Yahud Stamps, c. 539 BCE

Excavations between 1926 and 1935 by Badé at Mizpah, Tell en Nasbeh.

Stratum 2 begins shortly after 586 BCE and ends about 400 BCE.

The passage of power from the Babylonians to the Persians is recorded in two nondescript fragments of pottery jugs from Mizpah. Both bear stamp impressions. This one reads M(W)S|H or Motzeh; the latter YHD, or Yahud (see photograph). The 30 M(W)S|H stamps found at Mizpah date to the Babylonian period and were probably used to stamp jars of wine produced in the adjacent village of Mozah. The limited region in which M(W)S|H stamps have been discovered may correspond to the area administered by Gedaliah.

YHD stamps were introduced to the region after the Persians wrested control of much of the Near East from the Babylonians in 539 BCE and Judah became known as its Persian equivalent, Yahud.

Mizpah- Newly Discovered Stratum Reveals Judah’s Other Capital, Jeffrey R. Zorn, BAR 23-05, Sep-Oct 1997.

Badè Institute

See also-

• Onyx Seal, c. 586 BCE