Levantine Epigraphy and Phoenicia: the Kingdoms of Aradus, Byblos, Sidon and Tyre during the Achaemenid Period

André Lemaire

Levantine Epigraphy and History in the Achaemenid Period (539-322 BCE)

André Lemaire

Print publication date: 2015

Print ISBN-13: 9780197265895

Published to British Academy Scholarship Online: May 2016

DOI: 10.5871/bacad/9780197265895.001.0001

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Levantine Epigraphy and Phoenicia: the Kingdoms of Aradus, Byblos, Sidon and Tyre during the Achaemenid Period

Chapter:: (p.1) I Levantine Epigraphy and Phoenicia: the Kingdoms of Aradus, Byblos, Sidon and Tyre during the Achaemenid Period
Source:: Levantine Epigraphy and History in the Achaemenid Period (539-322 BCE)
Author(s):: André Lemaire
Publisher:: British Academy

DOI:10.5871/bacad/9780197265895.003.0001

Abstract and Keywords

Our knowledge of Phoenicia during the Achaemenid period has made important progresses during the last thirty-five years thanks to new epigraphic discoveries and researches: the succession of several kings has been précised as well as the chronology of their reigns and the extent of their kingdoms. Although all of them used the Phoenician language and writing in their administration, each kingdom kept its originality within the huge Achaemenid empire with various orientations of their political, economic and religious spheres. Their political, economic and cultural influence was very strong on Persian period Cisjordan, especially in Galilee, the Sharon plain and Ashkalon.

Keywords: Epigraphy, Numismatics, Phoenician, Byblos, Sidon, Tyre, Galilee, kerub, marzeaḥ

For a long time, the Achaemenid period has been considered a sort of ‘dark age’ after the fall of Jerusalem in 587 and the fall of the Babylonian empire in 539, and before the arrival of Alexander in 332. However, since 1980, several groups of researchers have tried to concentrate their research on this period and to collect every bit of evidence on it.

This has been especially the case in Paris with the Association pour la Recherche sur la Syrie-Palestine à l’époque perse (ASPEP), headed by Josette Elayi with the publication of a review, Transeuphratène,¹ and a series of supplements to this review, as well as several international colloquiums. As Josette Elayi concentrated her personal research on the numismatics and history of Phoenicia during the Persian period,² it is only right that I mention her name at the beginning of this chapter.

When speaking about Phoenicia, one has to remember that Phoenicia was never unified politically but did have some kind of common culture, at least regarding its gods and its script tradition. During the Achaemenid period, Phoenicia was a group of four kingdoms: Aradus, Byblos, Sidon and Tyre. These kingdoms were not new, but they maintained a surprising level of cultural and political autonomy within the Persian Empire while many other territories became provinces administered by governors. The main reason was probably that the Persian ‘king of kings’ had to rely on the Phoenician navy in his wars against Greece in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Phoenician kings were ready to fight for him at the head of their navy.

(p.2) What light has been shed recently by the inscriptions from these four kingdoms? We shall proceed from the north downwards to get progressively nearer to Palestine and the biblical tradition.

The Kingdom of Aradus

We shall deal very briefly with the kingdom of Aradus,³ where the number of Phoenician inscriptions is generally very limited, including during the Achaemenid period. In fact for this period we know only two kings for certain: Maharba῾al (c.480) and Ger῾ashtart (c.339–333)⁴ and perhaps the names of two others: ῾Ozbaal (father of Maharba῾al) and ῾Abd῾ashtart (father of Ger῾ashtart?), perhaps indicated on the coins by the legend M᾿῾.⁵ Furthermore, the name of another king, predecessor of Ger῾ashtart, may be abbreviated on coins with the letter N.⁶ For this period, we have no Phoenician inscriptions from the island of Aradus itself and only a few from Marathus, on the coast, 5 km south-east of Tartous and famous for its cultic site, the Maabed. In 1985 Maurice Dunand and Nessib Saliby published two new⁷ Phoenician inscriptions from this sanctuary.⁸ Both inscriptions are difficult to read:⁹ they are apparently votive inscriptions and both end with the formula KSM῾ QL[, (p.3)

Figure 1.1. MRT/Amrit seal.

Moussaieff Collection.

Figure 1.2. Aradus coin.

Private collection.

‘for he heard the voice (…)’. The addressee of the second inscription, incised on the leg of a limestone statue, is clearly the god Eshmun, presiding over health and healing, as is fitting for the Maabed.

To these two Marathus inscriptions, one may add an unprovenanced and broken seal, now in the Moussaieff Collection, with the inscription MRT, probably ‘(A)mrit’, above a lion (Figure 1.1).¹⁰ Furthermore the Phoenician graffiti found in Al-Mina¹¹ probably indicate that this town was part of the kingdom of Aradus.¹²

Aradus started minting coins (Figure 1.2) ‘around the end of the third quarter of the 5th cent.’.¹³ A few Aradus coins have been found in Palestinian hoards (Akko, Gaza, Samaria), but most of them were found in Northern Syria, Northern Lebanon and as far away as Susa.¹⁴ This diffusion of the Aradus coins probably reveals that this kingdom had little commercial and cultural influence in Palestine.

(p.4) The Kingdom of Byblos

Byblos is famous for its Phoenician royal inscriptions from the beginning of the 1st millennium BCE.¹⁵ It is also well known in epigraphy textbooks for the royal inscriptions of the son of Shipitbaal (III), Yeḥawmilk, and Batnoam, as well as an apparently anonymous king from the Persian period,¹⁶ and a Babylonian governor, Rikis-kalâmu-Bēl, during the reign of Darius I.¹⁷ Another, unfortunately nonprovenanced inscription, published in 2003,¹⁸ now throws some light on the beginning of this period. The 22 lines of this inscription are incised on a silver amulet (16 cm long and 4.6 cm wide; Figures 1.3 and 1.4):

(p.5)

Figure 1.3. Byblian amulet.

Moussaieff Collection.

Figure 1.4. Byblian amulet facsimile.

(p.6)

1 LRBT L῾ŠTRT
2 RBT GBL ND῾R
3 ῾BDK RKB᾿Š
4 BN ῾BD῾ŠTRT
5 HGBLY ᾿Š NDR
6 ᾿T NDR ᾿Z ᾿Š
7 KN ᾿NḤN BT WSS
8 L TBRK WTḤLṢ{᾿}
9 ᾿T ῾BDK WBNY᾿
10 W᾿ŠTW WBT ᾿BY᾿
11 ZN WL᾿T᾿SP
12 HMṬN Z YṬN᾿T
13 MZBḤ ῾SR YBNM
14 WŠNM ᾿LP W῾SR
15 WŠNM ῾ZM
16 WKSP ῾SRM
17 W᾿RB῾ LŠPṬB῾L
18 MLK GBL HNṢR
19 WKN RB KHNM BT
20 ᾿LM ῾ŠTRT
21 BDB῾L HKHN
22 HQDŠ

1 To my Lady ῾Ashtart
2 Lady of Byblos, vow
3 of your servant Rakabosh
4 son of ῾Abd῾ashtart
5 the Byblian who vowed
6 this vow so that
7 we, house and horse,
8 belong to her. May she bless and save
9 your servant and his sons
10 and his wife (wives) and this house of his fathers!
11 And for the meeting
12 I presented this offering,
13 offering in sacrifice ten rams
14 and two oxen and
15 twelve goats,
16 as well as silver: twenty-17 four (shekels) for Shipitbaal
18 king of Byblos, the protector.
19 And the chief of the priests of the temple
20 of the deity ῾Ashtart was
21 Bodbaal, the holy
22 priest.

