The Lilybaeum stele is a notable

Phoenicia Phoenicians were an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syria, Syrian ...

n gravestone stele found in

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

and first published in 1882. The stele was published in the

Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum The ("Corpus of Semitic Inscriptions", abbreviated CIS) is a collection of ancient inscriptions in Semitic languages produced since the end of 2nd millennium BC until the rise of Islam. It was published in Latin. In a note recovered after his de ...

, having been supplied to Renan by Count Francesco Hernandez di Carrera. It measures 0.37 x 0.22 m and is made from white

calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime (mineral), lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of Science, scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcare ...

stone. It was found in

Marsala Marsala (, ; ) is an Italian comune located in the Province of Trapani in the westernmost part of Sicily. Marsala is the most populated town in its province and the fifth largest in Sicily.The town is famous for the docking of Giuseppe Garibal ...

(Roman Lilybaeum), in an area known as ''il Timpone di S. Antonio''. It is currently in the

Antonino Salinas Regional Archeological Museum The Antonino Salinas Regional Archeological Museum () is a museum in Palermo, Italy. It possesses one of the richest collections of Punic and Ancient Greek art in Italy, as well as many items related to the history of Sicily. Formerly the prope ...

in Palermo.

Inscription

The inscriptions is known as KAI 63 and CIS I 138. It is a standard Punic votive inscription, dedicated to

Baal Hammon Baal Hammon, properly Baʿal Ḥamon ( Phoenician and ), meaning "Lord Hammon", was the chief god of ancient Carthage. He was a weather god considered responsible for the fertility of vegetation and esteemed as king of the gods. He was depicte ...

by Hanno, son of Adonbaal:

Design

The stele shows some important Phoenician religious symbols. These symbols include symbols of

Tanit Tanit or Tinnit (Punic language, Punic: 𐤕𐤍𐤕 ''Tīnnīt'' (JStor)) was a chief deity of Ancient Carthage; she derives from a local Berber deity and the consort of Baal Hammon. As Ammon is a local Libyan deity, so is Tannit, who represents ...

(

Sign of Tanit __NOTOC__ The sign of Tanit or sign of Tinnit is an anthropomorph symbol of the Punic goddess Tanit, present on many archaeological remains of the Carthaginian civilization. The symbol has many variants, but the basic form consists of a disc ...

) and

(a crescent and a disc),

Caduceus The caduceus (☤; ; , ) is the staff carried by Hermes in Greek mythology and consequently by Hermes Trismegistus in Greco-Egyptian mythology. The same staff was borne by other heralds like Iris (mythology), Iris, the messenger of Hera. The s ...

, an

incense burner A censer, incense burner, perfume burner or pastille burner is a vessel made for burning incense or perfume in some solid form. They vary greatly in size, form, and material of construction, and have been in use since ancient times throughout t ...

and a

Priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

spreads his right hand up (a position related with the cult of Tanit), as well as a depiction of a line of stelae on a stage, similar to a stelae line found in Hazor. On one of the stelae in Hazor, a crescent with a disc and two hand spread ur towards them are engraved. Its significance was described by

Georges Perrot Georges Perrot (12 November 1832 – 30 June 1914) was a French archaeologist. He taught at the Sorbonne from 1875 and was director of the École Normale Supérieure from 1888 to 1902. In 1874 he was elected to the Academie des Inscriptions ...

and

Charles Chipiez Charles Chipiez (; 1835–1901) was an influential French architect, Egyptologist, Iranologist, and an avid historian of the ancient world's architecture. He was a teacher at École Spéciale d'Architecture in Paris, France, and helped build the ...

in 1885:

...the chief interest of the monument lies in the bas-relief on its upper part. In the middle of the field stands one of those candelabra of which we have already given examples taken from Carthaginian steles; to the left is the sacred cone, here represented with head and arms as on the coins of certain Asiatic towns; near the cone stands a caduceus, on the right there is a man adoring. He is dressed in a robe falling to the feet and gathered in a band about the waist; a pointed cap is on his head. The whole thing is without value as a work of art, but it gives a good idea of the Phoenician costume, a costume which resembles that still worn in the Levant by those Greek, Syrian, and Armenian merchants who have not yet adopted the costume of Europe.Perrot, Georges; Chipiez, Charles (1885)
History Of Art In Phoenicia And Its Dependencies Vol. 1
p.320

Notes

{{reflist, 35em 1882 archaeological discoveries Phoenician inscriptions KAI inscriptions Phoenician steles Tanit Baal Archaeological discoveries in Italy