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Describes and interprets the Phoenician inscriptions found in different places covering the span of entire Mediterranean basin. Range and distribution of the inscriptions; Seafaring culture of the Phoenicians; Study on the Phoenician culture and its influences.

The article comments on how the inscribed columns underscore the military exploits on the part of the Israelite tribes in their process of settling down in Canaan, Palestine. According to the historian Procopius of Caesarea, he had seen two Phoenician inscriptions in the sixth century. The author said that Moses could have postdate Procopius rather than predating him.

Procopius of Caesarea, a Byzantine writer, claimed to have seen two stelae inscribed with Phoenician letters at Tigisis, in Numidia. His translation of the Phoenician text links these documents with the biblical story of the expulsion of Canaanites by Joshua. Anthony J. Frendo has recently argued that Procopius' account is independently confirmed by the Armenian historian Moses Khorenats'i in a passage that, in Frendo's view, predates Procopius. Frendo concludes that Procopius may confirm the biblically attested tradition that military operations underlay the emergence of earliest Israel. However, current Armenian historiography places Moses Khorenats'i later than Procopius. What is more, Procopius' 'translation' of the Phoenician text appears to be dependent on a lost passage of Sextus Julius Africanus, itself reflecting the diction of the Septuagint (Josh 10.10 and 5.1). Procopius probably acquired the passage from Hippolytus of Rome, adding a tendentious interpolation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Hebrew Bible indicates that in the process of settling down in Canaan, the Israelites had engaged militarily with the local inhabitants. On the other hand, archaeological research is showing that the Israelites had settled there mainly in a peaceful manner, without disproving that some military activity had been undertaken at some point. It is useful to examine whether there is any explicit extra-biblical evidence in support of the tradition that what we commonly call Early Israel could indeed have emerged -- at least partially -- on the basis of military operations. Such evidence does exist, and it comes from an unexpected quarter, namely the History of the Wars of Justinian written by Procopius of Caesarea, a Greek historian (deemed by scholars to be reliable) of the sixth century A.D. He mentions two columns (possibly of the sixth century A.D. and which he saw at Tigisis in Numidia) which were inscribed in Phoenician and in which the Canannites who had erected them claim that they had fled from Joshua the son of Nun. These Canaanites were appealing to an age-old tradition that is already found in another extra-biblical source dating to 234 B.C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A previously unpublished marble fragment from the Cesnola collection at the Turin University Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography bears an incomplete Phoenician inscription, a dedication to Eshmun-Melqart considered lost since 1869 (CIS I 26). The inscription allows to interpret the object bearing the dedication as a votive stone bowl from the late Classical Phoenician sanctuary of Kition-Batsalos in Cyprus, and it provides the opportunity to retrace the history of the Cesnola collection of Cypriote antiquities at the University Museum of Turin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new translation of the Nora Stone is proposed based on a division of the first extant line of text into two words... Thus reconstructed, I demonstrate that this line can be translated as "A house he beat down." It is subsequently proposed that the... or "house" noted at the start of the Nora Stone may constitute a reference to the destruction of a Sardinian Nuraghic village, specifically Nuraghe Antigori. The identification is based on the usage of... in contemporaneous Phoenician inscriptions to denote a royal house as well as its territories and people. An analogous, though less well developed, sociopolitical organization was present in Sardinian Nuraghic society in this period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2006 and 2008, two small alphabetic inscriptions were discovered by local residents in the environs of Zincirli, Turkey. The texts are in the Phoenician-Aramaic script, but are too fragmentary to provide certain readings or language identification. However, these fragments, in addition to the intact KTMW inscription discovered in situ during the 2008 archaeological season, indicate the likely existence of more texts at this site and, the continued relevance of Zincirli and its environs for philological research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite numerous studies and treatments of Phoenician syntax, little has been done in relation to a text linguist approach. The present study analyses the Phoenician inscription of Azatiwada on a complete textual basis, and highlights syntactic constituents that help mark segmental beginnings and ends throughout the text. It will be shown that demonstrable patterns occur that signal demarcations in syntax. Literary devices relevant to this study are also examined, insomuch as they contribute in defining and confirming the syntactic analysis. These devices are viewed separately, yet cooperatively with the syntax, and afford a proper syntactic understanding from a different set of criteria. Two of these literary devices include anadiplosis and chiasmus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents information on the discovery of a Hieroglyphic Luwian-Phoenician bilingual inscription. Where the inscriptions were discovered; Advantages and disadvantages of using hieroglyhic portion of the inscription in studies; Rhetorical structure of the Phoenician text; Details on the Phoenician text.

Analyses Giovanni Garbini's linguistic arguments in the dating of the Phoenician Ahiram inscription (KAI 1). Seven features of the inscription in Garbini's discussion; Martin Bernal's arguments; Failure of features to support redating.

