The Byblian royal inscriptions are five inscriptions from

Byblos Byblos ( ; gr, Βύβλος), also known as Jbeil or Jubayl ( ar, جُبَيْل, Jubayl, locally ; phn, 𐤂𐤁𐤋, , probably ), is a city in the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate of Lebanon. It is believed to have been first occupied between 8 ...

written in an early type of

Phoenician script The Phoenician alphabet is an alphabet (more specifically, an abjad) known in modern times from the Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions found across the Mediterranean region. The name comes from the Phoenician civilization. The Phoenician a ...

, all of which were discovered in the early 20th century. They constitute the largest corpus of lengthy Phoenician inscriptions from the area of the "Phoenician homeland"; it is the only major site in the region which has been excavated to pre-Hellenistic levels.

The five royal inscriptions

* The

Ahiram Sarcophagus The Ahiram sarcophagus (also spelled Ahirom, in Phoenician) was the sarcophagus of a Phoenician King of Byblos (c. 850 BC), discovered in 1923 by the French excavator Pierre Montet in tomb V of the royal necropolis of Byblos. The sarcophagus i ...

(KAI 1), discovered in 1923, together with two fragments of alabaster vases with the name of

Ramesses II Ramesses II ( egy, rꜥ-ms-sw ''Rīʿa-məsī-sū'', , meaning "Ra is the one who bore him"; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Along with Thutmose III he is often regarded a ...

Currently in the

National Museum of Beirut The National Museum of Beirut ( ar, متحف بيروت الوطنيّ, ''Matḥaf Bayrūt al-waṭanī'' or French: Musée national de Beyrouth) is the principal museum of archaeology in Lebanon. The collection begun after World War I, and the m ...

. * The

Yehimilk inscription The Yehimilk inscription is a Phoenician inscription (KAI 4 or TSSI III 6) published in 1930. Currently in the museum of Byblos Castle. It was published in Maurice Dunand's ''Fouilles de Byblos'' (volume I, 1926–1932, numbers 1141, plate XX ...

(KAI 4) published in 1930. Currently in the museum of

Byblos Castle Byblos Castle is a Crusader castle in Byblos, Lebanon. In Crusader times it was known as the Castle of Gibelet , also spelled Giblet, which belonged to the Genoese Embriaco family, Lords of the city. It is adjacent to the Phoenician archaeological ...

. * The Abiba’l inscription (KAI 5), on a throne on which a statue of

Sheshonq I Hedjkheperre Setepenre Shoshenq I (Egyptian ''ššnq''; reigned c. 943–922 BC)—also known as Shashank or Sheshonk or Sheshonq Ifor discussion of the spelling, see Shoshenq—was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt and the founder of the Twenty-secon ...

was placed, found in 1895, published in 1903. Currently in the

Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin The Vorderasiatisches Museum (, '' Near East Museum'') is an archaeological museum in Berlin. It is in the basement of the south wing of the Pergamon Museum and has one of the world's largest collections of Southwest Asian art. 14 halls distri ...

. * The

Osorkon Bust The Osorkon Bust, also known as the Eliba'l Inscription is a bust of Egyptian pharaoh Osorkon I, discovered in Byblos (in today's Lebanon) in the 19th century. Like the Tabnit sarcophagus from Sidon, it is decorated with two separate and unrelated ...

or Eliba'l Inscription (KAI 6), inscribed on a statue of

Osorkon I Sekhemkheperre Osorkon I was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the 22nd Dynasty. Osorkon's territory included much of the Levant. The Osorkon Bust found at Byblos is one of the five Byblian royal inscriptions. Biography The son of Shoshenq I a ...

; known since 1881, published in 1925. Currently at the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

. * The

Safatba'al inscription The Safatba'al inscription or the Shipitbaal inscription is a Phoenician inscription (KAI 7, TSSI III 9) found in Byblos in 1936, published in 1945. It is at the National Museum of Beirut. Text of the inscription The inscription reads: :: Bi ...

or the "Shipitbaal inscription" (KAI 7), found in Byblos in 1936, published in 1945.

Maurice Dunand Maurice Dunand (4 March 1898 – 23 March 1987) was a prominent French archaeologist specializing in the ancient Near East, who served as director of the Mission Archéologique Française in Lebanon. Dunand excavated Byblos from 1924 to 1975, and ...

Biblia Grammata: Documents et Recherches sur le Dévelopment de L'écriture en Phénicie
(Beyrouth: Direction des Antiquité, 1945): 146–151. Currently in the

. KAI 2 is the Byblos Necropolis graffito and KAI 3 are the

Byblos bronze spatulas The Byblos bronze spatulas are a number bronze spatulas found in Byblos, two of which were inscribed. One contains a Phoenician inscription (known as the Azarba'al Spatula, KAI 3 or TSSI III 1) and one contains an inscription in the Byblos syllab ...

; neither contain names of royalty or other historical information.

Gallery

File:Statue of Pharaoh Osorkon I-AO 9502-IMG 7652-white.jpg ,

inscription (Phoenician inscription on left and right of cartouche) File:Sarcophagus with Phoenician writing 2.jpg,

Ahiram sarcophagus The Ahiram sarcophagus (also spelled Ahirom, in Phoenician) was the sarcophagus of a Phoenician King of Byblos (c. 850 BC), discovered in 1923 by the French excavator Pierre Montet in tomb V of the royal necropolis of Byblos. The sarcophagus i ...

inscription File:Abiba’l Inscription, on a statue of Sheshonq I.jpg, Abiba’l inscription (Phoenician inscription more clearly visible on the archaeological copy) File:Safatba'al Inscription.jpg,

File:Inscription lapidaire de Shipitbaal - IXeme siècle avant JC - Byblos (Liban) - Musée national du Liban.jpg, Safatba'al inscription File:Yehimilk Phoenician Inscription in the Byblos Castle Museum.png,

in the Byblos Castle Museum

Bibliography

* Christopher Rollston,
The Dating of the Early Royal Byblian Phoenician Inscriptions: A Response to Benjamin Sass
" ''MAARAV'' 15 (2008): 57–93. *

Benjamin Mazar Benjamin Mazar ( he, בנימין מזר; born Binyamin Zeev Maisler, June 28, 1906 – September 9, 1995) was a pioneering Israeli historian, recognized as the "dean" of biblical archaeologists. He shared the national passion for the archaeolo ...

, The Phoenician Inscriptions from Byblos and the Evolution of the Phoenician-Hebrew Alphabet, in The Early Biblical Period: Historical Studies (S. Ahituv and B. A. Levine, eds., Jerusalem: IES, 1986 riginal publication: 1946: 231–247. *

William F. Albright William Foxwell Albright (May 24, 1891– September 19, 1971) was an American archaeologist, biblical scholar, philologist, and expert on ceramics. He is considered "one of the twentieth century's most influential American biblical scholars." ...

, The Phoenician Inscriptions of the Tenth Century B.C. from Byblus, JAOS 67 (1947): 153–154. *

Notes

References

{{reflist, 2 11th-century BC works 10th-century BC works 9th-century BC works 8th-century BC works Byblos Phoenician inscriptions Kings of Byblos KAI inscriptions Archaeological artifacts Collections of museums in Lebanon Collections of the Louvre