FESTIVALS  1948

This stamp bears the flying scroll taken from a seal impression that is found on the handles of jars dating back to 700-600 B.C.E. As of the mid-1950s some 170 handles had been found with this symbol, allof them in the southern part of Israel. In addition to the word la-melekh ("Belonging to the king" which appears in ancient Hebrew letters on the stamp, the handles also have another inscription, the name of the city. The lower inscription has been omitted from the postage stamp design, probably because the seal is known to exist with the name of four different cities (Hebron, Memshat, Socoh, and Ziph).

An additional 300 jar handles bearing a seal with a four-winged scarab beetle design have been found bearing the same inscriptions. Since the total handles with these inscriptions are put at 500 out of thousands discovered, the jars were undoubtedly put to some special use by the kings of that period. One theory is that they were used to collect taxes, usually paid in the form of olive oil or wine, and that the four cities mentioned represented collection points for these taxes. This theory is strenghtened by the fact that the jars are always found inside the ruins of houses, never in graves or other places where archeological finds have been made.

Though it is impossible to say with certainty what the motif represents, it may well be a stylized design of a winged sun-disc. Though the design looks very much like a scroll with wings, the term "flying scroll" is a conventional description. It is based on the vision of the prophet Zechariah, "I raised my eyes again and looked; and lo, there was a flying scroll" (Zech. 5:1).