New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-06-04
RUINS Of IVORY HOUSE?
Excavations in Samaria Lead to
interesting Discoveries.

Again patient excavation work in Biblc
lcnds has hoon rewarded by striking and
i'm por,ant discoveries II is suggested that
the remains now unearthed may be those Of
AhaL's ivory house" Il Kings, xxi. 2o
Lahcls With Hebrew writing. which seem
TO have bcea in actual use during the life-
time. and perhaps in the households Of
Cmri and Ahab have also been found
Many biblical names appear In these writ
irea such as Elisha tsa. Nathan. rzza,
Steha and Ab.ezer
These discoveries have been made AZ
Samaria. the ancient capital ~ Israel,
writes a Jerusalem correspond mt Since
49, Harvard University hps been carving
on excavations mere under tho patronage
q jacob H. IN. Of New York. the chief
osiect tcing the search for Hebrew re-
mains The work Of each season has been
mainly at The summit Here. in 1905. was
cXcavatcd an imposing stairway. with
large altar at its foot. and a mutilated
statue Of fine white marble and cNccHeht
workmanship. probably representing Angus
tag. lying near the altar. Near tho aItar
also were two stelc. with Latin votive IN
scriptions dedicated TO Jupiter Opti'nus
Naximus Both date from about the MO
dc OF the second century or little !at'f
The altar seemed TO be OF earlier da!e. prop
ably Horod.an South Of the stairway "erf
the massive foundations Of one or more
large buildings.
Tile camuaign of lcn, dug out the towers
Of tho NeroGar gateway and part "f 'hc
Utrodian ,ity wall on tho western SIDE OF
tho hill and a portion Of the Herodian basil
f.. adjoining the f,rum near the village
on the eastern side South o. the summit
was uncovered a maze OF wal!s-Roman'
creek and Hebrew and others Of less GER
tain designation. Near the tasc OF wall IN
the Babylon!an style was found fragment
OF a cuneiform inscription
The conditions at the summit were so
complicated that the excavations here
called FOR the most minute observation
The greet wall found in 1913. running south
from tn stairway proved to be the eastern
foundation wall Of a large Roman builo-
ing This was dug out in It's entirety and
there seems to be no doubt that II is the
Aueustan temple butt by Hcrod In 1905
coin OF Hcrod had been found on one OF
the foundation walls OF this building. There
are other walls. not coincidng with those
of ueyod. which indicate rebuilding OK
the temple IN inferior style and TINS may
be dated with much probability to the time
Of Sept!nUs SeYorus. about y. D. go
peetlra IN the rock were found very
heavy walls. so solid that late: Luiders.
Cre,k and Roman. used these walls IN
/ rlaces as base on which TO lay theH
own foundations The masonry was ~ "A
stvle alcsdy known as lsrac!i;e. consist
! ing Of broad walls OF large blocks roughly
J Lid In certain places the wall Is eHtirey
gone. hut is direction can be seen from
,bo. o. the portions sil standing and
, from tronches cut in the rock. Following
nm these walls and trenches the genera
Man of a large building, consisting OF
! chambers grouped around courts in the
,,Ie Of en- Assyrian palace became clear.
Here and there stand portions of the nm
isled wall 10 the height Of several courses
cf stone Moreover two grades Of con-
.,,icticn appeared. a coarscr and a liner
The explorers suggest that this is the
raIocc OF Omri, enlarged In superior
civic by his scn Ahg0. This may be. then.
the Ivory house" built by Ahab. 81 all
ovents. this building is a Hebrew palace.
49,. crst and only palace OF a Hebrew King
oyo, found and likely TO remain unique,
.pd therefore Of the deepest interest To
rth,.cel stuGents The palace has now
toeo cxcavatod 10 an extent amounting to
atout 20 feet square. ana the limits nave
-, vet been reached. Moreover. two ad-
5;,tors - the palace have been noted ten
,a,ively assigned 10 Jehu and Jeroaoam II.
last August the explorers were rewarded
-, the discovery Of potsherd with writing
,n tie ancient Hebrew script. Subsequent
!, about seventy-.iv others we're found.
,r,aden into the floor of several chambers
- n building adjacent to the palace OF
,hab In anothe. room not far from them
found an alabaster vase inscribed with
49,, name of Ahab's contemporary Osorkon
II Of Egypt.
,rbe words are divided by spots and the
.,,6i,g Of many of the records Is perfectly
eIear The script is the same as tina: OF
,ho SLOAN. Tunnel inscription. about 100 b.
- and the so-called "Moabite stone in
citation. about $50 Il. e. To the eighth
~ ninth century. therefore. We should as
ton the osiIaca. even II they had not been
IND in the Ahab building
few OF them read as follows:
In tie tenth year. For (or belonging
,,, shemaryo. From the Tell A Sar of fine
Oh Ia the ninth year. From Shaphtan.
1,or a Da!salzimar. A Jar Of old wine
a In the eleventh year. From Shemida.
FOR Helcs. Aphsah. Baala (and) Ecker.