Humbert Carthage Inscriptions

The Humbert Carthage inscriptions are seven Punic inscriptions, found in Carthage by Jean Emile Humbert in 1817 in Husainid Tunisia. They were the first published Punic inscriptions found in Carthage.: “In the same year as Borgia’s untimely death, Humbert made the discovery of his life: he found four Punic stelae on the peninsula, and two fragments, with inscriptions in the yet undeciphered Punic language. During the ploughing of a piece of land near the village of La Malga the two fragments had come to light, upon which Humbert decided to further investigate the terrain. His workmen removed some 1.5 metres of ground before they found the first complete Punic remains to come to light since the destruction of Carthage. Humbert decided to keep his find a secret until his return home to the Netherlands. The Borgia diaries remaining unpublished, Humbert rejoiced at being the first to enter the debate about the topography of Punic Carthage with proof in his hands. He prepared detailed drawings of the four stelae and the two fragments, which he published in 1821 with a short description of the circumstances of finding them.”

Today they are held in the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden. On receipt of the stelae, Caspar Reuvens, the museums’s founding director, noted that “when the possession of these pieces in any museum becomes known to the scholarly world, the fame of that museum will be established”.: “In April the antiquities and coins arrived, which were inspected by Reuvens and his colleague De Jonge of the Royal Coin Cabinet in The Hague. In his report to the ministry Reuvens highly praised the collection, especially the four Punic stelae: ‘I consider the import into our country of four such highly unusual objects to be an honour, and when the possession of these pieces in any museum becomes known to the scholarly world, the fame of that museum will be established.’... The fact that Humbert had copied the form of the letters with great care had an added value for dating the inscriptions: ‘Today we are not content any more with mere copies of the old inscriptions, if the shape of the letters is not precisely rendered: this is necessary to judge the date of the stone.’ The Punic stelae with inscriptions were, according to Reuvens, the most important acquisitions and made the collection worth 17,000 guilders.”

Publication

In 1821 Humbert published the first five Carthaginian inscriptions widely known in his publication: ''Notice sur quatre cippes sépulcraux et deux fragments, découverts en 1817 sur le sol de l’ancienne Carthage''. In 1822, Hamaker republished these inscriptions, including his own interpretations and a wealth of linguistic commentary, in: ''Diatribe philologico-critica aliquot monumentorum Punicorum, nuper in Africa repertorum, interpretationem exhibens...'', and in the same year, Reuvens published his observations in: ''Periculum animadversionum archaeologicarum ad cippos Punicos Humbertianos, Musei antiquarii Lugduno-Batavi''. In 1824, a new inscription, based on a drawing from Tunis, was published by F. Münter in: ''Om en nylig blandt Ruinerne af Carthago opdaget Punisk Gravskrift''. In 1828, Hamaker released his major work ''Miscellanea Phoenicia sive commentarii de rebus Phoenicum...'' which commented on these inscriptions. This was superseded in 1837 with Gesenius' monumental work: ''Scripturae Linguaeque Phoeniciae.

Humbert publications

The first four were discovered in 1817 and published in 1821 in Humbert's ''Notice sur quatre cippes sépulcraux et deux fragments, découverts en 1817, sur le sol de l'ancienne Carthage'', which included the first published sketches of artefacts from Carthage.

Gallery

File:Carthaginian steles from Rijksmuseum van Oudheden Cat. Leemans 1842 CAa 1 CIS I 240.jpg, CAa 1 CIS I 240 (NE 431, 9)
File:Carthaginian steles from Rijksmuseum van Oudheden Cat. Leemans 1842 CAa 2 CIS I 187.jpg, CAa 2 CIS I 187
File:Carthaginian steles from Rijksmuseum van Oudheden Cat. Leemans 1842 CAa 3 CIS I 186,.jpg, CAa 3 CIS I 186
File:Carthaginian steles from Rijksmuseum van Oudheden Cat. Leemans 1842 CAa 4.jpg, CAa 4
File:Carthaginian steles from Rijksmuseum van Oudheden Cat. Leemans 1842 CAa 5 CIS I 439.jpg, CAa 5 CIS I 439

Hamaker publications

A further three Punic inscriptions, found in Carthage in 1824 and published in Hamaker's 1828 ''Miscellanea Phoenicia''.

The largest and best inscribed was first published in 1824 by Friedrich Münter. It is labelled as CAb1 in the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden.CAb1
/ref> It is known as NE 432, 16. It was not published in CIS.

The other two are known as CIS I 440 (CAa6, mid sized fragment) and CIS I 173 (smallest fragment); the latter is presumed to have been lost.

Bibliography

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References

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Archaeological artifacts
KAI inscriptions
Punic inscriptions
Archaeological discoveries in Tunisia