THE KING IS DEAD. LONG LIVE THE KING! THE SEMIOTICS OF POWER TRANSITION IN THE LMLK STAMPED AND THE CONCENTRIC-CIRCLES INCISED JUDAHITE JAR HANDLES

Abstract

The paper briefly discusses – on the basis of the historical and archaeological data, and from a semiotic theoretical perspective – the possible context that produced the Judahite jar handles marked with lmlk stamps and/or concentric circles incisions. It argues that is not conceivable that the Assyrian king Sennacherib had subjugated Hezekiah, the king of Judah, reduced his dominion in favor of the Philistines, and increased his tax burden, without having also altered the very symbol system that represented the sovereignty of the Judahite king. It proposes that the concentric circles (1) were an Assyrian imposition over Judah, (2) should be understood in the light of the Philistine iconography, and (3) had the function of distinguishing jars intended to collect taxes for the king of Judah from those intended to collect tributes for the king of Assyria or for Assyrian interests.