27 BIBLICAL AND HISTORICAL JERUSALEM name of the Stepped Stone Structure (see below) and the House of Millo is a designation for the royal residence located on top of it. The name Silla was probably derived from the verb sll and refers to the new quarter located at the foot of the stone structure 15. The account indicates that Jehoash was assassinated within the royal residence (compare 2 Sam 4,5.7; 1 Kgs 16,18). The Chronicler’s al- ternative version, according to which Jehoash’s servants “slew him on his bed” (2 Chr 24,25), indicates that he interpreted correctly the account of his source, the Book of Kings. Finally, the bullae of Gedaliah son of Pashhur (gdlyhw bn pšhwr) . and Jehucal son of Shelemiah son of Shobai (yhwkl bn šlmyhw bn šby), two Judahite officials mentioned in Jer 37:3 and 38:1, have been discovered in the excavations near the Large Stone Structure, near the place where the two officials must have officiated. 16 We may conclude that the residence built by David according to 2 Sam 5,9, which until now was ignored in all studies of First Tem- ple Jerusalem, in fact played a central role in the economic and ad- ministrative life of the city during the First Temple period. Until the time of Jehoash (ca. 841-801), possibly later, the kings of Judah still dwelt in the place. It is even possible that the rich late-ninth- century BCE fill found in the rock-cut pool near the Spring of Gihon ― which included inter alia ten seals and scarabs, around 180 broken clay bullae bearing seal impressions with different mo- tifs, and large amount of fish bones ― arrived from the area of the royal residence located above it 17. No wonder that despite the Babylonian destruction, the location of the destroyed residence was still remembered in the Persian period by Jerusalem’s inhabitants 18. (KEHAT; Leipzig 1873) 343; D.C. LIID, “Silla”, ABD VI, 23b; R. ZADOK, “Notes on Syro-Palestinian History, Toponymy and Anthroponymy”, UF 28 (1996) 733. 15 For the new quarter built east of the Stepped Stone Structure, see D.T. ARIEL – H. HIRSCHFELD – N. SAVIR, “Area D1: Stratigraphic Report”, Exca- vations at the City of David 1975-1985 Directed by Yigal Shiloh. V: Extra- mural Areas (ed. D.T. ARIEL) (Qedem 40; Jerusalem 2000) 42-59; R. REICH – E. SHUKRON, “The Urban Development of Jerusalem in the Late Eighth Century B.C.E.”, Jerusalem in Bible and Archaeology, 209-218. 16 E. MAZAR, The Palace of King David, 66-71. 17 R. REICH – E. SHUKRON – O. LERNAU, “Recent Discoveries in the City of David, Jerusalem”, IEJ 47 (2007) 153-160. 18 WILLIAMSON, Ezra, Nehemiah, 374.