Monolith-2 Inscription

The inscription on Monolith-2 is still in situ, owing to the fact that it was not visible when Charles Clermont-Ganneau visited Silwan in 1871. He writes that one of the family members from the home built above Monolith-1 told him that the house next door once had similar writing above its door. This writing was no longer visible at that time due to an additional structure built in front of the home. Over seventy years later Adolf Reifenberg noticed that the additional structure had been dismantled and as a result he was able to identify the now-visible epigraphic remains. The Paleo-Hebrew inscription, first translated by Nahman Avigad along with the Royal Steward Inscription, is an epitaph that consists of three-lines. The writing is worn and difficult to read due to graffiti, particularly the third line. 

The funerary inscription begins with the same formulaic words as the Royal Steward Inscription, indicating a formulaic style. The monolithic-tomb is identified as a קברה (“sepulcher”). The term is used in the Hebrew Bible for individual burials, notably for kings Uzziah (2 Kings 9:28 and 2 Chronicles 26:23), Amon (in the Garden of Uzza, 2 Kings 21:26), and Josiah (2 Kings 23:30). The description of Rachel's tomb (Genesis 35:20; 1 Samuel 10:2) suggests that this type of tomb (קברה) was a visible structure, presumably above ground. Like the Royal Steward Inscription, the name of the dead is lost, only the first letter (ז) is recognizable.