The Agrigentum inscription is a Punic inscription ( KAI 302,

CIS Cis or cis- may refer to: Places * Cis, Trentino, in Italy * In Poland: ** Cis, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, south-central ** Cis, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, north Math, science and biology * cis (mathematics) (cis(''θ'')), a trigonome ...

i 5510) found in 1934 during the excavations led by Gabriel-Guillaume Lapeyre at "Salambo", the infant and children's cemetery (

tophet In the Hebrew Bible, Tophet or Topheth ( hbo, תֹּפֶת, Tōp̄eṯ; grc-gre, Ταφέθ, taphéth; la, Topheth) is a location in Jerusalem in the Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna), where worshipers engaged in a ritual involving "passing a child thro ...

) of

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...

, and published in 1942. (BnF Gallica) It probably refers to military events in Sicily in 406 BCE.

Text of the inscription

The inscription has been broken into three parts; it is not clear how much text is missing before "line 1". The surviving text reads: ::

Historical context

The monument can be dated to 406 BCE, on the basis of an action by two Carthaginian generals, ’Adnoiba‘al (Idnibal) and Ḥimilco, who are mentioned in lines 9-10. The Greek historian

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which su ...

tells that both generals were active in a Carthaginian military campaign in Sicily in 406 BCE, in particular the siege and taking of the city of Akragas (''

Bibliotheca historica ''Bibliotheca historica'' ( grc, Βιβλιοθήκη Ἱστορική, ) is a work of universal history by Diodorus Siculus. It consisted of forty books, which were divided into three sections. The first six books are geographical in theme, ...

'', 13.43.5 and 13.80.1-2). Now Charles R. Krahmalkov recognized this city's name in the word ’GRGNT (Agragant) in line 10. The taking of this city and the "pacification" of its inhabitants are mentioned in line 11 of the inscription. From Diodorus Siculus we may assume that the refugees from Akragas tried to flee to the city of

Gela Gela (Sicilian and ; grc, Γέλα) is a city and (municipality) in the Autonomous Region of Sicily, Italy; in terms of area and population, it is the largest municipality on the southern coast of Sicily. Gela is part of the Province of Cal ...

, 60 kilometers east of Agrigento. A bonus of the inscription is that it gives the names of the

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

ous heads of state of Carthage, the so-called suffetes (''šofetim''), for this year: Ešmûn-‘amos and Ḥanno (lines 8–9). The importance of this inscription was described by Schmitz: :: ''A convergence of classical historiography with Greek and Punic epigraphy would be unique in the prosopography of fifth-century Sicily and of considerable interest to classical historians as well as to Semitists.'' (p. 4) The reference here to "Greek epigraphy" regards a Greek inscription from Athens and also from 406 BCE, mentioning Sicily and the names of the two Carthaginian generals. It was probably a ''probouleuma'' (draft resolution for the Athenian government), to send envoys to the Carthaginian generals asking them for help in the final phase of the

Peloponnesian War The Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) was an ancient Greek war fought between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Greek world. The war remained undecided for a long time until the decisive intervention of th ...

References

{{reflist Phoenician inscriptions Archaeological artifacts Phoenician steles