The Douïmès medallion is a small gold
medallion found in 1894 in the Douïmès Necropolis of ancient
Carthage
Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the cla ...
. It is the oldest known
Phoenician-Punic inscription found in
North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
.
The inscription, known as KAI 73, includes a reference to ''pgmlyn'', understood as
Pygmalion of Tyre, although scholars have "expressed disbelief" given the archaeological context. It has been assumed to have been produced earlier than its archaeological context.
[Philip Schmitz]
Deity and Royalty in Dedicatory Formulae: The Ekron Store-Jar Inscription Viewed in the Light of Judg 7:18, 20 and the Inscribed Gold Medallion from the Douïmès Necropolis at Carthage (KAI 73).
Maarav 15.2 (2008): 165-73: "Scholars understandably expressed disbelief about this identification: “it is easily conceivable that the gem was dedicated to Astarte and Pygmalion and in the process acquired the inscription,” mused M. Lidzbarski before reflecting on the difficulty of explaining a transliterated Greek name in an inscription of such apparently early date. The notion that the object must have become an heirloom, and is thus earlier than the tomb in which it was discovered, has had wide circulation. I agree that this is probably the best explanation of its archaeological context."
The medallion's inscription reads:
::
Bibliography
RES 5
References
{{reflist
1894 archaeological discoveries
Punic inscriptions
Phoenician metalwork