Masub inscription | |
---|---|
Created | 221 BC in Umm al-Amad, Ptolemaic Kingdom |
Discovered | 1887 Northern Israel |
Present location | The Louvre |
Language | Phoenician |
The Ma'sub inscription is a Phoenician-language inscription found at Khirbet Ma'sub (French: Masoub) near Al-Bassa. [1] The inscription is from 222/21 BC. [2] [1] Written in Phoenician script, [3] it is also known as KAI 19. [4]
It is considered by the Louvre to originate from Umm al-Amad, Lebanon, around 6-7 km to the northwest of Kh. Ma'sub, on the basis of the reference to an Astarte temple in the inscription; such a temple has been excavated at the Lebanese site. [2] [5] This theory is contra the original provenance statement by Clermont-Ganneau and has also been recently contested by Friedman and Ecker, who see no reason to construe a new provenance and suggest that a second Astarte temple, a twin to the northern one from Umm al-Amad, was built at the southern entrance to the Ladder of Tyre pass, i.e. at or near Ma'sub, thus creating a ritual "bracket" for the pass. [2] In Dunand and Duru's catalogue of Umm al-Amad inscriptions, it is number iv. [6]
The inscription is given as: [7] [8]
PLY
’Š
BN
H’LM
ML’K
MLK
-th (side), which the ʾElim (gods), the envoys of (the divine couple) Milk-
L‘ŠTRT
B’ŠRT
’L
ḤMN
to ʿAshtart, in the holy courtyard of the god Ḥammon
YM
ŠLŠ
ḤMŠM
ŠT
L‘M
[ṢR]
-phoi (literally "the gods-brothers"), (in the) three-(and)-fiftieth year of the people of [ Tyre],
KM’Š
BN
’YT
KL
’ḤRY
[HMQ]
as also they built all of the other tem-
[DŠ]M
’Š
B’RṢ
LKN
LM
L[SKR]
-ples which are in the land, to be to them for [memory]
[WŠM
N‘M
‘D]
‘LM
[and good name for] eternity.