The aim of the present text is to re-examine the basic sources informing us about the miqim elim, a particular type of cult personnel mentioned in the Phoenician-Punic inscriptions. While there have been significant studies on the office or function, as it has been connected with some of the most appealing themes of the history of ancient Mediterranean religions, its nature is still a matter for discussion. The intention of this contribution, after briefly reviewing the internal and external available data, is to analyse in some depth the relevant epigraphic information coming from the culture under study, in an attempt to provide, confirm or refute any facts about its character and its possible position within Phoenician and Punic society in the period documented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the Hieroglyphic Luwian and Phoenician orthography and linguistics the first part of this paper demonstrates that, despite the communis opinio, Awa/ir(a/i)kus of the KARATEPE inscription and Wa/irikas of the ÇINEKÖY inscription cannot be identical. Accordingly, the second half of the paper discusses the chronology of these and other related inscriptions and proposes a new king list for Hiyawa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers a new account of the funerary stele of the Phoenician Shem/ Antipatros (IGII 8388, CEG 596). Following early symbolic readings of the monument，it adopts a comparative approach in order to explain the difficult symbolism of the relief, as well as the obscure expressions of the Greek epigram, by considering their likely Semitic (and more widely Near Eastern) background. In particular, the article offers the first full commentary on the epigram, the two hapax legomena of which (ε{ί}χθρολέων and σποράσαι, line 3) maybe better understood by assuming that they represent Greek adaptations of Semitic expressions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various reports published within the issue, including one by Philip C. Schmitz and Anthony J. Frendo on the historical significance of Phoenician inscriptions from Numidia and another by Gershon Galil on the accounts of David of Jerusalem and Hazael of Syria.

The article discusses the linguistic connection between the words Assyria and Syria. The debate on the connection between them is going on since years among several authors. John Selden in 1617 suggested that the name Syria is simply the corruption of Assyria. Konrad Nöldeke and Eduard Schwartz in 1881 reaffirmed the conclusion. But the discovery of a Hieroglyphic Luwian and Phoenician bilingual inscription in Turkey has thrown some light on the origin of the word Syria.

This paper offers new interpretations of passages in KAI 1: 2 and KM 121 on the basis of contextual and etymological considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the two line Phoenician inscription on an ivory box found at Ur in 1927. It is stated that based on paleographic grounds and by Neo-Babylonian provenance, the inscription is probably between 650 to 550 B.C. There is reportedly a case for identifying the box as owned by 'Amatba'al , as a harem lady of the Byblos king. A rendering of the text is also given.

Focuses on the discovery of a royal dedicatory temple inscription in Phoenician script that provides conclusive evidence of the identity of Ekron, one of the five capital cities of the Philistines. Names cited in the five-line inscription on a large block of stone; Discovery made at the thirteenth and final season of the Tel Miqne-Ekron project in Israel.

Anatolia provided several Phoenician inscriptions, and the best-known ones were found in Cilicia. Outside of Cilicia, Phoenician inscriptions are rare in this region. In 2018, Jan-Waalke Meyer published five seals from Miletus in Ionia. One of them represents a sphinx and bears a Phoenician inscription. Its paleography is typical of the second half of the eighth century and the beginning of the seventh century BCE. The iconography and inscription allow this artifact to be attributed to a Phoenician production. To this day, the Phoenician seal from Miletus carries both the oldest and the most northwestern of the Phoenician inscriptions unearthed on the Ionian coast. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses epigraphic and paleographic studies of Aramaic, Phoenician and Hebrew inscriptions. Comparative study of inscriptions and scripts; Geopolitical backgrounds; Main lines of development in Aramaic script; Westward spread of the alphabet.

