Saturday, June 30, 2007

Gibeon


Ephrayim Stern published stars of David (surrounding peacocks) engraved on jar handles at Gibeon, Israel, and dated them to the late period of the Israeli Kingdom of the First Temple 6th century B.C.E. He reckoned that they were copies of Greek emblems from Thasos and Carthago that served for the marking of wines.
From: Kadmoniot, 1973, Israel at the end of the period of the kingship, archeological survey, pages 2-17.
I find it very interesting that the same symbol served the beer guilds in the Middle Ages and that it was the symbol for alcohol in alchemy, since it combined the symbols for fire and water; hence, it meant distillation. Until recently, therefore, it appeared on shops selling brandy.

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Photo courtesy of Ephrayim Stern.

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