...that Hezekiah
the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.
2 Kings 18:1
"An ancient seal of the Biblical King Hezekiah has been found at an archaeological site at the foot of the wall that surrounds Jerusalem’s Old City.
Charisma News reports that the clay imprint is known as a bulla and is dated from the period of King
Hezekiah around 700 B.C. The area in which it was found is rich in relics from the period of the first two ancient Jewish temples.
However, "This is the first time that a seal impression of an Israelite or Judean king has ever come to light in a scientific archaeological excavation," said Eilat Mazar of Jerusalem’s Hebrew University who directed the excavation.
The ancient seal is thought to have been discarded into a refuse dump at the time of King Hezekiah. The bulla was initially discovered five years ago, catalogued, and placed in a closet with 33 others.
It was only recently that one of the archaeologists on Mazar’s team realized its true identity after studying it further.
The seal has Hebrew scripts imprinted on it, as well as a symbol of a two-winged sun. The Hebrew script reads"Belonging to Hezekiah (son of) Ahaz king of Judah.” BCN