Kilamuwa scepter
File:Kilamuwa scepter in the Pergamon Museum.jpg
The Kilamuwa scepter or Kilamuwa sheath is a 9th-century BCE small gold object inscribed in Phoenician or Aramaic, which was found during the excavations of Zincirli in 1943. It was found in burned debris in a corridor at the front of the "Building of Kilamuwa".
King Kilamuwa is believed to have ruled in the area of Zincirli in ca. 830 - 820 BC.
The object measures 6.7 x 2.2 cm, and is ornamented with soldered gold wire and gold plates; two of the rectangular plates are inscribed with a total of seven lines or writing. Felix von Luschan concluded that it was once on the handle (or sheath) of a staff or scepter.
Text
| class="wikitable"
|+ !Line number !Phoenician script inscriptionDupont-Sommer, A. “[http://www.jstor.org/stable/23665425 Une Inscription Nouvelle Du Roi Kilamou et Le Dieu Rekoub-El]” Revue de l’histoire Des Religions 133, no. 1/3 (1947): 21Galling, Kurt. “[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3218799 The Scepter of Wisdom: A Note on the Gold Sheath of Zendjirli and Ecclesiastes 12: 11]” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, no. 119 (1950): 16. |
| 1
| {{lang|phn|{{script|Phnx|𐤎𐤌𐤓𐤆𐤒𐤍 }}}}
|{{transliteration|phn|{{sc|smr z qn}}}} |This smr |
| 2
| {{lang|phn|{{script|Phnx|𐤊𐤋𐤌𐤅 }}}}
|{{transliteration|phn|{{sc|klmw}}}} |Kilamuwa |
| 3
| {{lang|phn|{{script|Phnx|𐤁𐤓𐤇𐤉}}}}
|{{transliteration|phn|{{sc|br ḥy}}}} |son of Ḥay(a), |
| 4
| {{lang|phn|{{script|Phnx|𐤋𐤓𐤊𐤁𐤏𐤋 }}}}
|{{transliteration|phn|{{sc|l Rkbʿl}}}} |(made) for (the god) RKBʿL |
| 5
| {{lang|phn|{{script|Phnx|𐤉𐤕𐤍𐤋𐤄𐤓}}}}
|{{transliteration|phn|{{sc|ytn lh r}}}} |May R(-KB'L) grant him |
| 6
| {{lang|phn|{{script|Phnx|𐤊𐤁𐤏𐤋 }}}}
|{{transliteration|phn|{{sc|kbʿl}}}} | (R)-KB'L |
| 7
| {{lang|phn|{{script|Phnx|𐤀𐤓𐤊𐤇𐤉 }}}}
|{{transliteration|phn|{{sc|ʾrk ḥy}}}} |length of life |
The inscription reads as follows: This smr Kilamuwa, son of Ḥay(a), made for (the god) RKBʿL. May RKB'L grant him length of life.
Bibliography
- Editio princeps: Felix von Luschan, Die Kleinfunde von Sendschirli . Herausgabe und Ergänzung besorgt von Walter Andrae (Mitteilungen aus den orientalischen Sammlungen, Heft XV; Berlin 1943) 102, Abb. 124, Tf. 47f-g (the book was reviewed by K. Galline; in BiOr 5 fl948] 115–120).
- Dupont-Sommer, A. “[http://www.jstor.org/stable/23665425 Une Inscription Nouvelle Du Roi Kilamou et Le Dieu Rekoub-El]” Revue de l’histoire Des Religions 133, no. 1/3 (1947): 19–33
- Galling, Kurt. “[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3218799 The Scepter of Wisdom: A Note on the Gold Sheath of Zendjirli and Ecclesiastes 12: 11]” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, no. 119 (1950): 15–18. https://doi.org/10.2307/3218799
- Swiggers, P. “[http://www.jstor.org/stable/43075107 The Aramaic Inscription of Kilamuwa]” Orientalia 51, no. 2 (1982): 249–53.