Baal Lebanon Inscription

The Baal Lebanon inscription, known as KAI 31, is a Phoenician inscription found in Limassol, Cyprus in eight bronze fragments in the 1870s. At the time of their discovery, they were considered to be the second most important finds in Semitic palaeography after the Mesha stele.

It was purchased in 1874-75 by a Limassol merchant named Laniti from a scrap metal dealer, who did not know of their previous provenance. A copy was passed to Julius Euting, and after Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau secured its acquisition by the Cabinet des Médailles, the inscription was published in full by Ernest Renan in 1877.E. Renan
Notice sur huit fragments de pateres de bronze portant des inscriptions pheniciennes tres-anciennes
Journal des savants, August 1877, p. 487—494: "Les huit fragments dont nous présentons la reproduction au public ont été achetés par le Cabinet des antiques de la Bibliothèque nationale à M. Laniti, négociant à Limassol, dans l'Ile de Chypre. M. Laniti les avait lui-même achetés, avec plusieurs autres sans inscriptions, chez un marchand de ferraille, qui ignorait provenance antérieure. L'esperànce de trouver quelques autres fragments du même ensemble peut n'être pas considérée comme entièrement perdue... Voici, du reste, un fait matériel, qui peut n'être pas sans intérêt pour les personnes qui ne se rendent pas compte de la sûreté de nos méthodes paléographiques. Avant que M. Laniti nous eût fait passer les fragments maintenant acquis par le Cabinet des antiques, nous en avions eu une connaissance indirecte. Il y a un peu plus d'un an, le savant M. Euting, qui est la personne d'Allemagne la plus habile en ces études, voulut bien nous, communiquer une copie qu'il avait reçue de Chypre. C'étaien nos fragments, mais cópies à la suite les uns des autres, comine une seule inscription."

It is particularly notable for having mentioned Hiram I. It is the only Phoenician inscription to suggest a "colonial" system amongst the Phoenician domains.

Fragments

Ernest Renan assigned each of the eight fragments of a letter to aid him in the reconstruction of the entire inscription: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H. In his opinion, the reconstructed inscription was sequenced E, F, A, B, C, D – he could not find a place for fragments G and H. The fragments are transcribed as the following:

* A: ..'M MLK ṢDNM ʾZ YT'' ..– "-am, king of Sidonians, has dedicat-"
* B: ..'N LBʿL LBNN'' – "-ed to Ba'al-Lebanon"
* C: ''ʾDNY'' – "his Lord"
* D: ''BRʾŠT NḤŠT Ḥ'' ..– "good brass ..
* E: ''WSKN QRTḤ'' ..– "And governor of Carth-"
* F: ..'DŠT ʿBD ḤR'' ..– "-age, servant of Hir–"

* G: ..'ṬB SKN QRTḤDŠT ʾ(Z)'' – " ..tob, governor of Carthage, has ..
* H: ''(B)ʿL LBNN ʾDNY'' – "(Ba)'al-Lebanon, his Lord"

Therefore, per Renan's reckoning (E+F+A+B+C+D), the inscription reads, "...and governor of Carthage, servant of Hiram, king of Sidonians, has dedicated to Ba'al-Lebanon, his Lord, good brass...", with fragments G and H having no certain placement within the overall structure.

Gallery

File:Baal Lebanon inscription pieces as first published by Renan in 1877.jpg, The fragments as first published by Renan
File:Baal Lebanon inscription reconstructed.png, Reconstruction (with two pieces which do not fit)
File:Baal Lebanon inscription text.png, Transcription

Notes

References

* E. Renan
Notice sur huit fragments de pateres de bronze portant des inscriptions pheniciennes tres-anciennes
Journal des savants, August 1877, p. 487—494 (1 PL).

Templum Baalis ad Libanum
Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum, volume I
* Isaac Taylor
The Alphabet: An Account of the Origin and Development of Letters
1883, pages 210–
* Clermont-Ganneau
HIRAM, KING OF TYRE
the Atheneum, April 17, 1880

{{Phoenicia-stub
1881 archaeological discoveries
Phoenician inscriptions

Archaeological artifacts
10th-century BC works
KAI inscriptions