Arslan Tash ivory inscription is a small

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and Tooth, teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mamm ...

plaque with an

Aramaic language Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient Syria (region), region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai Peninsula, Sinai, Southeastern Anatolia Regi ...

inscription found in 1928 in

Arslan Tash Arslan Tash ( "Lion Stone"), ancient Hadātu, is an archaeological site in Aleppo Governorate in northern Syria, around east of Carchemish and the Euphrates and nearby the town of Kobanî. History The city was the center of an Aramean Iron Age ...

in northern

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

(ancient Hadātu) by a team of French archaeologists led by

François Thureau-Dangin François Thureau-Dangin (3 January 1872 in Paris – 24 January 1944 in Paris) was a French archaeologist, assyriologist and epigrapher. He played a major role in deciphering of the Sumerian and Akkadian languages. He studied under Julius ...

.Arslan-Tash. v. 1
p.135: "Trois fragments d'une lamelle d'ivoire portant une ligne de texte en carac- tères araméens. Ces fragments ont été trouvés aux environs immédiats des cadres décrits plus haut p. 89 et suiv." It has been dated to the early 9th century BCE, on the basis of the name "Hazael" in the inscription,Millard, A. R. �
Alphabetic Inscriptions on Ivories from Nimrud
�� ''Iraq'', vol. 24, no. 1, 1962, pp. 41–51: The ivory strip from Arslan Tash is of particular value as it enables a date to be given to the bedstead of which it was a part and to associated ivories. On it is a dedication, in Aramaic, "to our lord Hazael." Hazael king of Damascus c. 843-796 B.C. is the only known historical figure to whom such reference might apply. If, then, it is correct to attribute this ivory to the late ninth century B.C., it may be that it formed an item of the tribute taken from Damascus by Adad-nirari III c. 804 B.C. which included ivory furniture." who has been speculated to be the Biblical

Hazael Hazael (; ; Old Aramaic 𐤇𐤆𐤀𐤋 ''Ḥzʔl'') was a king of Aram-Damascus mentioned in the Bible. Under his reign, Aram-Damascus became an empire that ruled over large parts of contemporary Syria and Israel-Samaria. While he was likely ...

Aram-Damascus Aram-Damascus ( ) was an Arameans, Aramean polity that existed from the late-12th century BCE until 732 BCE, and was centred around the city of Damascus in the Southern Levant. Alongside various tribal lands, it was bounded in its later years b ...

. The inscription is known as KAI 232. The plaque, along with many other ivory items, was found on the site of a palace from the 8th century BC belonging to the city's Neo-Assyrian governor. Three parts of the plaque have been found; two parts fit together, the third one does not. The two joined parts together are 2 cm high and 7.9 cm long, while the third part is 1.9 cm high and 3.2 cm long. The entire inscription on the plate is usually reconstructed as follows:

This ... son of Amma, engraved for our lord Hazael in the year ...

Currently, the plaque is in the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

collection under the inventory number AO 11489.

Bibliography

* Clyde E. Fant, Mitchell G. Reddish, "Lost Treasures of the Bible", Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids / Cambridge 2008, pp. 106–109.

References

{{reflist

External links

- Arslan Tash plaque (AO 11489) on the official Louvre website
9th-century BC inscriptions category:1928 archaeological discoveries Near Eastern and Middle Eastern antiquities in the Louvre Aramaic inscriptions Archaeological discoveries in Syria France–Syria relations KAI inscriptions Aram-Damascus Ivory works of art