Ithobaal I[a] is the name of a 9th-century BCE king of Tyre mentioned in the story of Jezebel from the Hebrew Bible, and in a citation by Josephus of a list of the kings of Tyre put together by the Phoenician author Menander of Ephesus (2nd century BCE).
| Ithobaal I | |
|---|---|
| King of Tyre | |
| Predecessor | Phelles (8 months, 879 BC) |
| Successor | Baal-Eser II (Balazeros, Ba‘l-mazzer II) 846 – 841 BC |
| Born | 915 BC Tyre, presumed |
| Died | 847 or 846 BC |
| Issue | Jezebel and Baal-Eser II |
| Dynasty | Began house of Ithobaal/Ithobalus |
| Father | Ahiram? |
| Mother | unknown |
Sources and chronology
editPrimary information related to Ithobaal comes from Josephus's citation of the Phoenician author Menander of Ephesus, in Against Apion i.18. Here it is said that the previous king, Phelles, “was slain by Ithobalus, the priest of Astarte, who reigned thirty-two years, and lived sixty-eight years; he was succeeded by his son Badezorus (Baal-Eser II).”
The dates given here are according to the work of F. M. Cross[1] and other scholars[2][3] who take 825 BC as the date of Dido's flight from her brother Pygmalion, after which she founded the city of Carthage in 814 BC. See the chronological justification for these dates in the Pygmalion article.
Relation to Ahab of Israel
editIthobaal held close diplomatic contacts with king Ahab of Israel. 1 Kings 16:31 relates that his daughter Jezebel married Ahab (874 – 853 BC),[4] and Phoenician influence in Samaria and the other Israelite cities was extensive. In the First Kings passage, Ithobaal is labeled king of the Sidonians. At this time Tyre and Sidon were consolidated into one kingdom.
Indirect Assyrian sources
editTyre is not mentioned as an opponent of Shalmaneser III at the Battle of Qarqar in 853 BC,[5] but twelve years later, in 841,[6] Ithobaal's son Baal-Eser II gave tribute to the Assyrian monarch.
Doubts on historicity
editFor decades, it was believed Ithobaal was mentioned in the inscription found on the Ahiram sarcophagus as the titular king's heir;[7] however, more recent[8][9] transcriptions of the text reconstruct the heir's name as Pilsibaal and not Ithobaal — which has raised questions about Ithobaal's paternity and historicity.
See also
editNotes
edit- ^ (Hebrew: אֶתְבַּעַל ʾEṯbaʿal, 1 Kings 16:31; Ancient Greek: Εἰθώβαλος Eithobalos)
References
edit- ^ F. M. Cross, “An Interpretation of the Nora Stone,” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 208 (Dec. 1972) 17, n. 11.
- ^ J. M. Peñuela, “La Inscripción Asiria IM 55644 y la Cronología de los Reyes de Tiro”, Sefarad 13 (1953, Part 1) 217-37; 14 (1954, Part 2) 1-39.
- ^ William H. Barnes, Studies in the Chronology of the Divided Monarchy of Israel (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1991) 29-55.
- ^ Edwin R. Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings (3rd ed.; Grand Rapids: Zondervan/Kregel, 1983) 94.
- ^ James B. Pritchard, ed.: Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969) 278-79.
- ^ Thiele, Mysterious Numbers 76.
- ^ Vance, Donald R. (1994). "Literary Sources for the History of Palestine and Syria: The Phœnician Inscriptions". The Biblical Archaeologist. 57 (1). The Biblical Archaeologist, Vol. 57, No. 1: 2–19. doi:10.2307/3210392. JSTOR 3210392. S2CID 222767576.
- ^ Reinhard G. Lehmann: Die Inschrift(en) des Ahirom-Sarkophags und die Schachtinschrift des Grabes V in Jbeil (Byblos), 2005, p. 38
- ^ Reinhard G. Lehmann, Wer war Aḥīrōms Sohn (KAI 1:1)? Eine kalligraphisch-prosopographische Annäherung an eine epigraphisch offene Frage, in: V. Golinets, H. Jenni, H.-P. Mathys und S. Sarasin (Hg.), Neue Beiträge zur Semitistik. Fünftes Treffen der ArbeitsgemeinschaftSemitistik in der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft vom 15.–17. Februar 2012 an der Universität Basel (AOAT 425), Münster: Ugarit-Verlag 2015, pp. 163-180