Bodashtart inscriptions

The Bodashtart inscriptions are a well-known group of between 22–24 Phoenician inscriptions from the 6th century BC referring to King Bodashtart.Bordreuil, 1990, "L'exemple le plus impressionnant est certainement celui des nombreuses dedicaces de Bodachtart decouvertes dans le temple d'Echmoun pres de Saida et conservees aujourd'hui dans plusieurs musees, auxquelles s'ajoutent trois exemplaires demeures in situ... Le nombre des inscriptions de Bodachtart mises au jour et repertories est a ce jour d'au moins dix-neuf (KAI 15 + 16) dont neuf (KAI 16) mentionnent Yatonmilk patronyme de Bodachtart. Il faut y ajouter RES 767 K in situ et les trois mentionnes par G. Contenau, soit quatre, a moins que RES 767 K ne soit la premiere mentionnee par G. Contenau, ce qui reduirait le supplement a trois. De plus on ne sait si l'estampage de RES 289 C correspond a un exemplaire connu par ailleurs ou s'il est le seul temoignage d'un exemplaire aujourd'hui disparu. A ma connaissance le nombre d'inscriptions de Bodachtart doit donc varier entre vingt-deux et vingt-quatre exemplaires dont douze ou treize mentionnent Yatonmilk patronyme de Bodachtart."Zamora, 2007

The first known inscription was CIS I 4, said to be found in 1858 in a wall near Sidon.

Subsequently, two series of inscriptions were found in the early 20th century at the Temple of Eshmun, near Sidon in Lebanon, immediately before and during the excavations there. They are known as KAI 15 and 16. One of these set of inscriptions refers to only the name of Bodashtart (KAI 15), and the other refers to both Bodashtart and his heir Yatan-milk (KAI 16).

In 2004 another significant inscription was reconstructed.Paolo Xella et José-Ángel Zamora
Une nouvelle inscription de Bodashtart, roi de Sidon, sur la rive du Nahr al-Awwali près de Bustān ēš-Šēẖ
BAAL, 8, 2004, pp. 273-300. Compte-rendu réalisé par Astrid Nunn https://doi.org/10.4000/abstractairanica.16652

CIS I 4

This was the earliest known Bodashtart inscription, and is a unique text. The dedication is to Astarte rather than to Eshmun like the other inscriptions.Bordreuil, 1990, "Il est étonnant de constater que cette inscription (fig. 18), connue un demi-siècle plus tôt que les dédicaces sidoniennes de Bodachtart, n'a pratiquement jamais été jointe au dossier jusqu'à présent. Cette unique inscription de Bodachtart fils de Bodachtart est dédiée à 'Achtart et non pas à Echmoun mais cela ne constitue pas un problème car le culte de 'Achtart comme celui d'Echmoun faisait partie des traditions de la famille régnante. On sait qu'Echmouna- zor II, dont la mère portait le nom de 'M'èTRT, s'attribue l'édification du temple d'Echmoun et de 'Achtart."

The inscription reads:

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KAI 15 / RES 766

This group of inscriptions, each with text similar to the others, was published together in the Répertoire d'Épigraphie Sémitique as RES 766. They were edited in detail by Philippe Berger in 1904.Berger Philippe
Inscriptions phéniciennes de fondation du temple d'Esmoun à Saïda
In: Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 45^e année, N. 6, 1901. p. 853. DOI : https://doi.org/10.3406/crai.1901.17010

The inscription reads:

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The discovery was made by four workers who were extracting blocks from the temple on behalf of Druze leader Nassib Jumblatt (see Jumblatt family). They noticed that certain blocks had inscriptions with the engravings painted in red. A local antiques dealer bought three of the stones all with the same inscription. Due to the enormous size of the blocks, they were cut down to just 15 or 20 cm in thickness, and some stones were also cut into two or three pieces.

A number of forgeries were subsequently produced.

The excavated wall had two layers of construction: the inner layer showed more careful assembly of the blocks; the KAI 16 inscriptions were on the inside face of the blocks, such that they were not initially visible.

