Graffito
(0117) Text: αὐδέζῃς
Translation: Sound the trumpets! (Trans. Christopher B. Zeichmann)
Commentary: Testa interprets this as a mockery of the mundane life at Herodium, but one could imagine a number of other interpretations. All graffiti reproduced here is likely from the pre-War period, evinced by the use of Greek and taking into account history of the site. Ecker offers a very different interpretation, namely that it is alphabetic graffito in an educational context (αβγδεη…), which seems more plausible.
Provenience: Herodium, Judaea 22 BCE-70 CE
Bibliography: CIIP 3332; Emmanuele Testa, Herodion IV: I graffiti e gli ostraka, Studium Biblicum Franciscanum 20 (Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1972), no. 1; Avner Ecker, “A Teacher and Students in Herodion,” in Eretz-Israel: Ehud Netzer Volume, Eretz-Israel 31 (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 2015), 6-11, 182.