but also at other antiquities sites in the northern region, such as Tel Megiddo.

These are decorative details that were attached to nails to wooden furniture in the 9th and 8th centuries BC.

Finding decorated ivory details from this period is extremely rare, and the assessment in the Antiquities Authority's Anti-Robbery Unit is that the items were excavated illegally in one of the biblical wires in Samaria, or in the north of the country.

Documents were seized at the suspect's home, which may teach about his connections with antiquities robbers and unauthorized dealers in antiquities.

Following the investigation of the suspect, the inspectors of the Antiquities Authority arrived at an auction house in the central area, where they seized additional antique items that had been put up for sale by the suspect, in violation of the law.

Among the finds are antique weapons, glassware and bronze and silver coins.

At the end of the investigation, the investigation file will be transferred to the Legal Bureau of the Antiquities Authority to examine the filing of an indictment for attempted trade in antiquities without a permit, failure to report an antiquity, failure to register a collection and possession of property suspected of being stolen - criminal offenses.

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