From the palaeography of this inscription, it probably dates from the second half of the 6th century, or, at the latest, around 500 BCE. The king of Byblos (p.7)

Figure 1.5. Byblian amulet, lines 16–18.

mentioned in lines 17–18 is Shipitbaal (Figure 1.5). He is apparently the same as the one mentioned in the inscription of the son of Shipitbaal (KAI 9), confirming that the father was also king. As he is the third king of Byblos with this name, we should call him Shipitbaal III.¹⁹ From this inscription, we learn that he was the protector of the temple of ῾Ashtart and, as such, received silver, at least when there were important sacrifices there.

From the inscription, the purpose of this amulet was to put Rakabosh and his house under the protection of the great goddess of Byblos, ῾Ashtart, called the ‘Lady of Byblos (RBT GBL)’ (line 2). This title also appears on another unprovenanced inscription, this time on a seal published by P. Bordreuil and E. Gubel,²⁰ but the literary genre,²¹ the language and the script of this inscribed seal are problematic.²²

(p.8) The size of the silver amulet does not accord with its being a personal one,²³ as it is clearly too heavy to hang from the neck. It was probably fixed, one way or another, at the entrance of the house. One may compare this house amulet to the small inscribed gold sheath (6.7 cm long; 22 mm diameter) found at the entrance of the royal palace of Kulamuwa at Zencirli (9th century).²⁴ In a way, this Phoenician house amulet may also be compared to the later practice of the mezuzot in the Jewish tradition,²⁵ a practice already well attested at Qumran.²⁶

Furthermore, in this inscription, Bodbaal receives a double title, first RB KHNM (line 19) and second HKHN HQDŠ (lines 21–22; Figure 1.6). The title HKHN HQDŠ, ‘the holy priest’, seems to be new in Phoenician epigraphy and could be the personal title of Bodbaal, probably belonging to a famous family of priests, while the title RB KHNM, ‘chief of the priests’,²⁷ which is used for dating, could be more limited in time and in space (in the temple of ῾Ashtart, Lady of Byblos). This might possibly be compared with the role of the High Priest in the Jewish tradition of the Second Temple period.

(p.9)

Figure 1.6. Byblian amulet, lines 19–22.

Thanks to this inscription completing the previous ones, it is now possible to propose a provisional succession of the Byblian kings in the first part of the Persian period:²⁸

• Shipitbaal III: end of the 6th century
• Urimilk II: beginning of the 5th century
• Yeḥarbaal: c.466
• Yeḥawmilk: c.450.²⁹

The succession of the kings of Byblos in the second part of the Persian period is known by their coins, which have been studied in detail by J. Elayi, by establishing the correct sequence of the coins minted in Byblos from slightly before 450.³⁰ The abbreviation MY appearing on the first coins is probably to be interpreted as M(LK) Y(ḤWMLK), ‘k(ing) Ye(ḥawmilk)’.³¹ Although there may be a gap in our (p.10)

Figure 1.7. Elpaal coin.

Cabinet des Médailles, Paris.

Figure 1.8. ῾Ozbaal coin.

Courtesy J. Elayi.

Figure 1.9. Urimilk coin.

Courtesy J. Elayi.

Figure 1.10. ῾Aynel coin.

Courtesy J. Elayi.

knowledge of the kings after Yeḥawmilk, the succession of the last four kings is also indicated by the coins and the legends on the coins:³² Elpaal (᾿LP῾L, c.404–395; Figure 1.7), ῾Ozbaal (῾ZB῾L, abbreviated ῾Z, c.394–354; Figure 1.8), Urimilk (᾿WRMLK, abbreviated ᾿K, c.353–351; Figure 1.9) and ῾Aynel (῾YN᾿L, abbreviated῾ or ῾L, c.351–333/2; Figure 1.10).³³ One may note that the third king of this series has, up to now, generally been read as Addirmilk (᾿DRMLK), but during our publication with J. Elayi of an important hoard from Byblos, we noted that the head of the second letter was never closed and always open, so that it has to be read as W and not as D.³⁴ In fact ‘Urimilk’ (᾿WRMLK, here with the mater (p.11) lectionis³⁵ W) already appears twice among the names of Byblian kings, and this Urimilk should be called Urimilk III.

Hence, although the list might still be incomplete, we now know eight kings of Byblos: in chronological order, Shipitbaal III, Urimilk II, Yeḥarbaal, Yeḥawmilk, Elpaal, ῾Ozbaal, Urimilk III and ῾Aynel.

The Kingdom of Sidon

From the 19th century, Phoenician Sidonian epigraphy³⁶ during the Persian period has been famous thanks to funerary inscriptions on the black basalt sarcophagus of the kings Tabnit and Eshmun῾azor (Figure 1.11).³⁷ Since their publication, however, there has been much debate about their date. For instance, in 1903 G. A. Cooke dated Tabnit ‘circ. 300 BC’, while, for J. C. L. Gibson in 1982, Tabnit reigned ‘500–490’,³⁸ and for Röllig (KAI 13 and 14 in 1968), the Tabnit inscription is to (p.12)

Map 1. Persian-period Southern Levant.

Courtesy Y. Shalev and S. R. Martin (‘Crisis as Opportunity: Phoenician Urban Renewal after the Babylonians’, Trans. 41 (2012), 81–100 at 97).

(p.13)

Figure 1.11. Eshmun῾azor sarcophagus.

Louvre Museum, AO 4806.

be dated to the end of the 6th century and the Eshmun῾azor inscription to the beginning of the 5th century. The chronological problem has been studied again by J. Elayi in her book about Sidon,³⁹ where she proposed the second third of the 6th century. In fact, taking into account also the numerous inscriptions of king Bod῾ashtart, she proposed placing the whole Eshmun῾azor dynasty in the 6th century: Eshmun῾azor I and Tabnit in the second third of the 6th century, and the regency of Im῾ashtart and co-regency with her son Eshmun῾azor II, Bod῾ashtart and possibly his son Yatonmilk in the last third of the 6th century (or the beginning of the 5th for Yatonmilk).⁴⁰ This proposition seems to be confirmed by the publication of the excavations of the sanctuary of Eshmun by Maurice Dunand under the direction of Rolf A. Stucky:⁴¹

Der terminus post quem für den Bau des jüngeren Podiums ergibt sich somit aus dem Datum des jüngsten unter ihm gefundenen Objekts, eines cyprischen Opferträgers der Jahre um 530 v. Chr. Unter Einberechnung einer gewissen Zeitspanne, während der die Statuette im Heiligtum gestanden hat, lässt sich der Baubeginnn des jüngeren Podiums annähernd ins letzte Viertel des 6. Jahrhunderts oder rund um 500 v. Chr. (p.14) datieren. Der von M. Dunand postulierte zeitliche Ansatz des ersten Podiums ins erste oder zweite Drittel des 6. Jahrhunderts v. Chr. deckt sich somit mit dem stratigraphischen Befund der alten Grabungen. Unter der Voraussetzung, dass Eshmunazor II. und Amaschtart tatsächlich die Errichtung dieses Podiums veranlassten, stimmt der archäologische Befund mit dem früheren Ansatz der Titulatur des ‘Herrn der Könige’ um 525 v. Chr. und einer Schenkung von Dor, Joppe und der Ebene von Scharon durch Kambyses überein.

