The Name of Jerusalem

According to the Israel Antiquities Authority, a 2,100-year-old inscription is probably the first to contain the word Jerusalem in its full form (as it is pronounced today).

A column recently discovered, before the first stones of the road near Binyaney Ha'uma, the convention centre, were laid, carried the inscription in its original form. The stone column, from a Roman structure of the first century BC, reads in Aramaic: 'Hanania Ben Dodalos Mi Yerushalaim' (Aramaic was the lingua franca of the region in that period). It means: 'Hanania son of Dodalos of Jerusalem'.

The archaeologists are not at all sure about the identity of Hanania and Dodalos. It is also possible that the two were workers in a pottery where cauldrons were made, because the ruins were very close to the column.

What is remarkable is that the inscription tells us exactly where they lived: Jerusalem.

In that period Jerusalem must have been written with one 'yod', whereas today we write Yerushalayim with two 'yods'.

The column is now on display in the Israel Museum, in the Second Temple hall.

(Article from Haaretz)