The Uzziah Inscription

The (Aramaic) Uzziah Inscription reads, “Hither were brought the bones of Uzziah, King of Judah. Do not open” (Bahat, Atlas, 50). From the style of the inscription, Uzziah’s bones seem to have been reburied during the Second Temple period.

Uzziah was apparently buried separately from the other kings of Judah, as the Chronicler states, “they buried him with his fathers in the field of the grave which belonged to the kings, for they said, “He is a leper’ ” (2 Chr 26:23). Josephus notes that “he was buried by himself in his own gardens” (Josephus, Antiquities 9:227). The exact location is unknown; the inscription itself was brought, without noting its place of origin, to the Russian Church on the Mount of Olives during the nineteenth century. In 1968, the Israel Museum purchased the stone, which is still displayed at the museum.