In fact, the detailed analysis of the archaeological context of the discovery of the Bod῾ashtart inscriptions also confirms this approximate high dating.⁴² The inscriptions of Bod῾ashtart have been studied in detail several times during the last thirty years by J. Elayi,⁴³ B. André-Salvini and P. Bordreuil,⁴⁴ as well as C. Bonnet and P. Xella.⁴⁵ The Bod῾ashtart inscription still in situ in the sanctuary of Bustan esh-Sheikh also mentions his son Yatonmilk as co-regent and is probably the latest one, as recently proposed by Paolo Xella and José-Ángel Zamora.⁴⁶ It reads:

1 MLK BD῾ŠTRT WBN ṢDQ YTNMLK MLK ṢDNM
2 BN BN MLK ᾿ŠMN῾ZR MLK ṢDNM ᾿YT HBT Z
3 BN L᾿LY L᾿ŠMN ŠR QDŠ

1 King Bod῾ashtart and⁴⁷ his lawful son Yatonmilk, king of the Sidonians,
2 grandson of king Eshmun῾azor, king of the Sidonians, built this temple
3 for his god Eshmun, Holy Prince.⁴⁸

New light has also been thrown on the importance of the works performed by Bod῾ashtart based on the publication in 2004 of an inscription which had been mentioned by Maurice Chehab at the First Congress of Phoenician and Punic Studies in 1979.⁴⁹ This inscription was engraved in the rock above the river Nahr (p.15)

Figure 1.12. Nahr al-Awwali Bod῾ashtart inscription facsimile.

Courtesy P. Xella and J. Á. Zamora López.

al-Awwali some 3 km east of the Eshmun temple (Figure 1.12). Although the inscription itself is now probably under water, Xella and Zamora were able to publish a preliminary study of this difficult inscription from old pictures kept in the Direction Générale des Antiquités du Liban.⁵⁰ It is dated ‘in the seventh year of king Bod῾ashtart’ (line 1) and apparently mentions works to bring the water from the river to the sanctuary of Bustan esh-Sheikh.

A new kind of Phoenician inscription was also found in Sidon: in 2005 Hans-Peter Mathys published the new Phoenician inscriptions discovered during the excavations of Bustan esh-Sheikh by M. Dunand, within the general volume that published the excavations by R. A. Stucky.⁵¹ First of all were several votive, often fragmentary, inscriptions (Ph1–Ph23).⁵² They were engraved before the revolt of Tennes (c.350) and most of them probably date to the first half of the 4th century. Besides these classical votive inscriptions, Mathys also published in detail a new kind of Phoenician inscription found in Bustan esh-Sheikh: magical squares⁵³ or, as named by Mathys himself, ῾Ashtart-squares (Figure 1.13).

(p.16)

Figure 1.13. Sidonian ῾Ashtart-square. Ph24a.

Courtesy Maurice Dunand Fund.

To understand these inscriptions, let us look at the better-preserved inscription Ph24, the clearest ῾Ashtart-square. The main part of it consists of a five-letter square where the five letters of the name of the goddess ῾ Š T R T are engraved horizontally on the top line and vertically as the first letters of the five lines. This magical square contains 25 letters: the letters are engraved stoichedon: they are aligned horizontally and vertically, which renders possible a vertical (from top to bottom or bottom to top) as well as a horizontal reading (from right to left and from left to right). Thus, ῾ Š T R T can also be read from left to right at the last horizontal line and from bottom to top at the end of the five lines. One also notes that the deity Shamash (Š M Š) can be read four times (at the beginning of the second horizontal and vertical line, as well as at the end of the fourth horizontal and vertical line). According to the same principle, it is possible to restore another complete magical square to the left of the first one, while the restoration of another magical square below the first one is more uncertain.⁵⁴

These magical squares probably date to the first half of the 4th century. The stoichedon arrangement, together with the fact that these inscriptions are engraved on Greek (Pentelic) white marble,⁵⁵ reveals some Greek influence and we know (p.17)

Figure 1.14. Eshmun῾azor inscription, lines 11–21.

that Greek influence was especially important during the reign of ῾Abd῾ashtart I/Strato (c.365–352).⁵⁶ The script and the names of the deities, however, are clearly Phoenician and they have been discovered in a Phoenician temple. This kind of game with letters and words may have been used as a pedagogical and mnemotechnic tool to teach the religious tradition about the Phoenician deities worshipped in the temple.⁵⁷

Were such magical squares also used in the contemporaneous temple of Jerusalem? It is impossible to answer this question but what is clear is that there was some Sidonian influence in Palestine during the Persian period. In fact, the Eshmun῾azor inscription is very clear about that (Figure 1.14):

The lord of kings gave us Dor⁵⁸ and Joppa,⁵⁹ the rich lands of Dagon which are in the plain of Sharon, as a reward for the striking deeds which I performed and we added them to the borders of the land, that they might belong to the Sidonians for ever (lines 18–20).⁶⁰

(p.18)

Figure 1.15. Eliachin Phoenician inscription.

Moussaieff Collection. Courtesy R. Deutsch.

This Sidonian influence in Palestine is also confirmed by the importance of the circulation of Sidonian coins, indicated by hoards and chance finds in excavations (including Akko, Tell Keisan, Meiron, Moshav Yafit, ῾Atlit, Megiddo, Dor, Shechem, Samaria, Wadi Daliyeh, Tel Michal/Makmish, Tel Qasile, Jaffa, Abu Shusheh, Lachish, Beth-Zur and Gaza).⁶¹ Finally, the Phoenician and more precisely Sidonian influence in the Sharon plain may explain the presence of a 5th-century Phoenician inscription in the sanctuary of Eliachin in the Central Sharon plain⁶² together with Aramaic inscriptions (Figure 1.15). It is incised on the outside rim of a bronze bowl and reads: (p.19)

᾿Š YTN ᾿ŠMNYTN WMGN WB῾LPLS L᾿DNNM L῾ŠTRM

That Eshmunyaton and Magon and Baalpiles have given to their Lord ῾Ashtarum.⁶³

From the Aramaic inscriptions, we know that the dedication was more precisely to ‘῾Ashtarum who is in the Sharon’,⁶⁴ and some of the authors of the Aramaic votive inscriptions seem to have Arabic names: this sanctuary may have been used by Minaean people trading along the Mediterranean coast.⁶⁵ In this context, the deity ῾Ashtarum could be either an Arabic deity⁶⁶ or the deity ῾Ashtar with an archaic ending -M.⁶⁷

In a more general way, the corpus of Sidonian coinage during the Persian period published by J. A. Elayi and A. G. Elayi⁶⁸ reveals that it started shortly after 450. King Baalshillem II started to engrave the year of his reign on his coins from his year 30, that is 372. This dated coinage allows us to propose a chronology for the last kings of Sidon from the middle of the 5th century: Baalshillem I, ῾Abdamon, Baana (Figure 1.16), Baalshillem II⁶⁹ (c.401–366; Figure 1.17), ῾Abd῾ashtart I (p.20)

Figure 1.16. Baana coin.

Courtesy J. Elayi.

Figure 1.17. Baalshillem II coin.

Courtesy J. Elayi.

Figure 1.18. ῾Abd῾ashtart I coin.

Courtesy J. Elayi.

Figure 1.19. Tennes coin.