We apply methodologies from the study of Greek poetry – theories about performance on the one hand and about the re-enactment of epigraphic poetry on the other – in order to better understand poetry on Phoenician inscriptions. We define formulae as semantic units that can change position within a poetic expression, using the metaphor of dovetail joinery, with some units that can even be omitted while still permitting comprehension. A limited range of formulaic units can combine into expression of certain lengths and rhythms, a syntax that pertains to inscriptions over a broad geographical and chronological range, found on dedications both public and private. In particular, names for the types of offerings poetically parallel each other, with this parallelism excluding interpretations that fall outside of their shared syntax. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to provide a repertoire of the currently identifiable zoonyms in the Phoenician language. The available data are collected, presented, and analysed. Several animal names are directly mentioned in Phoenician inscriptions, but they also are attested as constituting elements of personal names, names of plant and names of place. Some texts by classical authors are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper examines the attestations of the hundred numeral symbol present in some Phoenician inscriptions and already object of a study by J. Naveh. Four Phoencian inscriptions (two on the same object) are analysed. Two numerals on vessels were already analysed by Naveh; two more examples are added here. Some questions are addressed concerning the inscriptions, general meaning, and, in particular, the interpretation of some abbreviations and symbols present on the inscribed objects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inscription from Karatepe (KAI 26) is a bilingual artefact in Luwian and Phoenician. Since both texts are written in a fluent and idiomatic manner, they must be interpreted independently. A comparison between them can be undertaken only after an independent reading. This way of approaching the texts calls into question the volitive interpretation of the so-called blessing in III:2-III:11 in the Phoenician version on the basis of the volitive meaning of the parallel Luwian section. Indeed, the presence of a blessing is unlikely in a royal Phoenician inscription because of its literary genre. Moreover, it is improbable that wbrk in II:2 begins a blessing since all other Phoenician inscriptions use the yiqtol ybrk to introduce one. Lines III:2-11, rather than being a request for blessing, are a description of blessing and prosperity accorded to the city by Baal and the gods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the phenomenon of the so-called royal tamga signs issued on stone stelae in the Bosporan Kingdom in the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE. Tamgas were symbols commonly used by Eurasian nomads throughout the first millennium BCE. The appearance of tamgas in the northern shores of the Black Sea in the 2nd/1st BCE, followed by their adoption into the Greek epigraphic culture of the kingdom, represents an intriguing example of symbolic integration and another step in the formation of Bosporan culture. Research on cultural interactions between the inhabitants of the Bosporus has rarely focused on epigraphic material in its own right. Analyzing a small group of public stone slabs that feature tamgas, this article contributes to existing studies on numerous private funerary reliefs. Furthermore, the current work aims to incorporate several examples of stelae with royal tamga signs into the growing interest in syncretism, which is occurring in other epigraphic cultures of the Greco-Roman world. The case of the Bosporan Kingdom shows that such processes can also occur in places where no literate culture had previously been firmly established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to re-examine some aspects of two Phoenician inscriptions – namely those from Malta dedicated respectively to the gods á¹¢dmb

Epigraphy is witnessing a growing integration of artificial intelligence, notably through its subfield of machine learning (ML), especially in tasks like extracting insights from ancient inscriptions. However, scarce labeled data for training ML algorithms severely limits current techniques, especially for ancient scripts like Old Aramaic. Our research pioneers an innovative methodology for generating synthetic training data tailored to Old Aramaic letters. Our pipeline synthesizes photo-realistic Aramaic letter datasets, incorporating textural features, lighting, damage, and augmentations to mimic real-world inscription diversity. Despite minimal real examples, we engineer a dataset of 250 000 training and 25 000 validation images covering the 22 letter classes in the Aramaic alphabet. This comprehensive corpus provides a robust volume of data for training a residual neural network (ResNet) to classify highly degraded Aramaic letters. The ResNet model demonstrates 95% accuracy in classifying real images from the 8th century BCE Hadad statue inscription. Additional experiments validate performance on varying materials and styles, proving effective generalization. Our results validate the model's capabilities in handling diverse real-world scenarios, proving the viability of our synthetic data approach and avoiding the dependence on scarce training data that has constrained epigraphic analysis. Our innovative framework elevates interpretation accuracy on damaged inscriptions, thus enhancing knowledge extraction from these historical resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A refutation of the claims by Scott Stripling et al. regarding the epigraphic analysis and paleographic contents of the folded lead object discovered on Mt. Ebal in 2019 during the wet-sifting of dump piles from a previous archaeological excavation by Adam Zertal. This piece of lead is often referred to as the "Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet". An article regarding this find, by Stripling et al., titled "You are Cursed by the God YHW:" an early Hebrew inscription from Mt. Ebal", was published on May 23, 2023, in the Heritage Science journal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines two types of foundation narrative prevalent in the biblical literature in light of as-yet-undiscussed parallels from ancient Greek and Mediterranean texts. The first type, embodied in the Genesis narratives and Greek genealogical traditions, portrays the founders as leaving a distant land to settle peacefully in a new land. The second is exemplified by the central hexateuchal theme of the Israelites' migration to Canaan by dispossessing the native population as well as the Dorian migration traditions. Several factors indicate that the foundation story genre also became central and foundational in other small kingdoms around the Mediterranean--as indicated, for example, by the Phoenician--Luwian inscriptions referring to bt Mpš/Mopsus and related classical sources. The popularity of the genre in the ancient Mediterranean is striking in light of the fact that, while experiencing tribal migrations and wanderings, the great Mesopotamian and Egyptian kingdoms never represented themselves as "immigrants." It is suggested that this genre may have emerged with the rise of the new, small-scale kingdoms in the Mediterranean basin toward the end of the second millennium b.c.e. The Phoenician and Greek colonization enterprises of the first third of the first millennium b.c.e. in particular increased awareness of the newly emerging states and focused attention on ethnic identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article will discuss the volitive mood of the blessings found in the Phoenician and Luwian inscriptions of Azatiwada. Within the framework of a linguistic approach to the text, I will examine textlevel syntax, genre and influences between the Phoenician/Luwian bilingual inscriptions within their cultic context. All of these components help establish the volitive mood of the blessings within the inscriptions. It will be demonstrated that we are witnessing blessings beyond the parameters of the indicative mood of past events. These elements are established by the combination of the factors listed above and contribute to the composition and shaping of the texts as a whole, all of which maintain an ongoing cultic function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]