Ahiram sarcophagus#Inscriptions

File:Ahiram sarcophagus as it was found.jpeg

The sarcophagus was found following a landslide in the cliffs surrounding Byblos (in now modern-day Lebanon) in late 1923, which revealed a number of Phoenician royal tombs. The tomb of Ahirom was ten metres deep.René Cagnat, Nouvelles Archéologiques, Syria 4 (1923): 334–344Pierre Montet, "Les fouilles de Byblos en 1923," L’Illustration 3 (May 3, 1924), 402–405.[https://www.academia.edu/4306363/Calligraphy_and_Craftsmanship_in_the_Ahirom_inscription._Considerations_on_skilled_linear_flat_writing_in_early_first_millennium_Byblos Calligraphy and Craftsmanship in the Ahirom inscription. Considerations on skilled linear flat writing in early first millennium Byblos, Reinhard G. Lehmann]

The sarcophagus of Ahiram was discovered by the French archaeologist Pierre Montet in 1923{{cite journal |last=Torrey |first=Charles C. |year=1925 |title=The Ahiram Inscription of Byblos |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=45 |pages=269–279 |jstor=593505 |doi=10.2307/593505 |publisher=Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 45 }} in Byblos.{{cite book |title=Archaeology and the Old Testament |last=Pritchard |first=James B. |year=1968 |publisher=Univ. Press |location=Princeton }}; {{cite book |title=The Phoenicians |last=Moscati |first=Sabatino |year=2001 |publisher=Tauris |location=London |isbn=1850435332 }}; Its low relief carved panels make it "the major artistic document for the Early Iron Age" in Phoenicia.{{cite journal |last=Markoe |first=Glenn E. |year=1990 |title=The Emergence of Phoenician Art |journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research |volume=279 |issue= 279|pages=13–26 |jstor= 1357205|doi=10.2307/1357205 |s2cid=163353156 }} [pp. 13, 19–22] Associated items dating to the Late Bronze Age either support an early dating, in the 13th century BC or attest the reuse of an early shaft tomb in the 11th century BC.

The major scene represents a king seated on a throne carved with winged sphinxes. A priestess offers him a lotus flower. On the lid two male figures face one another with seated lions between them. These figures have been interpreted by Glenn Markoe as representing the father and son of the inscription. The rendering of figures and the design of the throne and a table show strong Assyrian influences. A total absence of Egyptian objects of the 20th and 21st dynasties in PhoeniciaJ. Leclant, "Les relations entre l'Égypte et la Phénicie du voyage de Ounamon à l'expédition d'Alexandre", in The role of the Phoenicians in the Interaction of Mediterranean Civilisations, W. Ward, ed. (Beirut: American University) 1968:11. contrasts sharply with the resumption of Phoenician-Egyptian ties in the 22nd Dynasty of Egypt.For a recent discussion under aspects of aert history, see Ellen Rehm: Der Ahiram-Sarkophag, Mainz 2004 (Forschungen zur phönizisch-punischen und zyprischen Plastik, hg. von Renate Bol, II.1. Dynastensarkophage mit szenischen Reliefs aus Byblos und Zypern Teil 1.1)

The date remains the subject of controversy, according to Glenn E. Markoe, "The Emergence of Phoenician Art".Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research No. 279 (August 1990):13–26) p. 13. The Ahiram inscription is generally dated to ca. 1000 BCE, as Edward M. Cook notes: "Most scholars have taken the Ahiram inscription to date from around 1000 B.C.E."."On the Linguistic Dating of the Phoenician Ahiram Inscription (KAI 1)", Journal of Near Eastern Studies 53.1 (January 1994:33–36) p. 33 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/545356 JSTOR]. Cook analyses and dismisses the date in the thirteenth century adopted by C. Garbini,C. Garbini, "Sulla datazione della'inscrizione di Ahiram", Annali (Istituto Universitario Orientale, Naples) 37 (1977:81–89) which was the prime source for early dating urged in Bernal, Cadmean Letters.{{cite book |title = Cadmean Letters: The Transmission of the Alphabet to the Aegean and further West before 1400 BC|last = Bernal|first = Martin|year = 1990|publisher = Eisenbrauns|location = Winona Lake, Ind.|isbn = 0931464471}} The 13th century had emerged because the sarcophagus was a reused grave, it had originally been used in the 13th century. Also, traces of an erased early Proto-Byblian inscription are visible on the monument.{{cite journal |last1=Martin |first1=Malachi |title=A Preliminary Report after Re-Examination of the Byblian Inscriptions |journal=Orientalia (Nova Series) |date=1961 |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=46–78 [47–63] |jstor=43073578 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43073578 |access-date=8 January 2023}}