Courtesy J. Elayi.

Figure 1.20. ῾Abd῾ashtart II coin.

Courtesy J. Elayi.

(p.21)

Figure 1.21. Sidonian Mazday coin.

Courtesy J. Elayi.

(c.365–352; Figure 1.18),⁷⁰ Tennes (c.351–347; Figure 1.19), Evagoras II (?)⁷¹ (c.346–343), ῾Abd῾ashtart II (c.342–333; Figure 1.20).⁷²

The detail of this chronology is still sometimes discussed. That is especially the case for the revolt of Tennes around the middle of the 4th century.⁷³ The end of this revolt is generally tied to the beginning of the Sidonian coinage of Mazday, satrap of Trans-Euphrates and Cilicia, whose name is written in Aramaic on the coins (Figure 1.21).⁷⁴ This coinage is dated, apparently from 1 to 21, but only the dates 1–3 and 16, 18, 20 and 21 seem to be certain.⁷⁵ These dates have been interpreted in two ways:

• The dates indicate the years of Mazday as satrap in Sidon (353–333?).⁷⁶
• The dates indicate the years of the contemporaneous Persian kings: Artaxerxes III (16–21 = 343–338), Arses/Artaxerxes IV (337–336) and Darius III (335–333).⁷⁷

(p.22) As long as there is no clear attestation of the years 4–15, it seems to me that the second interpretation is still preferable, since we have no epigraphic parallel for a dating according to the years of a satrap.⁷⁸

Round about the middle of the 4th century, the revolt of Tennes had catastrophic results for the city of Sidon. As a consequence, Tyre became the main Phoenician city of the Levant.

The Kingdom of Tyre

In his History of Tyre, H. Jacob Katzenstein stopped at the end of the Neo-Babylonian period and only later published a short paper about the beginning of the Persian period.⁷⁹ However, we have no recent synthesis about the history of Tyre during the Persian period, partly because of shortage of documentation. The documentation about Tyre recently grew for the first part of the millennium with the discovery of the cemetery of Tyre-al-Bass with its numerous Phoenician stelae from the end of the 10th until the early 6th century,⁸⁰ probably until the siege of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar over a thirteen-year period (c.586/5–573).⁸¹ It also grew significantly over the last thirty years for the Persian period. Besides three probably unprovenanced amulets⁸² and three Punic funerary stelae that reveal the importance (p.23)

Figure 1.22. Fragmentary Phoenician inscription on a votive boat.

Moussaieff Collection.

of the relations between Tyre and Carthage,⁸³ we may present two inscriptions mentioning Tyrian kings, unfortunately both also unprovenanced.⁸⁴

I published the first one ten years ago.⁸⁵ It is a long line engraved on the outside rim of a stone (malachite) model of a boat,⁸⁶ probably of a Phoenician trading boat (gaulos; Figure 1.22). Unfortunately the boat and the inscription are fragmentary.

… B]RK ṢR WḤLṢ ṢDNM M῾BM WBL P῾L ᾿M MLK ᾿TB῾L BN HMLK ḤRM MLK ṢR

… he has b]lessed Tyre and saved Sidonians⁸⁷ from thick clouds and has not terrified king Ittobaal, son of the King Ḥirom, king of Tyre.

The palaeography is similar to that of the Tabnit inscription and dates the inscription to about the second third of the 6th century.

(p.24) Today, we know of four kings called Ḥirom:⁸⁸

• Ḥirom I c.969–929
• Ḥirom II c.736–729
• Ḥirom III c.551–532
• Ḥirom IV c.500.

Until now Ḥirom III was known only from Josephus, Against Apion I.158, probably copied from Menander of Ephesus:

… his subjects sent to Babylon and fetched from there Merbal, who reigned four years; and on his death, they sent for his brother Ḥirom, who reigned twenty years. It was in his reign that Cyrus became monarch of Persia.

His reign would fit perfectly with the approximate date of the inscription. Until now also his son Ittobaal, here with the title ‘king’, was unknown, since we have no clear information about the succession of the kings of Tyre between 532 and 480. If Ittobaal the son of Ḥirom III reigned after his father, he became Ittobaal IV and reigned from c.532 onwards.

Furthermore, in 480 the king of Tyre was apparently ‘Mattan (III) son of Ḥirom’.⁸⁹ If, as is probable, Ḥirom the father of Mattan reigned over Tyre, we have, at the beginning of the Persian period, the probable succession:

• Ḥirom III (c.551–532)
• Ittobaal IV (532–?)
• Ḥirom IV
• Mattan III (c.480).

Until now we had no information about the kings of Tyre between 480 and the king who inaugurated the Tyrian coinage around 450. Furthermore, the abbreviations on the coins do not enable us to identify the names of the kings of Tyre until the middle of the 4th century. Some information on this large gap can now be found in another Phoenician inscription which I have just published.⁹⁰

This inscription is engraved on a deity throne,⁹¹ sometimes also referred to as an ‘Astarte throne’.⁹² Actually a better definition, as shown by this new inscription, (p.25)

Figure 1.23. Phoenician inscribed sphinx throne.

Private collection.

Figure 1.24. Kerubim throne Phoenician inscription.

is kerubim or sphinx throne (Figure 1.23).⁹³ This kind of sphinx throne is especially famous because such a throne apparently indicated the presence of YHWH Sabaoth in Solomon’s temple.⁹⁴ This stone throne is characterised by armrests in the shape of a striding winged sphinx.

A Phoenician inscription of six lines (Figure 1.24) is engraved in scriptio continua on the front of the base of the throne, between the two sphinxes:

1 KS᾿ KRBM ᾿Z P῾L ῾BD᾿LNM
2 BN ṢDYTN KHN MLQRT BN BD῾ŠTRT
3 RB ᾿LP B῾L MTT ῾ŠTRNY BN MLK
4 ḤRM L᾿DNY LMLQRT YBRK BY
5 RḤ MRZḤ BŠTM L῾SRM ŠT LMLK
6 Y MLK MHRB῾L

(p.26) 1 This kerubim throne made ῾Abdalonim
2 son of Ṣidyaton, priest of Milqart, son of Bod῾ashtart,
3 chief of a thousand, master of the gift of Astronoe, son of king
4 Ḥirom, for his lord Milqart. May He bless him! In
5 the month of Marzeaḥ, in year twenty-two of the reign
6 of king Maharba῾al.

The identification of the kerubim is obvious here and confirms the identification previously proposed by practically all scholars. What is new is that this throne is dedicated to the god Milqart, clearly showing that this kind of throne is really a divine throne and not only an ‘Astarte throne’.

The personal name of the dedicator, ῾Abdalonim, and his patronym, Ṣidyaton, are well known in Phoenician onomastics.⁹⁵ The dedicator does not have any title but his father is ‘priest of Milqart’, the main god of Tyre. This office was therefore very important: the ‘priest of Milqart’ could well have been the second person of rank after the king, at least in the 9th century.⁹⁶ He could potentially become king in the 6th century.⁹⁷ The title ‘priest of Milqart’ probably refers to the priest of the main temple of Tyre, which was visited by Herodotus in the 5th century,⁹⁸ about the time of the inscription (below, pp. 28–9).

