The Baalshamem inscription is a Phoenician inscription discovered in 1860–61 at

Umm al-Amad, Lebanon Umm Al Amad ( ar, ام العمد), or Umm el 'Amed or al Auamid or el-Awamid, is an Hellenistic period archaeological site near the town of Naqoura in Lebanon. It was discovered by Europeans in the 1770s, and was excavated in 1861. It is one of ...

, the longest of three inscriptions found there during

Ernest Renan Joseph Ernest Renan (; 27 February 18232 October 1892) was a French Orientalist and Semitic scholar, expert of Semitic languages and civilizations, historian of religion, philologist, philosopher, biblical scholar, and critic. He wrote influe ...

's '' Mission de Phénicie''.Levy, 1864: "Die umfangreichste der drei Inschriften liest man auf einer Alabaster-Platte von ungefähr 32 Centimeter Länge und 29 Centimeter Breite. Der Stein wurde in dem Fundamente eines der verfallenen Häuser gefunden, welche den Hügel bedecken. Die Schrift ist nicht tief eingegraben und hat keinen monumentalen Charakter. Der Stein ist fast unversehrt, bis auf den Anfang, aus acht Buchstaben bestehend, der sich theils durch die vorhandenen Spuren, theils durch den Inhalt der Inschrift wieder herstellen lässt." All three inscriptions were found on the north side of the hill; this inscription was found in the foundation of one of the ruined houses covering the hill. The inscription is on an

alabaster Alabaster is a mineral or rock that is soft, often used for carving, and is processed for plaster powder. Archaeologists and the stone processing industry use the word differently from geologists. The former use it in a wider sense that includes ...

slab about 32 x 29cm. The writing is not deeply engraved and is not considered to be of monumental character; it was found almost intact except for the beginning, consisting of eight letters, which scholars were able to reconstruct partly from the traces present and partly from the content of the inscription. The inscription is known as KAI 18 or

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 7. Today it is on display at the Louvre, with ID number AO 4831.

The inscription

The Phoenician characters read from right to left; characters inside brackets denote a filled in

lacuna Lacuna (plural lacunas or lacunae) may refer to: Related to the meaning "gap" * Lacuna (manuscripts), a gap in a manuscript, inscription, text, painting, or musical work **Great Lacuna, a lacuna of eight leaves where there was heroic Old Norse po ...

: :: The title "Lord of Kings" in line 5 (’DN MLKM, ''’adōn malkîm'') was used by the

Ptolemies The Ptolemaic dynasty (; grc, Πτολεμαῖοι, ''Ptolemaioi''), sometimes referred to as the Lagid dynasty (Λαγίδαι, ''Lagidae;'' after Ptolemy I's father, Lagus), was a Macedonian Greek royal dynasty which ruled the Ptolemaic K ...

who reigned Egypt as Pharaohs since 305 BCE. This would suggest the year 125 BCE as the date of the inscription. A slightly different date, 132 BCE, follows from the "people of Tyre" dating, that is reckoned from the year 275 BCE when the city abandoned the concept of monarchy and instead became a republic.Krause, Günter (1985). Begleitheft zur Ausstellung Tyros, Hafenstadt Phöniziens. Duisburg-Ruhrort: Museum der Deutschen Binnenschifffahrt. pp. 1–5, 12–14. If the reign of the first

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

is counted from the

First Battle of Gaza The First Battle of Gaza was fought on 26 March 1917 during the first attempt by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF), which was a British Empire military formation, formed on 10 March 1916 under the command of General Archibald Murray from th ...

in 312 BCE, then both dates agree.

Bibliography

* Editio Princeps: * * Ledrain, Eugène
Notice sommaire des monuments phéniciens du Musée du Louvre
Musée du Louvre, Paris, Librairies des imprimeries réunies, 1888, p. 60, n° 126 * * *

Notes

References

{{Louvre Museum Phoenician inscriptions Collections of the Louvre Archaeological artifacts Phoenician steles KAI inscriptions 2nd-century BC inscriptions Archaeological discoveries in Lebanon 1860s archaeological discoveries