The Sfire or Sefire steles are three 8th-century BCE basalt ''
stelae
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 ...
'' containing
Aramaic
The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...
inscriptions discovered near
Al-Safirah
As-Safira ( ar, السَّفِيْرَة / ALA-LC: ''as-Safīrah''; Syrian Arabic, Aleppo dialect: ''Sfīre'') is a Syrian city administratively belonging to the Aleppo Governorate. It is the administrative center for the as-Safira District. As S ...
("Sfire") near
Aleppo
)), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black".
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,
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
. The Sefire treaty inscriptions are the three inscriptions on the steles; they are known as KAI 222-224. A fourth stele, possibly from Sfire, is known as KAI 227 (the "Starcky Tablet", at the Louvre).
Discovery of the inscriptions
Sefire I
Discovered in 1930, it is held in the
National Museum of Damascus
The National Museum of Damascus ( ar, الْمَتْحَفُ الْوَطَنِيُّ بِدِمَشْقَ) is a museum in the heart of Damascus, Syria. As the country's national museum as well as its largest, this museum covers the entire range o ...
. This is a basalt slab broken in two horizontally. The first two steles each have three faces bearing writing.
Sefire II
Discovered in 1930, it is held in the
National Museum of Damascus
The National Museum of Damascus ( ar, الْمَتْحَفُ الْوَطَنِيُّ بِدِمَشْقَ) is a museum in the heart of Damascus, Syria. As the country's national museum as well as its largest, this museum covers the entire range o ...
. As with Sefire I stele, Sefire II had three faces bearing writing. While most of the text of Sefire II A and B permit coherent translation only with comparison with Sefire I and III, the concluding portion of Sefire II A and B is quite clear.
Sefire III
Discovered in 1956, Sefire III is made up of nine fragments of the reverse of a broad slab. It is held by the
Beirut National Museum
The National Museum of Beirut ( ar, متحف بيروت الوطنيّ, ''Matḥaf Bayrūt al-waṭanī'' or French: Musée national de Beyrouth) is the principal museum of archaeology in Lebanon. The collection begun after World War I, and the ...
.
The inscriptions
The inscriptions record two treaties that "list curses and magical rites which take effect if the treaty is violated."
One is a treaty between two minor kings, Barga'yah and Matti'el, who hailed from the southwestern periphery of the
Assyrian empire
Assyrian may refer to:
* Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia.
* Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire.
** Early Assyrian Period
** Old Assyrian Period
** Middle Assyrian Empire
** Neo-Assyrian Empire
* Assyrian ...
. In the text, Matti'el swears to accept dire consequences for himself and his cities should he violate the stipulations of the treaty:
"....
As this wax is consumed by fire, thus Ma ti'elshall be consumed b fie.
As this bow and these arrows are broken, thus Inurta and
Hadad
Hadad ( uga, ), Haddad, Adad (Akkadian: 𒀭𒅎 '' DIM'', pronounced as ''Adād''), or Iškur ( Sumerian) was the storm and rain god in the Canaanite and ancient Mesopotamian religions.
He was attested in Ebla as "Hadda" in c. 2500 BCE. ...
(= names of local deities) shall break he bow of Matti'eland the bows of his nobles.
As a man of wax is blinded, thus Matti'el shall be blinded. sthis calf is cut up, thus Matti'el and his nobles shall be cut up."
This loyalty oath from the Sefire inscriptions is similar to other loyalty oaths imposed by Assyrian kings on other less powerful monarchs in the
Levant
The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is eq ...
throughout the 8th and 7th centuries BCE.
The inscriptions may, under one possible interpretation, record the names of '' El and
Elyon
Elyon ( he, ''ʿElyōn'') is an epithet of the God of the Israelites in the Hebrew Bible. ' is usually rendered in English as "God Most High", and similarly in the Septuagint as ("God the highest").
The term also has mundane uses, such as "w ...
,'' "God, God Most High" possibly providing prima facie evidence for a distinction between the two deities first worshipped by the
Jebusites
The Jebusites (; ISO 259-3 ''Ybusi'') were, according to the books of Joshua and Samuel from the Tanakh, a Canaanite tribe that inhabited Jerusalem, then called Jebus (Hebrew: ''Yəḇūs'', "trampled place") prior to the conquest initiated by ...
in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, and then elsewhere throughout the ancient Levant.
Thought to be reflective of Assyrian or neo-Assyrian culture and similar to other documents dating from the first millennium BCE, scholars such as
Joseph Fitzmyer
Joseph Augustine Fitzmyer (November 4, 1920 – December 24, 2016) was an American Catholic priest and scholar who taught at several American and British universities He was a member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits).