The grandfather of the dedicator, ‘Bod῾ashtart’, was ‘chief of a thousand (RB ᾿LP)’. This Phoenician title is already known from an 11th-century arrowhead⁹⁹ and probably indicates a high military position. He has a second title: B῾L MTT ῾ŠTRNY, ‘Master of the gift (of) Astronoe’. This title is new and probably pertains to cult (like the title of his son ‘priest of Milqart’). So far ῾ŠTRNY is attested only in the much-discussed double title MQM ᾿LM MTRḤ ῾ŠTRNY,¹⁰⁰ often translated (p.27) ‘the one who wakes up the god(s), the husband of Astronoe/Astarte’,¹⁰¹ with a possible connection with the ‘awakening (egersis) of Heracles/Milqart’, mentioned for the first time in the reign of Ḥirom I.¹⁰² This double title was apparently given to eminent people, as is the case for B῾L MTT ῾ŠTRNY in our inscription. The great-grandfather of the dedicator is none other than ‘king Ḥirom’ and one understands that he wanted to mention this in his inscription. Unfortunately we know four kings Ḥirom and it is difficult to specify which is the one mentioned in this inscription (see below, p. 28–9).

At the end of line 4, the request for a blessing of the dedicator by Milqart can be compared with the gesture of blessing by the god (probably Milqart) on several Phoenician seals.¹⁰³

The inscription ends with the indication of the date: month and year. The month is the ‘month of Marzeaḥ (YRḤ MRZḤ)’. This month appears also in an inscription from the Piraeus (KAI 60:1) but was only identified as such by E. Lipiński.¹⁰⁴ Other commentators interpreted it as the name of a festival several days long.¹⁰⁵ Actually (p.28) the marzeaḥ is a well-known Northwest Semitic institution attested in Phoenician,¹⁰⁶ in Biblical Hebrew¹⁰⁷ and in Aramaic,¹⁰⁸ especially in Palmyrene¹⁰⁹ and Nabataean¹¹⁰ inscriptions, and it has often been discussed.¹¹¹ This inscription seems to reveal that it was important enough in one month to give its name to the month. Unfortunately it is difficult to specify the place of this month in the Phoenician calendar, which is not well known.¹¹² After the month, the date is completed by the indication of the year of reign, according to the usual way of dating at this time. The way of expressing the number of the year of reign (ŠTM L῾SRM: ‘twenty-two’) is new in Phoenician-Punic but corresponds to the old Northwest Semitic tradition known in Ugaritic.¹¹³ For the problem of the identification of ‘king Maharba῾al’, see below.

The palaeographical dating of this inscription is difficult since we have no contemporary dated Tyrian inscription and we have to compare it with the palaeography of the Sidonian inscriptions: Eshmun῾azor II (c.530), Bod῾ashtart (c.525–500) and Baalshillem II (c.401–376). This palaeographical comparison, especially of the letters Y, L, S, Š, and T, seems to show that this inscription is to be dated in the 5th century, perhaps more precisely in the first half of this century but that is uncertain.¹¹⁴

(p.29) In this context, we may now try to identify the two Tyrian kings mentioned in the inscription: Ḥirom (line 4) and Maharba῾al (line 6). The last one is apparently contemporaneous with the inscription and reigned at least twenty-two years while the first one is the great-grandfather of ῾Abdalonim, the dedicator. If the palaeography clearly indicates the 5th century for the inscription, perhaps more precisely the first half or the middle of this century, king Ḥirom of line 4 is probably Ḥirom III who was mentioned in the previous inscription and ruled c.551–532. In this context, Maharba῾al¹¹⁵ is probably the successor of Mattan III who was king around 480. Maharba῾al himself probably ruled at least twenty-two years in the second quarter or the middle of the 5th century and we have the probable but perhaps still incomplete succession of the Tyrian kings throughout one century:

• Ḥirom III (c.551–532)
• Ittobaal IV (532–?)
• Ḥirom IV
• Mattan III (c.480)
• Maharba῾al II (c.475–450?).

However, because of the approximate nature of the palaeographical dating, a succession Ḥirom IV, Mattan III (c.480), anonymous king (c.475–450?), Maharba῾al II (c.450–425?) cannot be excluded. In either case, it is possible that Herodotus visited Tyre under (the end or beginning of?) the reign of Maharba῾al II.¹¹⁶

From about 450 Tyre minted its own coinage.¹¹⁷ Unfortunately, although Tyre was the first authority to date coins, around 388,¹¹⁸ the abbreviations used are generally obscure to us. We can propose only two more or less probable identifications:

1 The letter ῾ on coins from the first half of the 4th century could be an abbreviation for ῾Abd῾ashtart/Straton, a king chosen by the slaves during their revolt in the first half of the 4th century, according to Justinus.¹¹⁹
2 The same letter on the last series of pre-Alexander Tyrian coins is clearly the abbreviation of the Tyrian king contemporaneous with the siege of Tyre by (p.30)
Figure 1.25. ῾Azzimilk coin, year 9.
Courtesy J. Elayi.
Alexander: Azemilkos¹²⁰/῾Azzimilk (Figure 1.25). He probably also reigned after Alexander conquered Tyre, as shown by the legends of the later Tyrian coinage of Alexander coins.¹²¹ From the evidence of the coins, ῾Azzimilk had a long reign of thirty-nine years, with seventeen years before Alexander conquered Tyre, probably from 348/7.¹²²

The reign of the Tyrian king ῾Azzimilk is also illustrated by at least five fiscal seals dated with ῾ and a number (from 11 to 36) in the third line. The first line is always written ῾ŠR, ‘tithe’, and the second line is engraved with the name of a town. We read so: Sarepta, Akhshaph, Beth-Zet (Figure 1.26),¹²³ Beth-Beṭen¹²⁴ and probably ‘Ṣippori of the valley’ (ṢPR GY engraved in the opposite direction; Figure 1.27).¹²⁵ These fiscal bullae reveal that the kingdom of ῾Azzimilk included Sarepta in the north and the plain of Akko¹²⁶ in the south. Furthermore, if our interpretation (p.31)

Map 2. Persian-period Galilee and Tyre.

of the last fiscal seal is right, it reveals that this kingdom included at least the western part of Galilee¹²⁷ and quite likely the whole of Galilee (Map 2), since Ṣippori was later the capital of the whole of Galilee. In fact Sepphoris was already an important town in the Persian period, as shown by the discovery of an incense (p.32)

Figure 1.26. BT ZT fiscal seal (῾Azzimilk year 33).

Private collection.

Figure 1.27. ṢPR GY fiscal seal (῾Azzimilk year 11).