Others, on the basis of objects found near the sarcophagus, think of a later date, around 850 BCE.{{cite journal |title = The swan-song of Proto-Canaanite in the ninth century BCE in light of an alphabetic inscription from Megiddo|last1=Sass|first1=Benjamin|last2 = Finkelstein| first2=Israel|year=2016|url=https://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/10.1484/J.SEC.5.112723|doi=10.1484/J.SEC.5.112723|journal=Semitica et Classica|volume=9|pages=19–42|url-access=subscription}}The date remains the subject of controversy, according to Glenn E. Markoe, "The Emergence of Phoenician Art" Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research No. 279 (August 1990):13–26) p. 13.

Arguments for a date in the mid-9th to 8th century BC for the sarcophagus reliefs themselves{{snd}}and hence the inscription, too{{snd}}were made on the basis of comparative art history and archaeology by Edith Porada,"Notes on the Sarcophagus of Ahiram," Journal of the Ancient Near East Society 5 (1973:354–72) and on the basis of paleography among other points by Ronald Wallenfels."Redating the Byblian Inscriptions," Journal of the Ancient Near East Society 15 (1983:79–118).

An inscription of 38 words is found on parts of the rim and the lid of the sarcophagus. It is written in the Old Phoenician dialect of Byblos and is the oldest witness to the Phoenician alphabet of considerable length discovered to date:The most recent scholarly book which deals with all aspects of the inscription is Reinhard G. Lehmann, Die Inschrift(en) des Ahirom-Sarkophags und die Schachtinschrift des Grabes V in Jbeil (Byblos), (Mainz), 2005 (Forschungen zur phönizisch-punischen und zyprischen Plastik, hg. von Renate Bol, II.1. Dynastensarkophage mit szenischen Reliefs aus Byblos und Zypern Teil 1.2)

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(The meaning of the last two words LPP and ŠBL is not well known and has to be guessed at; but it is clear that a curse is meant.Sometimes a translation is found like "As for him, his inscription will be erased by the sharpness of a chisel." However, this is impossible, because the text speaks of this (Aḥirom's) inscription (SPR Z), not his (the desecrator's) inscription (= SPRH).)

The formulas of the inscription were immediately recognised as literary in nature, and the assured cutting of the archaic letters suggested to Charles Torrey a form of writing already in common use. A 10th-century BC date for the inscription has become widely accepted.

Halfway down the burial shaft another short inscription was found incised at the southern wall, the Byblos Necropolis graffito. The three-line graffito reads:Donner & Röllig (2002), p. 1 (#2).

:: (1) ld‘t 𐤟 (2) hn yp^?d lk 𐤟 (3) tḥt zn

It is usually interpreted as a warning not to proceed further:by René Dussaud, in Syria 5 (1924:135–57).{{cite journal |last1=Albright |first1=W.F. |title=The Phoenician inscriptions of the tenth century B.C. from Byblus |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |date=1947 |volume=67 |issue=3 |pages=153–160 [156] |doi=10.2307/596081 |jstor=596081 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/596081 |access-date=2022-04-26|url-access=subscription }}

:: (1) Know: (2) here is disaster(?) for you (3) below this.

