The Sfire or Sefire steles are three 8th-century BCE basalt stelae containing
Aramaic inscriptions discovered near
Al-Safirah ("Sfire") near
Aleppo,
Syria.[1] The Sefire treaty inscriptions are the three inscriptions on the steles; they are known as
KAI 222-224.[2] A fourth stele, possibly from Sfire, is known as KAI 227 (the "Starcky Tablet", at the Louvre).[3]
Discovery of the inscriptions
Sefire I
Discovered in 1930, it is held in the
National Museum of Damascus. 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. 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.[4][5][6]
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 inscriptions
The inscriptions record two treaties that "list curses and magical rites which take effect if the treaty is violated."[7]
One is a treaty between two minor kings, Barga'yah and Matti'el, who hailed from the southwestern periphery of the
Assyrian empire.[8] In the text, Matti'el swears to accept dire consequences for himself and his cities should he violate the stipulations of the treaty:[8]
".... As this wax is consumed by fire, thus Ma[tti'el] shall be consumed b[y fi]re. As this bow and these arrows are broken, thus Inurta and
Hadad (= names of local deities) shall break [the bow of Matti'el] and the bows of his nobles. As a man of wax is blinded, thus Matti'el shall be blinded. [As] this calf is cut up, thus Matti'el and his nobles shall be cut up."[8]
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 throughout the 8th and 7th centuries BCE.[8]
The inscriptions may, under one possible interpretation, record the names of El and
Elyon, "God, God Most High" possibly providing prima facie evidence for a distinction between the two deities first worshipped by the
Jebusites in
Jerusalem, and then elsewhere throughout the ancient Levant.[9]
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 have perceived
Canaanite influences in the text, while Dennis McCarthy has noted similarities to second millennium BCE treaties imposed by
Hittite kings on Syrian vassals.[10]
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 tradition of treaty-making.[11] The Sefire inscriptions are of interest to those studying beliefs and practices in ancient
Syria and
Palestine and the text is considered notable for constituting "the best extrabiblical source for
West Semitic traditions of covenantal blessings and curses."[1]
They tell of "The treaty of King Bar-ga'yah of K[a]t[a]k, with Mati'el son of Attarsamak, king of Arpad." Some have identified this as the treaty of "Ashurnerari V" (
Adad-nirari III or his son
Tiglath-pileser III?) of Assyria and
Matiilu (unknown) of
Arpad (probably modern
Tel Rifaat, Syria).[12]
Gallery
KAI 227, "Starcky Tablet", AO 21063
References
^
abKaufman, Stephen A. (1992).
"Languages (Aramaic)"(PDF). In Freedman, David Noel; et al. (eds.). Anchor Bible Dictionary. Vol. 4/IV: K-N (First ed.). Doubleday, Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group. pp. 173-178 [note that the PDF pagination doesn't match the book pagination].
ISBN0-385-19362-9.
LCCN91-8385.
OCLC23145434. Archived from
the original(PDF) on November 4, 2005.
^Fitzmyer, Joseph A. (1995). "Bibliography".
The Aramaic Inscriptions of Sefire. Biblica et Orientalia. Vol. 19/A (Second/Revised ed.). Roma, Italia: Editrice Pontifico Istituto Biblico / St. Martin's Press.
ISBN978-88-7653-347-1.
^Rosenthal, Franz (1969). "Canaanite and Aramaic Inscriptions: Political Documents, The Treaty Between KTK and ARPAD". In Pritchard, James Bennett (ed.). The Ancient Near East: Supplementary Texts and Pictures Relating to the Old Testament. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 224 [660].
LCCN78-76500.
OCLC54930. In Sfire II A 9, lions seem to be mentioned in the same context, offering a good parallel to [...] / (Sfire II C) (While most of the preserved text of Sfire II A and B permits a coherent translation only where the missing links can be supplied on the basis of Sfire I and III, the concluding portion is quite clear.)
^Folmer, Margaretha L. (2008). "The Use and Form of the nota objecti in Jewish Palestinian Aramaic Inscriptions". Written at Wiesbaden. In Gzella, Holger; Folmer, Margaretha L. (eds.).
Aramaic in Its Historical and Linguistic Setting. Veröffentlichungen der Orientalischen Kommission. Vol. 50. Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur. Mainz: Otto Harrassowitz. p. 153.
ISBN978-3-447-05787-5.
ISSN0568-4447. personal names: Sfire II, C, 14; place names: Zkr B:10, 11 and perhaps B 4; Sfire II, C, 5;
^Folmer, M. L. (1995). "Chapter IV, Morpho-syntactic and syntactic studies; 4.10, The independent pronoun pl.3m. hmw functioning as the direct object of a finite verb form".
The Aramaic Language in the Achaemenid Period: A Study in Linguistic Variation. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta. Vol. 68. Leuven, Belgium: Uitgeverij Peeters en Department Oosterse Studies [Peeters Press & Department of Oriental Studies]. p. 427.
ISBN978-90-6831-740-4. D. 1995/0602/88. 638 In combination with the infinitive (hbzthm Sfire ii B 7)
^Jeffers, Ann (1996). "Chapter One. Prolegomena. A Search for Definitions and Methodology: 4. Methodology". Magic and Divination in Ancient Palestine and Syria. Studies in the history and culture of the ancient Near East. Vol. VIII/8. Leiden / New York / Köln: E. J. Brill. p. 18.
ISBN90-04-10513-1.
ISSN0169-9024.
LCCN95-49418.
^Grosby, Steven Elliott (2002). "Chapter 5: Borders, Territory, and Nationality in the Ancient Near East and Armenia".
Biblical Ideas of Nationality: Ancient and Modern. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns. p. 126.
ISBN9781575060651.
LCCN2002009253. 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) ...
Fitzmyer, Joseph A. (1967). The Aramaic Inscriptions of Sefîre. Biblica et Orientalia (sacra scriptura antiquitatibus orientalibus illustrata). Vol. 19. Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute.
OCLC467201.