29 March 2024 The Future is the Product of the Past

Will the Siloam Inscription be returned to Israel?

During the visit of Israeli President Isaac Herzog to Turkey, the claim that he wanted the Siloam Inscription, one of the most important inscriptions in Hebrew history, to be returned to Israel came to the fore.

The newspaper Zman Yisrael, which is published in Israel, inflamed the discussions by bringing the Siloam Inscription back to Israel on the agenda.

Zman Yisrael reported that the 2600-year-old Siloam Inscription would be given to Israel, based on the words of an Israeli official. Turkish officials did not make any statement about this news.

The agreement was discussed during the landmark visit of Israel’s President Isaac Herzog to Turkey earlier this week, a senior Israeli official said The Times of Israel (ToI). In return, Israel offered to send Turkey a historical and religiously significant item that is held in an Israeli museum.

There was no confirmation from Turkey regarding this speech.

The Siloam Inscription, which was found near Jerusalem in 1880 and brought to the Istanbul Museum-i Hümayun (Istanbul Archaeological Museums), is a very important document in terms of Jewish history.

The Siloam Inscription is a 2,700-year-old Hebrew text describing the Pool of Siloam and the City of David.

Can the Siloam Inscription of such importance be returned to Israel?

Should cultural assets be found and exhibited in the place where they were born?

the Siloam Inscription
The Siloam Inscription

Ömer Erbil, Siloam inscription is state property, it is impossible to give it away! The article he wrote in the title also included the following information.

Why is Israel so insistent on the work? What does the Siloam Inscription say? Is this work stolen by us? First of all, this artifact was found in 1880 when Jerusalem was an Ottoman territory at that time. It was brought to the Imperial Museum of the period, the Museum-i Hümayun, that is, the Istanbul Archeology Museum. In Jerusalem, the same-Silvan fountain was found in an underground channel made where the water came out of the rock. It is estimated to be 2700 years old. This inscription, the oldest Hebrew script written in Phoenician script, was inscribed on the rock on the left, near the exit of the canal. The inscription consists of six lines of varying lengths. This inscription described the construction of the tunnel and how the workers worked. Israel does not let go of this inscription, as it proves the experiences of King Hezekiah mentioned in the Torah and the historical ties of the Jews with Jerusalem.

Government-owned

Since the artifact is not stolen and is under protection in the Istanbul Archeology Museum in our country, it is within the scope of the Law on the Protection of Cultural Heritage No. 2863 and it is state property according to the 5th article of the said law, it does not seem possible to give it to another country. Article 32 of the law numbered 2863 prohibits the removal of cultural assets out of our country for purposes other than an exhibition. Opposition to this article is sentenced in Article 68 to a prison sentence of five to twelve years and a judicial fine of five thousand days. While these binding laws exist, it is not possible to transfer artifacts to another country. It was registered as property of the Ottoman Empire and under legal status belongs to the Republic of Turkey.

There was no state named Israel when artifact came to İstanbul

Moreover, Turkey always returns the stolen artifacts to the countries of origin. His works were given unconditionally to countries such as Iraq and Syria. Cooperation with Peru has also been initiated for the Peruvian artifacts, which were recently caught in the warehouse of international smuggler Aydın Dikmen. There is no legal basis for the return of the artifact, which is the property of the state and found on its own soil decades before the establishment of the State of Israel.

The Siloam Inscription

The inscription reads: “… this is the story of the tunnel, while [the hewers lifted] their axes toward their counterparts, and while three cubits more were to (be hewn?), was heard the voice of a man calling to his counterpart, (for) there was [a crack?] in the rock, on the right, and on the left. And on the day of [the final barrier’s] piercing, the stonecutters struck each man towards his counterpart, ax against ax, and water flowed from the source to the pool for 1,200 cubits and 100 cubits was the height of the rock, over the head of the stonecutters …”

Related Articles

Tomb of a Roman doctor buried with unique surgical tools unearthed in Hungary

28 April 2023

28 April 2023

Hungarian archaeologists discovered the tomb of a Roman doctor 1st-century man buried with high-quality surgical tools near the city of...

A burial complex dating to the Second Intermediate Period has been discovered at the Dra Abu el-Naga necropolis at Luxor

12 April 2023

12 April 2023

At the Dra Abu el-Naga necropolis in Luxor, a family burial complex from the Second Intermediate Period has been found....

An intact Punic Tomb was Discovered in Malta

29 May 2021

29 May 2021

İntact a tomb dating to the Punic period was found in Tarxien. The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage has announced the...

The identities of the occupants of the unspoiled 4th-century BCE Royal Tombs at Vergina in northern Greece have been identified

26 January 2024

26 January 2024

The identities of the occupants of the unspoiled 4th-century BCE Royal Tombs at Vergina in northern Greece have been identified....

Extraordinary discovery in France: An unlooted 1800-year-old Roman Sarcophagus discovered

27 September 2023

27 September 2023

Archaeologists from France’s National Institute of Preventive Archeology (INRAP) have unearthed an unlooted ancient stone sarcophagus in the vast ancient...

Assyrian Art at Getty Villa

22 June 2021

22 June 2021

The Getty Villa in Malibu, California’s arts complex is showcasing superbly-restored gypsum reliefs from the Assyrian Empire’s palaces for its...

Researchers measure the impact of Population Pressure on Prehistoric Violence in Japan’s Yayoi Period

23 August 2021

23 August 2021

Are wars part of human nature? Do people tend to fight instinctively or do they war as a result of...

An architectural gem from the medieval monastery of Posa, Germany

26 July 2023

26 July 2023

Archaeological excavations have been taking place on the Posaer Berg (Posa Hill) near Zeitz (Burgenland) every year since 2017. They...

A farmer discovered artifacts of the Unetice culture in his field

19 August 2021

19 August 2021

A farmer in Sulęcin county in Poland’s Lubusz province discovered a rare treasure while trying to clear stones from his...

Multiple Burials found at Çatalhöyük

17 September 2021

17 September 2021

Multiple burials were unearthed during the ongoing excavations in the house on the eastern mound of the Neolithic settlement Çatalhöyük....

The 3200-year-old Mycenaean figure that brought Ephesus together with the Hittite civilization: Found in the excavations of Ayasuluk Tepe

11 June 2022

11 June 2022

A 3,200-year-old Mycenaean figurine that could change the perspective on the history of civilization in Western Anatolia during the Bronze...

Bronze Age artifacts discovered near the residence of ‘Iran’s Napoleon’

6 July 2021

6 July 2021

Archaeologists in Iran have discovered a plethora of artifacts and damaged structures near a former residence of Nader Shah, dubbed...

In Fraueninsel in Lake Chiemsee: Romanesque a central building hidden underground for 1,000 years discovered

25 February 2024

25 February 2024

On Fraueninsel, an island in Germany’s Lake Chiemsee, archaeologists discovered a cult site that may have been slumbering underground for...

A stone statue (Balbal) with height up to 3 meters found in the Issyk-Kul region of Kyrgyzstan

18 October 2022

18 October 2022

A balbal (stone statue) with a height of up to 3 meters was found during agricultural work in the Ak-Bulun...

Israeli researchers create AI to translate ancient cuneiform Akkadian texts

4 May 2023

4 May 2023

Israeli experts have created a program to translate an ancient language that is difficult to decipher, allowing automatic and accurate...