Private collection.

altar from that period, a 4th-century rhyton,¹²⁸ a fragment of trilingual cuneiform inscription on a vessel, including the name ‘Arta[xerxes]’¹²⁹, and three fragmentary cuneiform tablets which are more difficult to date.¹³⁰

The political status of Galilee in the Persian period has until now been considered uncertain,¹³¹ but another small Phoenician inscription could indicate that Eastern and Upper Galilee were also under the rule of Tyrian kings. It was engraved on a bronze situla found in the sanctuary of Mizpe-Yammim in Upper Galilee,¹³² probably a sanctuary of ῾Ashtart, here apparently identified with Isis, according to the Phoenician inscription:

L῾KBR.BN.BD᾿ŠMN.᾿<Š> P῾L.L῾ŠTRT.KŠM῾.QL

To ῾Akbor son of Bodeshmun who made (it) for ῾Ashtart because (the deity) heard his voice.¹³³

(p.33) Tyrian control of Upper Galilee seems to be confirmed by the archaeological excavations of Tel Kedesh¹³⁴ and fifteen Tyrian coins in the Moshav Dalton hoard.¹³⁵

The rule of Tyre over the whole of Galilee¹³⁶ seems to accord with the importance of the circulation of Tyrian coinage in this country, with discoveries in Tel Naharya, Akko, Tell Keisan, Gush Halav, Meiron, Mizpe-Yammim, Hazor, Ḥanita, Tell Abu Hawam, Zafed, Moshav Dalton and Khirbet el-Kerak, as emphasised by J. Elayi in 1994.¹³⁷

This extension of the kingdom of Tyre in Palestine may have been even more important after the destruction of Sidon around the middle of the 4th century. After the revolt of Sidon, Tyre may have received the territories of the Sharon and Jaffa¹³⁸ that had previously been given to the king of Sidon, Eshmun῾azor, by the ‘king of kings’ (above, p. 17).¹³⁹ Furthermore, according to Pseudo-Scylax (§104), Ashkelon/Ascalon was ‘a city of Tyrians’ with a royal building (and/or representative?) (polis Tyriōn kai basileia)¹⁴⁰ and this political tie fits in with the abbreviation of the name ᾿(ŠQL)N written in Phoenician letters on the Ashkelon coinage as well as on some of the Gaza coins at the end of the Persian period.¹⁴¹ In fact several (p.34)

Figure 1.28. Phoenician inscription on jar, L 203.

Israel Museum, 91.16.170 and 175.

Phoenician inscriptions on vases and ostraca have been found in Ashkelon¹⁴² and Gaza.¹⁴³

Further inland, there is some indication of Tyrian trade in wine¹⁴⁴ as far as the Khirbet el-Kom area, about 15 km west of Hebron, where a few Phoenician inscriptions on jars were collected with about 2,000 Aramaic ostraca.¹⁴⁵ That these Phoenician inscriptions on jars are Tyrian is indicated by a probable dating to the years of ῾Azzimilk (Figure 1.28).¹⁴⁶

(p.35) As a footnote to this importance of Tyre and Sidon during the Persian period, one may mention here the fact that Tyre is mentioned in contemporary South Arabic Minaean inscriptions as a country with which they traded.¹⁴⁷

Besides material archaeology, all this new epigraphic data not only throws new light on the history and life of the four Phoenician kingdoms during the Persian period but also reveals that most of Palestine, especially Galilee and the Mediterranean coast, was then under a strong political, economic and cultural Phoenician influence. Hence, it is no surprise that the book of Nehemiah mentions the presence of Tyrians in the capital of Judah:

Tyrians living in Jerusalem also brought in fish and all kinds of merchandise and sold them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah, even in Jerusalem (Neh. 13:16).¹⁴⁸

(p.36)

Notes:

(1) Abbreviated hereafter as Trans.

(2) See recently her books: Histoire de la Phénicie (Paris, Perrin, 2013), esp. pp. 235–302: ‘Cinquième partie. La Phénicie sous la domination perse’; ead., ‘Achaemenid Persia and the Levant’, in M. L. Steiner and A. E. Killebrew (eds), The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant c. 8000–332 BCE (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 101–14; see also J. Elayi and A. G. Elayi, Phoenician Coinages, Suppl. 18 to Trans. (Paris, Gabalda, 2014).

(3) For the archaeological documents, see M. Yon and A. Caubet, ‘Arouad et Amrit viii^e–i^er siècles av. J.-C. Documents’, Trans. 6 (1993), 47–67; C. Jourdain-Annequin, ‘Héraclès-Melqart à Amrith? Un syncrétisme gréco-phénicien à l’époque perse’, Trans. 6 (1993), 69–86; J. Elayi and A. G. Elayi, ‘Quelques particularités de la culture matérielle d’Arwad au Fer III/Perse’, Trans. 18 (1999), 9–27.

(4) See J. Elayi, ‘Gerashtart, King of the Phoenician City of Arwad in the 4th cent. BC’, Numismatic Chronicle (2007), 99–104 (= ead., Phoenician Coinages, pp. 272–9).

(5) J. Elayi, ‘An Updated Chronology of the Reigns of Phoenician Kings during the Persian Period (539–333 BCE)’, Trans. 32 (2006), 11–43 at 30.

(6) J. Elayi and A. G. Elayi, ‘Un nouveau trésor d’Arwad du iv^e siècle av. J.-C.’, Revue Numismatique, 167 (2011), 403–21 at 408.

(7) Two other Phoenician inscriptions from Amrit were published in Répertoire d’épigraphie sémitique I (Paris, 1900–5), nos 56 and 234. See also E. Gubel (ed.), Art phénicien, Musée du Louvre, Département des Antiquités orientales (Paris, 2002), p. 51, no. 38.

(8) M. Dunand and N. Saliby, Le temple d’Amrith dans la pérée d’Arados, Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique, 121 (Paris, 1985), pp. 38–9, 46–7.

(9) Cf. P. Bordreuil, ‘Le dieu Echmoun dans la région d’Amrit’, in E. Gubel and E. Lipiński (eds), Phoenicia and its Neighbours, Studia Phoenicia, 3 (Leuven, Peeters, 1985), pp. 221–30; E. Puech, ‘Les inscriptions phéniciennes d’Amrit et les dieux guérisseurs du sanctuaire’, Syria, 63 (1986), 327–42; A. Lemaire, Trans. 4 (1991), 113; E. Lipiński, Dieux et déesses de l’univers phénicien et punique, Studia Phoenicia 14, OLA 64 (Leuven, Peeters, 1995), pp. 195–7; V. S. Jigoulov, The Social History of Achaemenid Phoenicia (London/Oakville, Equinox, 2010), pp. 41–3; I. Oggiano, ‘Parte secunda. La Fenicia in età persiana e il mondo “colonial”’, in I. Oggiano and T. Pedrazzi (eds), La Fenicia in età persiana: Un ponte tra il mondo iranico e il Mediterraneo, Suppl. to Rivista di Studi Fenici, 39 (Pisa/Rome, 2003), pp. 53–86, esp. 64–6. See also for the dating of the stela, S. M. Cecchini, ‘La stele di Amrit: Aspetti e problemi iconografici e iconologici’, in P. Mattiae (ed.), Studi in memoria di Henri Frankfort (1897–1954). Presentati dalla scuola romana di Archeologia Orientale, Contributi e materiali di archeologia orientale, 7 (Rome, La Sapienza, 1997), pp. 83–100.

(10) R. Deutsch and A. Lemaire, Biblical Period Personal Seals in the Shlomo Moussaieff Collection (Tel Aviv, Archaeological Center Publications, 2000), p. 108, no. 101; A. Lemaire, ‘La Transeuphratène en transition (c. 350–300)’, in P. Briant and F. Joannès (eds), La transition entre l’empire achéménide et les royaumes hellénistiques, Persika, 9 (Paris, de Boccard, 2006), pp. 405–41 at 419. This seal might be compared with a coin with a lion attributed, hypothetically, to Tripoli by J. and A. G. Elayi, ‘La première monnaie de ᾿TR/Tripolis (Tripoli, Liban)’, Trans. 5 (1992), 143–51 (= eid., Phoenician Coinages, pp. 301–9).

(11) See F. Bron and A. Lemaire, ‘Inscriptions d’Al-Mina’, in Atti del I Congresso Internazionale di Studi Fenici e Punici, III (Rome, 1983), pp. 677–86, esp. 678–84.

