The Byblos Necropolis graffito is a Phoenician inscription situated in the

Royal necropolis of Byblos The royal necropolis of Byblos is a group of nine Bronze Age underground shaft and chamber tombs housing the Sarcophagus, sarcophagi of several Kings of Byblos, kings of the city. Byblos (modern Jbeil) is a coastal city in Lebanon, and one of t ...

. The graffito of Ahiram's tomb was found on the south wall of the shaft leading to the

hypogeum A hypogeum or hypogaeum (plural hypogea or hypogaea, pronounced ; literally meaning "underground", from Greek ''hypo'' (under) and ''ghê'' (earth)) is an underground temple or tomb. Hypogea will often contain niches for cremated human rem ...

, about three meters from the opening. The three-line graffito reads: :ld‘t :hn ypd lk :tḥt zn translated by archaeologist

William F. Albright William Foxwell Albright (May 24, 1891– September 19, 1971) was an American archaeologist, biblical scholar, philologist, and expert on ceramics. He is considered "one of the twentieth century's most influential American biblical scholars." ...

as: :''Attention!'' :''Behold, thou shalt come to grieve'' :''below here!''

René Dussaud René Dussaud (; December 24, 1868 – March 17, 1958) was a French Orientalist, archaeologist, and epigrapher. Among his major works are studies on the religion of the Hittites, the Hurrians, the Phoenicians and the Syriacs. He became curator ...

, who found the text, translated it as "''Avis, voici ta perte (est) ci-dessous''". The fourth sign of the second line (now considered to be a pē), is not very clear, a bēt seems to have been engraved on top of a qōp, or vice versa.

Pierre Montet Jean Pierre Marie Montet (27 June 1885 – 19 June 1966) was a French Egyptologist. Biography Montet was born in Villefranche-sur-Saône, Rhône, and began his studies under Victor Loret at the University of Lyon. He excavated at Byblos ...

, the archaeologist who excavated the royal necropolis 1922, made the following comment:

Since the graffiti is a little higher than the niches on the east and west walls, it is easy to understand why this notice was engraved here. The beams that rested in the niches supported a floor spanning the width of the shaft. The builders of the tomb did not consider that the king's corpse was sufficiently protected by the paving of the opening and by the wall built at the entrance to the chamber halfway up the well, so they laid a floor of wood which acted as a third obstacle. The looters, who would have removed the paving and started to empty the well, could not have avoided seeing the notice once they reached this floor.Montet, ''Byblos et l'Égypte'', p. 217: "Si l’on remarque que le graffite est un peu plus haut que les niches des parois est et ouest, on n’a pas de peine à comprendre pourquoi cet avis a été gravé à une telle place. Les poutres qui s’appuyaient dans les niches soutenaient un plancher tenant toutes la largeur du puits. Les constructeurs du tombeau n’ont pas estimé que le cadavre du roi fût suffisamment protégé par le dallage de l’orifice et par le mur bâti à l’entrée de la chambre à mi-hauteur du puits, ils ont donc posé un plancher de bois qui constituait un troisième obstacle. Les pillards qui auraient enlevé le dallage et commencé à vider le puits, n’auraient pu éviter d’apercevoir l’avis une fois parvenus à ce plancher."

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{{Reflist Phoenician inscriptions Graffiti and unauthorised signage Archaeological sites in Lebanon Archaeological artifacts Byblos Phoenician funerary practices