Fitzmyer was considered ...
have perceived
Canaan
Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...
ite influences in the text, while Dennis McCarthy has noted similarities to second millennium BCE treaties imposed by Hittite kings on Syrian vassals.
Identification of the treaty kings
Two treaties conducted between minor kings from the Kingdom of Arpad inscribed on the stelae are often cited as evidence of the
Aramaean
The Arameans ( oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; syc, ܐܪ̈ܡܝܐ, Ārāmāyē) were an ancient Semitic-speaking people in the Near East, first recorded in historical sources from the late 12th century BCE. The Aramean ...
tradition of treaty-making. The Sefire inscriptions are of interest to those studying beliefs and practices in ancient
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
and
Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
and the text is considered notable for constituting "the best extrabiblical source for
West Semitic
The West Semitic languages are a proposed major sub-grouping of ancient Semitic languages. The term was first coined in 1883 by Fritz Hommel.
They tell of ''"The treaty of King Bar-ga'yah of K , with Mati'el son of Attarsamak, king of Arpad."'' Some have identified this as the treaty of "Ashurnerari V" (
Adad-nirari III
Adad-nirari III (also Adad-narari) was a King of Assyria from 811 to 783 BC. Note that this assumes that the longer version of the Assyrian Eponym List, which has an additional eponym for Adad-nirari III, is the correct one. For the shorter eponym ...
or his son
Tiglath-pileser III
Tiglath-Pileser III (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , meaning "my trust belongs to the son of Ešarra"), was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 745 BC to his death in 727. One of the most prominent and historically significant Assyrian kings, Tig ...
?) of Assyria and Matiilu (unknown) of Arpad (probably modern
Tel Rifaat
Tell Rifaat ( ar, تل رفعت, Tall Rifʿat, also spelled Tel Rifaat, Tel Rif'at or Tal Rifaat) (Kurdish: Arfêd/ ئارفێد) is a city in northern Aleppo Governorate, northwestern Syria. Located roughly north of Aleppo, the town is the admin ...
, Syria)."Thus, they think that the Sefire treaty is the Aramaic version of the treaty of approximately 754 bc between Ashurnerari V and Matîoil of Arpad. But why the use of KTK as a pseudonym for Assyria? If, in fact, Dupont-Sommer's (1958) ..."
Gallery
File:Ronzevalle's publication of the Sefire steles - Plate XL.jpg
File:Ronzevalle's publication of the Sefire steles - Plate XLI.jpg
File:Ronzevalle's publication of the Sefire steles - Plate XLII.jpg
File:Ronzevalle's publication of the Sefire steles - Plate XLIII.jpg
File:Ronzevalle's publication of the Sefire steles - Plate XLIV.jpg
File:Ronzevalle's publication of the Sefire steles - Plate XLV.jpg
File:Louvres-antiquites-moyen-orient-p1020200.jpg, KAI 227, "Starcky Tablet", AO 21063
References
{{Reflist
Bibliography
Steles I and II
* Dussaud René Nouvelles inscriptions araméennes de Séfiré, près d'Alep In: Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 75ᵉ année, N. 4, 1931. pp. 312-321. DOI : https://doi.org/10.3406/crai.1931.76102
* Ronzevalle, S., Fragments d'inscriptions araméennes des environs d'Alep " Mélanges de l'Université Saint-Joseph, 15 (1930-31): 237–60
* Cantineau, Jean, Remarques sur la stèle araméenne de Sefiré-Soudjin " RA 28 (1931): 167–178
* Hempel, J. and Bauer, H., "Zeitschriftenschau: Mélanges de l'Université Saint-Joseph. Beyrouth (Liban) XV (1930)." ZAW 50 (1932): 178–83
* Driver, G.R., "Notes on the Aramaic Inscription from Soudschin." AfO 8 (1932-33): 203–6
* Friedrich, J. and Landsberger, B., "Zu der altaramäischen Stele von Sudschin." ZA 41 (1933): 313–18
Stele III
* Dupont-Sommer, A. and Starcky, Jean, "Une inscription araméenne inédite de Sfiré." BMB 13 (1956 ppeared 1958: 23–41 + pls. I-VI. Sf.3
* Dupont-Sommer, A., "Une stèle araméenne inédite de Sfiré (Syrie) du VIIIe siècle avant J.-C.." CRAIBL (1957a): 245–48. Sf.3
* Fitzmyer, Joseph A., "The Aramaic Suzerainty Treaty from Sefire in the Museum of Beirut." CBQ 20 (1958): 444–76. Sf.3