The Idalion Tablet is a 5th-century BC

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

tablet from Idalium (),

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. The script of the tablet is in the

Cypriot syllabary The Cypriot or Cypriote syllabary (also Classical Cypriot Syllabary) is a syllabary, syllabic script used in Iron Age Cyprus, from about the 11th to the 4th centuries BCE, when it was replaced by the Greek alphabet. It has been suggested that t ...

and the inscription itself is in the Arcadocypriot dialect of

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

. The tablet was kept in the ancient official depository of the temple of

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

on the western acropolis of Idalion, where it was discovered in 1850 by a farmer from the village of

Dali, Cyprus Dali (or Dhali; ; ) is a town in Cyprus, located south east of the capital Nicosia and close to the ancient city of Idalion. In 2001, it had a population of 5,834. By 2011, the population had almost doubled to 10,466. Ancient Idalion Idalium o ...

. It was purchased by Honoré Théodoric d'Albert de Luynes, who donated it to the

Bibliothèque Nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...

in 1862. Today it is kept in the Cabinet des médailles,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

.Patrick Callet et al
An Emblematic Bronze from Cyprus the Idalion Project Euro-Mediterranean Conference, EuroMed 2010: Digital Heritage pp 206-224
/ref> However, the script was not deciphered until after the 1870 discovery of the Idalion bilingual. It is of exceptional importance for the history of the Cypriot kingdoms. It is engraved on both sides with a long inscription recording a contract entered into by 'the king and the city' and gives a reward to a family of physicians who provided free health services for the casualties when the city was besieged by the

Persians Persians ( ), or the Persian people (), are an Iranian ethnic group from West Asia that came from an earlier group called the Proto-Iranians, which likely split from the Indo-Iranians in 1800 BCE from either Afghanistan or Central Asia. They ...

and the Kitians in 478-470 BC. It tells us about the political system and socio-economic conditions during the war. The joint decision by the king and citizens shows the democratic nature of the city, similar to Greek models. It also tells of the most ancient social welfare system known. The tablet is often considered as the most ancient sample of an insurance contract since it encompasses some of the major characteristics of modern insurance contracts

Cypriot syllabary and Greek

Approximately two lines of the text state as follows: :...they ordered Onasilon the (son) of Onasikupron the physician and the brothers to heal the men those in the battle wounded without fee.. The text is read from right to left. Below is the Greek translation, associated with the Cypriot characters. Face A, line 3 starts with Cypriot character ''ro'' (looks like a 'loop of rope, open end down'; the loop is the character's top half), and line 4 starts with Cypriot ''ma'' (an 'X', with a small upside-down-karat in the top crux): :...anógon-(a-no-ko-ne) Onasilon-(o-na-si-lo-ne) ton Onasikuprón-(to-no-na-si-ku-po-(Line 3)ro-ne) ton iatéran-(to-ni-ja-te-ra-ne) kas-(ka-se) tos-(to-se) kasignétos-(ka-si-ke-ne-to-se) iasthai-(i-ja-sa-ta-i) tos-(to-se) (=''men'')a(n)thrópos-(a-to-ro-po-se) tos-(to-se) i(n) tái-(i-ta-i) makhái-(ma-ka-i) ikmamenos-(i-ki-(Line 4)ma-me-no-se) aneu-(a-ne-u) misthón-(mi-si-to-ne)...

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* {{refend Bronze Age Cyprus Greek inscriptions Ancient Cyprus 5th-century BC inscriptions Cities in ancient Cyprus Collection of the Cabinet des Médailles, Paris 1850 archaeological discoveries Archaeological discoveries in Cyprus

Cypriot syllabary and Greek

See also

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