KAI 16 / RES 767

This group of inscriptions, each with text similar to the others, was published together in the Répertoire d'Épigraphie Sémitique as RES 767. They were edited in detail by Wilhelm Freiherr von Landau in 1904.

The inscriptions read:

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The KAI 16 inscriptions were found in the eastern part of the wall, in the outer layer of blocks, which had been placed less carefully than the inner layer. Again, the inscriptions were turned inwards (walled in) so that they could not be seen.

Bodashtart's water channel project

A fourth Bodashtart inscription, comprising eleven lines, was described by Paolo Xella and José-Ángel Zamora in 2004. The inscription had been discovered and photographed by Maurice Chéhab around 1960 on a rocky bank of the Awali river, some three kilometers from the mouth of the river, in an area where later an electric power plant was built. The ''in situ'' inscription seems to exist no longer, and Chéhab had never published it. But Xella and Zamora succeeded in tracking down Chéhab's photographs, and they conclude that the inscription probably refers to the construction of a water channel to bring water from the Awali river to the Eshmun temple complex northeast of Sidon, with its ritual ablution basins. Bodashtart had considerably enlarged this temple complex, so the local Yidlal water source would probably no longer be sufficient to meet its increased water needs.

The inscription is dated to ca. 520 BCE. It reads:

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Chronology

The chronology of Bodashtart's inscriptions and of his reign have been sketched by P. Xella and J.Á. Zamora López. In fact, they suggest that sources are now abundant enough that we may be on the threshold of being able to write Bodashtart's biography.

The oldest inscription is CIS I 4, dating from the king's first reignal year. It describes the dedication of a plot of land to Astarte—a fitting activity for kings of Sidon, who also were high priests—, but Bodashtart had not yet completed any building activities. The king, who was only a cousin of the last king Eshmunazar II, may have tried to justify an illegal succession by stressing his religious sense of duty, and by also mentioning his being a grandson of Eshmunazar I.

Next, the canal inscription dates from the seventh year of his reign. In the intervening five years Bodashtart had finished an extensive building program at the Eshmun temple, and probably also in the three urban districts mentioned in the inscription.

A few years later Bodashtart in KAI 15 records his building activities in those three districts, and also in a fourth urban district, appropriately called "Sidon of the Ruler".

KAI 16 dates from a few more years later. Only the building of the temple complex for Eshmun is mentioned. In this inscription Bodashtart for the first time mentions his son Yatonmilk, whom he explicitly calls a legitimate successor to the throne. This may be indicative of some uneasiness about his own rightfulness as a king. It is not known whether Yatonmilk ever has actually become king of Sidon.

Between 575 and 400 BCE no less than twelve names of rulers of Sidon are known (among them one queen-regent, Amoashtart). Bodashtart was the fifth of them, his regnal years cannot have been many, probably from c. 525 till c. 515. His accession may then have been related to a military campaign of the Persian king Cambyses II in 525 BCE, that ended in Cambyses's conquest of Egypt.

Notes

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References

* Pierre Bordreuil, Gubel E., "Quel est le nombre des dedicaces de Bodachtart?"
Bulletin d'antiquités archéologiques du Levant inédites ou méconnues VI
In: Syria. Tome 67 fascicule 2, 1990. pp. 483–520.
* Zamora, José Á. "The Inscription from the First Year of King Bodashtart of Sidon's Reign: CIS I, 4." Orientalia, NOVA SERIES, 76, no. 1 (2007): 100-13. Accessed August 12, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/43077614.
* Charles Cutler Torrey (1902). A Phoenician Royal Inscription. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 23, 156-173. doi:10.2307/592387
* Xella, Paolo, and José-Ángel Zamora López. “L’inscription Phénicienne de Bodashtart in Situ à Bustān Eš-Šēḫ (Sidon) et Son Apport à l’histoire Du Sanctuaire.” Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins 121, no. 2 (2005): 119–29. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27931768.

1900 archaeological discoveries
Phoenician inscriptions
Archaeological artifacts
Near East and Middle East antiquities of the Louvre
KAI inscriptions
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