The Ma'sub inscription is a Phoenician-language inscription found at Khirbet Ma'sub (French: Masoub) near Al-Bassa.[1] The inscription is from 222/21 BC.[2][1] Written in Phoenician script,[3] it is also known as KAI 19.[4]
| Masub inscription | |
|---|---|
 The inscription at the Louvre | |
| Created | 221 BC in Umm al-Amad, Ptolemaic Kingdom |
| Discovered | 1887 Northern Israel |
| Present location | The Louvre |
| Language | Phoenician |
Provenance
editIt is considered by the Louvre to originate from Umm al-Amad, Lebanon, around 6-7 km to the northwest of Kh. Ma'sub, on the basis of the reference to an Astarte temple in the inscription; such a temple has been excavated at the Lebanese site.[2][5] This theory is contra the original provenance statement by Clermont-Ganneau and has also been recently contested by Friedman and Ecker, who see no reason to construe a new provenance and suggest that a second Astarte temple, a twin to the northern one from Umm al-Amad, was built at the southern entrance to the Ladder of Tyre pass, i.e. at or near Ma'sub, thus creating a ritual "bracket" for the pass.[2] In Dunand and Duru's catalogue of Umm al-Amad inscriptions, it is number iv.[6]
Inscription
editThe inscription is given as:[7][8]
PLY
’Š
BN
H’LM
ML’K
MLK
-th (side), which the ʾElim (gods), the envoys of (the divine couple) Milk-
L‘ŠTRT
B’ŠRT
’L
ḤMN
to ʿAshtart, in the holy courtyard of the god Ḥammon
YM
ŠLŠ
ḤMŠM
ŠT
L‘M
[ṢR]
-phoi (literally "the gods-brothers"), (in the) three-(and)-fiftieth year of the people of [Tyre],
KM’Š
BN
’YT
KL
’ḤRY
[HMQ]
as also they built all of the other tem-
[DŠ]M
’Š
B’RṢ
LKN
LM
L[SKR]
-ples which are in the land, to be to them for [memory]
[WŠM
N‘M
‘D]
‘LM
[and good name for] eternity.
Notes
edit- ^ a b Slouschz, Nahoum (1942). Thesaurus of Phoenician Inscriptions (in Hebrew). Dvir. p. 44.
- ^ a b c Friedman, Reuven; Ecker, Avner (2019). "Provenance and Political Borders: A Phoenician Inscription of the Hellenistic Period 'Strays' Across Modern Borders". Israel Exploration Journal. 69 (1): 60–72. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
- ^ stèle, Louvre website (in French). Accessed 28 March 2024.
- ^ C. Clermont-Ganneau (1887)."Deux inscriptions phéniciennes inédites de la Phénicie propre", Paris: E. Leroux.
- ^ TSSI, III, inscription 31
- ^ Dunand, M.; Duru, R. (1962). Oumm el-'Amed: une ville de l'époque hellénistique aux échelles de Tyr [Umm el-'Amed: A Hellenistic-period City from the Ladder of Tyrus] (in French). Librairie d'Amérique et d'Orient. Retrieved 2021-12-11.
- ^ George Albert Cooke, A Text-book of North-Semitic Inscriptions: Moabite, Hebrew, Phoenician, Aramaic, Nabataean, Palmyrene, Jewish, 1903, no.10
- ^ Slouschz, Nahoum (1942). Thesaurus of Phoenician Inscriptions (in Hebrew). Dvir. pp. 44–45.
References
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