The Bar-Rakib inscriptions are a group of 8th-century BC
steles
A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...
, or fragments of steles, of
King Bar-Rakib, from
Sam'al.
The inscriptions were discovered during the 1888–1911
German Oriental Society expeditions led by
Felix von Luschan
Felix Ritter von Luschan (11 August 1854 – 7 February 1924) was an Austrian doctor, anthropologist, explorer, archaeologist and ethnographer.
Life
Luschan was born the son of a lawyer in Hollabrunn, Lower Austria, and attended the Akademisches ...
and
Robert Koldewey
Robert Johann Koldewey (10 September 1855 – 4 February 1925) was a German archaeologist, famous for his in-depth excavation of the ancient city of Babylon in modern-day Iraq. He was born in Blankenburg am Harz in Germany, the duchy of Brunswick, ...
.
Their
Aramaic inscriptions are written in
Luwian
The Luwians were a group of Anatolian peoples who lived in central, western, and southern Anatolia, in present-day Turkey, during the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. They spoke the Luwian language, an Indo-European language of the Anatolian sub-fa ...
-style raised characters, and represent some of the first known inscriptions to use Imperial Aramaic. Older inscriptions found at
Sam'al were written in the "
Samalian language
Samalian was a Semitic language spoken in Samʼal.
Samalian is primarily known from three inscriptions, the Hadad Statue and the Panamuwa II inscription ( KAI 214–215), both unearthed in the late 19th century, and a third known as the Kutt ...
" or the
Phoenician language
Phoenician ( ) is an extinct language, extinct Canaanite languages, Canaanite Semitic languages, Semitic language originally spoken in the region surrounding the cities of Tyre, Lebanon, Tyre and Sidon. Extensive Tyro-Sidonian trade and commerci ...
.
Table
Gallery
File:Bar-rakib.jpg, Bar-Rakib silver ingot in the British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
(BM 134918)Bar Rakib Silver ingot
/ref>
References
{{Reflist
Bibliography
* Halévy, J., "La première inscription araméenne de Barrekoub ou A1." RevSém 3 (1895b): 394–95.
* Müller, D.H., "Die Bauinschrift des Barrekub." WZKM 10 (1896): 193–97 + 1 pl..
* Winckler, H., "Die Bauinschrift Bar-rekub's aus Sendschirli." MVAG 1 (1896): 198–202.
* Halévy, J., "La première inscription de Bar-Rekoub revue et corrigée." RevSém 4 (1896a): 185–87.
* Hoffmann, G., "Zur Bauinschrift des Barrekab." ZA 11 (1896a): 317–22.
* Halévy, J., "Le texte définitif de l'inscription architecturale araméenne de Barrekoub." RevSém 5 (1897): 84–91.
* Peiser, F.E., "Aus dem kaiserlich-ottomanischen Museum in Constantinopel." OLZ 1 (1898): 6–9.
* Halévy, J., "Nouvel examen des inscriptions de Zindjirli." RevSém 7 (1899): 333–55
* Halévy, J., "Un bas-relief à inscription araméenne de Barrekoub." RevSém 3 (1895a): 392–94
* Müller, D.H., "Die Bauinschrift des Barrekub." WZKM 10 (1896): 193–97 + 1 pl.
* Luschan, F. von, "Bildwerke und Inschriften." Pp. 325–80 In Ausgrabungen in Sendschirli, IV. , Berlin: G. Reimer, 1911
* Halévy, J., "Les deux inscriptions hétéennes de Zindjîrlî." RevSém 1 (1893-94): 138–67, 218-58, 319-36; 2:25-60
* Sachau, E.,
Baal-Harrân in einer altaramäischen Inschrift auf einem Relief des Königlichen Museums zu Berlin" SPAW 8 (1895): 119–22
8th-century BC Aramean kings
Ancient Near East steles
Aramaic inscriptions
KAI inscriptions
8th-century BC steles