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The Gezer calendar is a small inscribed limestone tablet discovered in the ancient Canaanite city of Gezer, 20 miles west of Jerusalem. It is commonly dated to the 10th-century BCE, although its identification during the excavations was not in a "secure archaeological context", presenting uncertainty around the dating.〔Aaron Demsky (2007), (Reading Northwest Semitic Inscriptions ), Near Eastern Archaeology 70/2. Quote: "The first thing to consider when examining an ancient inscription is whether it was discovered in context or not. It is obvious that a document purchased on the antiquities market is suspect. If it was found in an archeological site, one should note whether it was found in its primary context, as with the inscription of King Achish from Ekron, or in secondary use, as with the Tel Dan inscription. Of course texts that were found in an archaeological site, but not in a secure archaeological context present certain problems of exact dating, as with the Gezer Calendar."〕 Scholars are divided as to whether the language is Phoenician or Hebrew and whether the script is Phoenician (or Proto-Canaanite) or paleo-Hebrew.〔(The Calendar Tablet from Gezer, Adam L Bean, Emmanual School of Religion )〕〔(Is it “Tenable”?, Hershel Shanks, Biblical Archaeology Review )〕〔(Spelling in the Hebrew Bible: Dahood memorial lecture, By Francis I. Andersen, A. Dean Forbes, p56 )〕 ==Inscription== The calendar is inscribed on a limestone plaque and describes monthly or bi-monthly periods and attributes to each a duty such as harvest, planting, or tending specific crops. The inscription is in Phoenician or paleo-Hebrew script, which in equivalent square Hebrew letters is as follows: It has been translated as: * Two months gathering (September, October) * Two months planting (November, December) * Two months late sowing (January, February) * One month cutting flax (March) * One month reaping barley (April) * One month reaping and measuring grain (May) * Two months pruning (June, July) * One month summer fruit (August) Scholars have speculated that the calendar could be a schoolboy's memory exercise, the text of a popular folk song or a children's song. Another possibility is something designed for the collection of taxes from farmers. The scribe of the calendar is probably "Abijah", which means "Yah (a shortened form of the Tetragrammaton) is my father". This name appears in the Bible for several individuals, including a king of Judah (1 Kings 14:31). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Gezer calendar」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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