Recently it has been proposed that it is part of some initiation ritual which remains unknown in detail:Reinhard G. Lehmann: Die Inschrift(en) des Ahirom-Sarkophags und die Schachtinschrift des Grabes V in Jbeil (Byblos), 2005, pp. 39–53

Concerning knowledge:

here and now be humble (you yourself!)

‹in› this basement!"

Ahiram himself is not titled a king, neither of Byblos nor of any other city state. It is said that he was succeeded by his son Ithobaal I who is the first to be explicitly entitled King of Byblos,{{cite journal |last=Vance |first=Donald R. |year=1994 |title=Literary Sources for the History of Palestine and Syria: The Phœnician Inscriptions |journal=The Biblical Archaeologist |volume=57 |issue=1 |pages=2–19 |jstor= 3210392|doi=10.2307/3210392 |publisher=The Biblical Archaeologist, Vol. 57, No. 1 |s2cid=222767576 }} which is due to an old misreading of a text lacuna. According to a new reconstruction of the lacuna the name of Ahiram's son is to be read [Pil]sibaal, and the reading Ithobaal should be disregarded. The early king list of Byblos is again subject to further study.

The sarcophagus is on public display in the National Museum of Beirut. The General Directorate of Antiquities of Lebanon assembled a list of inscribed objects from different time periods that together illustrate the evolution of the Phoenician alphabet; the sarcophagus is the oldest of these.{{Cite web |title=[Nomination form:] Lebanon - The Phoenician Alphabet |url=https://media.unesco.org/sites/default/files/webform/mow001/lebanon_phoenician_alphabet.pdf |access-date=2025-05-23 |publisher=UNESCO Memory of the World Programme}} This list was the basis of a nomination of the alphabet to the Memory of the World International Register maintained by UNESCO. This was accepted in 2005, recognising the objects as documentary heritage of global importance.{{Cite web |title=The Phoenician Alphabet |url=https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world/phoenician-alphabet |access-date=2025-05-23 |publisher=UNESCO Memory of the World Programme}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• Pierre Montet: Byblos et l'Egypte, Quatre Campagnes des Fouilles 1921–1924, Paris 1928, pp. 228–238, tables CXXVII–CXLI {{ISBN|978-2913330023}}
• Ellen Rehm: Der Ahiram-Sarkophag, Mainz 2004 (Forschungen zur phönizisch-punischen und zyprischen Plastik II.1.1; Dynastensarkophage mit szenischen Reliefs aus Byblos und Zypern 1.1)
• Reinhard G. Lehmann: Die Inschrift(en) des Ahirom-Sarkophags und die Schachtinschrift des Grabes V in Jbeil (Byblos), Mainz 2005 (Forschungen zur phönizisch-punischen und zyprischen Plastik II.1. Dynastensarkophage mit szenischen Reliefs aus Byblos und Zypern 1.2)
• Jean-Pierre Thiollet: Je m'appelle Byblos. Paris 2005. {{ISBN|2914266049}}
• Michael Browning "Scholar updates translation of ancient inscription", in: The Palm Beach Post, Sunday, July 3, 2005, p. 17A.
• Reinhard G. Lehmann: Wer war Aḥīrōms Sohn (KAI 1:1)? Eine kalligraphisch-prosopographische Annäherung an eine epigraphisch offene Frage, in: V. Golinets, H. Jenni, H.-P. Mathys und S. Sarasin (Hg.), Neue Beiträge zur Semitistik. Fünftes Treffen der ArbeitsgemeinschaftSemitistik in der Deutschen MorgenländischenGesellschaft vom 15.–17. Februar 2012 an der Universität Basel (AOAT 425), Münster: Ugarit-Verlag 2015, pp. 163–180

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• [http://idw-online.de/pages/de/news118446 Press release on new deciphering and translation] (in German)

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Category:9th-century BC works

Category:1923 archaeological discoveries

Category:Phoenician inscriptions

Category:Byblian royal inscriptions

Category:KAI inscriptions

Category:Kings of Byblos

Category:Phoenician sarcophagi

Category:Collection of the National Museum of Beirut

Category:Archaeological discoveries in Lebanon

Category:Hiram I