"To Place of Trumpeting" Sign

This inscription, which translates as "To the place of trumpeting..." was discovered during B. Mazar's excavations at the base of the Herodian wall at the southwest corner of the Temple Mount.  It served to indicate where a priest would stand to blow the trumpet to begin and end the Sabbath.  Josephus explains the procedure used to begin and end the Sabbath:  "And the last [tower] was erected above the roof of the Priest's Chambers, where it was the custom for one of the priests to stand and to give notice, by the sound of a trumpet, in the afternoon of the approach, and on the following evening of the close, of every seventh day, announcing to the people the respective hours for ceasing work and for resuming their labors" (War 4.582-83). This inscribed stone was found at the southwest corner of the Temple, which suggests that this was the place where the trumpeting occurred.