(12) See J. Elayi, ‘Al-Minah sur l’Oronte à l’époque perse’, in E. Lipiński (ed.), Phoenicia and the East Mediterranean in the First Millennium BC, Studia Phoenicia 5, OLA 22 (Leuven, Peeters, 1987), pp. 249–66 at 263, 265–6.

(13) J. Elayi, Trans. 32 (2006), 29; A. G. Elayi et al., ‘Analyses of the Composition of the Coinage of Arwad (5th–4th cent. BC)’, Trans. 42 (2012), 129–40 at 130; J. Elayi and A. G. Elayi, The Coinage of the Phoenician City of Arwad in the Persian Period (5th–4th Cent. BC), in preparation.

(14) J. Elayi and A. G. Elayi, Trésors de monnaies phéniciennes et circulation monétaire (V^e–IV^e siècles avant J.-C.), Suppl. 1 to Trans. (Paris, Gabalda, 1993), pp. 338–41.

(15) See recently A. Lemaire, ‘La datation des rois de Byblos Abibaal et Elibaal et les relations entre l’Égypte et le Levant au x^e siècle av. notre ère’, CRAI (2006), 1697–716; R. G. Lehmann, ‘Calligraphy and Craftsmanship in the Aḥīrōm Inscription: Considerations on Skilled Linear Flat Writing in Early First Millennium Byblos’, Maarav, 15 (2008), 119–64; Ch. A. Rollston, ‘The Dating of the Early Royal Byblian Phoenician Inscriptions: A Response to Benjamin Sass’, Maarav, 15 (2008), 57–93; id., Writing and Literacy in the World of Ancient Israel, Society of Biblical Literature. Archaeology and Biblical Studies, 11 (Atlanta, SBL, 2010), pp. 24–7; A. Lemaire, ‘West Semitic Epigraphy and the History of the Levant during the 12th–10th Centuries BCE’, in G. Galil et al. (eds), The Ancient Near East in the 12th–10th Centuries BCE: Culture and History, Alter Orient und Altes Testament, 392 (Münster, Ugarit-Verlag, 2012), pp. 291–307, esp. 292–3; I. Finkelstein and B. Sass, ‘The West Semitic Alphabetic Inscriptions, Late Bronze II to Iron IIA: Archaeological Context, Distribution and Chronology’, Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel, 2 (2013), 149–220 at 202; A. Lemaire, ‘Levantine Literacy (ca. 1000–750)’, in B. Schmidt (ed.), Tradition, Orality and Literacy in the Southern Levant: Contextualizing the Production of Sacred Writing in Ancient Judah (Atlanta, SBL, 2015), pp. 11–46.

(16) H. Donner and W. Röllig, Kanaanäische und aramäische Inschriften, 5th edn (Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 2002) (abbreviated hereafter as KAI), nos 9–11 and 280; J. C. L. Gibson, Textbook of Syrian Semitic Inscriptions, III: Phoenician Inscriptions (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1982), pp. 93–100: nos 25–6. See also E. Puech, ‘Remarques sur quelques inscriptions phéniciennes de Byblos’, Rivista di Studi Fenici, 9 (1981), 153–68; P. Bordreuil and E. Gubel, ‘50. Stèle de Yehaumilk’, in Gubel, Art phénicien, pp. 65–6; G. Abou Samra, Bénédictions et malédictions dans les inscriptions phénicopuniques, Bibliothèque de l’Université Saint-Esprit, 48 (Kaslik, Lebanon, 2005), pp. 93–106; id., ‘Le vocabulaire funéraire dans les inscriptions phéniciennes d’époque perse’, Trans. 36 (2008), pp. 25–35; J. Elayi, Byblos, cité sacrée (8^e–4^e s. av. J.-C.), Suppl. 15 to Trans. (Paris, Gabalda, 2009), pp. 223–8, nos 1–4; Jigoulov, Social History of Achaemenid Phoenicia, pp. 43–9; H. Jenni, ‘Die Demonstrativa, die sogenannte nota accusativi und der Artikel in der phönizischen Sprache von Byblos: die Stele des Könige Jeḥawmilk (KAI 10)’, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, 163 (2013), 309–39; ead., ‘Les pronoms suffixes cataphoriques en phénicien et les statues d’enfants au sanctuaire du dieu Echmoun de Sidon (Bostan ech-Cheikh)’, Semitica, 56 (2014), 151–77 at 159–60.

(17) M. Dandamayev, ‘A Governor of Byblos in Sippar’, in K. Van Lerberghe and A. Schoors (eds), Immigration and Emigration within the Ancient Near East: Festschrift E. Lipiński, OLA 65 (Leuven, Peeters, 1995), pp. 29–31; L. S. Fried, ‘36. A Governor of Byblos from Sippar’, Notes Assyriologiques Brèves et Utilitaires (2003/2), 40–1.

(18) A. Lemaire, ‘Amulette phénicienne giblite en argent’, in R. Deutsch (ed.), Shlomo: Studies in Epigraphy, Iconography, History and Archaeology in Honor of Shlomo Moussaieff (Tel Aviv/Jaffa, Archaeological Center Publications, 2003), pp. 155–74; A. Berlejung, ‘Phönizische und hebräische Texte 1: Amulettinschriften aus Syrien und Palästina’, in B. Janowski and D. Schwemer (eds), Grab-, Sarg-, Bau- und Votivinschriften, Texte aus der Umwelt des Alten Testaments, nf 6 (Gütersloh, 2011), pp. 305–19 at 310–11.

(20) P. Bordreuil, ‘Astarté, la dame de Byblos’, CRAI (1998), 1153–64. See A. Lemaire, Trans. 4 (1991), 113–14; C. Bonnet, Astarté: Dossier documentaire et perspectives historiques (Rome, Consiglio nazionale delle ricerche, 1996), pp. 19–30; J. Elayi, ‘La présence grecque dans les cités phéniciennes sous l’Empire perse achéménide’, Revue des Études Grecques, 105 (1992), 230 and n. 52; ead., Trans. 17 (1999), 180.

(21) A. Caquot, CRAI (1998), 1164.

(22) J. Elayi and J. Sapin, Quinze ans de recherche (1985–2000) sur la Transeuphratène à l’époque perse, Suppl. 8 to Trans. (Paris, Gabalda, 2000), p. 116; A. Lemaire, Trans. 24 (2002), 138; M. G. Amadasi Guzzo, ‘Su due iscrizioni “per Astarte”’, in A. González Blanco et al. (eds), De la Tablilla a la Inteligencia Artificial: Homenaje al Prof. Jesús-Luis Cunchillos, I (Saragossa, Instituto de Estudios Islamicos y del Oriente Próximo, 2003), pp. 331–40, esp. 331–6; A. Nunn, ‘Die Phönizier und ihre südlichen Nachbarn in den achämenidischen und frühhellenistischen Zeit: Ein Bildvergleich’, in M. Witte and J. F. Diehl (eds), Israeliten und Phönizier: Ihre Beziehungen im Spiegel der Archäologie und der Literatur des Alten Testaments und seiner Umwelt, Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis, 235 (Freiburg/Göttingen, 2008), pp. 95–123 at 113 n. 62. One may note here that the phrase B῾LT GBL, ‘Mistress of Byblos’, in a 4th-century script, appeared on a fragmentary stone statuette ( E. Gubel and P. Bordreuil, ‘Statuette fragmentaire portant le nom de la Baalat Gubal’, Semitica, 35 (1985), 5–11) and on a clay votive chair ( P. Bordreuil in P. Bordreuil and E. Gubel (eds), ‘Bulletin d’antiquités archéologiques du Levant inédites ou méconnues (BAALIM) II’, Syria, 62 (1985), pp. 171–86 at 182–3; P. Bordreuil, CRAI (1998), 1156–7), but the style of the stone statuette is very problematic (see E. Gubel, Semitica, 35 (1985), 9–10) and the votive clay chair presents an apparently earlier or contemporary Greek inscription to be dated in the Roman period (and not the 4th century BCE!): Elayi, ‘La présence grecque dans les cités phéniciennes sous l’Empire perse achéménide’, 230 and n. 52; ead., Trans. 17 (1999), 180; J.-B. Yon, ‘Un ordre divin à Byblos: Dédicace sur un trône en pierre’, Bulletin d’Archéologie et d’Architecture Libanaises, 8 (2004), 315–21 at 318, 321 n. 28; A. Nunn, ‘Iconisme et aniconisme dans le culte des religions phénicienne et israélite’, Trans. 35 (2008), 165–90 at 180.

(23) For a similar and probably contemporary Tyrian personal gold amulet, see e.g. H. Lozachmeur and M. Pezin, ‘De Tyr: un nouvel étui et son amulette magique à inscription’, in Hommages à Jean Leclant, Bibliothèque d’études, Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, 106/3 (Cairo, 1993), pp. 361–71; for a Punic one (c.500), see A. Lemaire, ‘L’inscription phénico-punique de la lamelle magique de Moraleda de Zafayona’, in R. Contini and F. Israel (ed.), Munuscula amicitiae Phoenicia et punica. Mélanges d’épigraphie et de philologie phénico-puniques offerts à Maria Giulia Amadasi Guzzo, Orientalia, 76/1 (2007), 53–6, pl. VII. For inscribed Phoenician—probably Tyrian—amulets of a different kind, see P. Bordreuil, ‘Attestations inédites de Melqart, Baal Hamon et Baal Saphon à Tyr’, in C. Bonnet et al. (eds), Religio Phoenicia, Studia Phoenicia 4, Collection d’études classiques 1 (Namur, 1986), pp. 77–86, esp. 82–6; H. Sader, ‘Deux épigraphes phéniciennes inédites’, Syria, 67 (1990), 315–22 at 318–21; A. Lemaire, Trans. 4 (1991), 115; P. C. Schmitz, ‘Reconsidering a Phoenician Amulet’, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 122 (2002), 817–23 at 820.

(24) Gibson, Textbook III, pp. 39–41; A. Lemaire, ‘SMR dans la petite inscription de Kilamuwa (Zencirli)’, Syria, 67 (1990), 323–7.

(25) A. Lemaire, ‘Amulettes personnelles et domestiques en phénicien et en hébreu (i^er millénaire av. n. è.) et la tradition juive des tefillin et mezuzot’, in C. Bobas et al. (eds), Croyances populaires: Rites et représentations en Méditerranée orientale (Athens, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (EKPA), 2008), pp. 85–96.

(26) See e.g. L. H. Schiffman, ‘Phylacteries and mezuzot’, in L. H. Schiffman and J. C. Vanderkam (eds), Encyclopaedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls, II (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2000), pp. 675–7. One may also compare the mention of ‘10 amulet(s) [TPLH] of silver’ in a 3rd-century papyrus: B. Porten and A. Yardeni, Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt (abbreviated hereafter as TADAE), 3: Literature, Accounts, Lists (Jerusalem, Hebrew University; Winona Lake, Eisenbrauns, 1993), C3.28:106, p. 267; ‘20’ must be corrected to ‘10’, see p. 260.

(27) Thus far, we cannot specify whether it was annual or for several years.

(28) J. Elayi, Trans. 32 (2006), 26, 38.

(29) From his inscription, Yeḥawmilk was the son of Yeḥarbaal (YḤRB‘L) and grandson of Urimilk (’RMLK).

(30) J. Elayi, ‘Le phénomène monétaire dans les cités phéniciennes à l’époque perse’, in T. Hackens and G. Moucharte (eds), Numismatique et histoire économique phéniciennes et puniques, Studia Phoenicia 9, Numismatica Lovaniensia 9 (Leuven, 1992), pp. 21–31 at 22–3; ead., ‘L’ouverture du premier atelier monétaire phénicien’, Bulletin trimestriel. Cercle d’études numismatiques (BCEN), 32 (1995), 73–9; J. Elayi and A. G. Elayi, A Monetary and Political History of Byblos in the Fifth and Fourth Century BCE, History, Archaeology, and Culture of the Levant, 6 (Winona Lake, Eisenbrauns, 2014); eid., Phoenician Coinages, pp. 149–222.

(31) J. Elayi, ‘Les monnaies de Byblos au sphinx et au faucon’, Rivista di Studi Fenici, 11 (1983), 5–17; A. Lemaire and J. Elayi, ‘Les monnaies de Byblos au sphinx et au faucon: nouveaux documents et essai de classement’, Revue Belge de Numismatique, 137 (1991), 29–36. For a slightly divergent interpretation, see E. Puech, ‘Les premières émissions byblites et les rois de Byblos à la fin du v^e siècle avant J.C.’, in Atti del II Congresso Internazionale di Studi Fenici e Punici, Roma, 9–14 Novembre 1987, I (Rome, 1991), pp. 287–98.

(32) J. Elayi and A. G. Elayi, ‘L’ordre de succession des derniers rois de Byblos’, Syria, 70 (1993), 109–15; J. Elayi, ‘On Dating the Reigns of Phoenician Kings in the Persian Period’, in C. Sagona (ed.), Beyond the Homeland: Markers in Phoenician Chronology (Leuven, Peeters, 2008), pp. 97–112 at 101–2.

(33) See J. Elayi, Trans. 32 (2006), 38–9; see also J. Elayi and A. G. Elayi, ‘A Series of Coins from Byblos with the Name of the City (4th Cent. BC)’, Numismatic Chronicle (2010), 3–8; eid., ‘Deux séries monétaires de Byblos avec “G”’, Numismatica e Antichità Classiche: Quaderni Ticinesi, 39 (2010), 127–39.

(34) J. Elayi and A. Lemaire, ‘Le trésor de Byblos TIX’, Trans. 38 (2009), 78–98 at 91–2 (the W is confirmed); Elayi and Elayi, Monetary and Political History of Byblos, p. 116; eid., Phoenician Coinages, p. 221.

(35) For the use of matres lectionis in Phoenician epigraphy, see A. Lemaire, ‘Les matres lectionis en phénicien. Nouvelles orientations’, Res Antiquae, 5 (2008), 455–63; id., ‘Le problème de l’emploi des matres lectionis en épigraphie phénicienne reconsidéré’, in A. Ferjaoui (ed.), VII^ème congrès international des études phéniciennes et puniques (Tunis, in press).

(36) For small inscriptions found in Beirut, apparently a harbour of the kingdom of Sidon, see A. Lemaire, Trans. 17 (1999), 111–12, and Trans. 32 (2006), 189.

(37) G. A. Cooke, A Text-Book of North-Semitic Inscriptions (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1903), pp. 26–40; KAI 13–14; Gibson, Textbook III, pp. 101–14, nos 27–8; D. R. Vance, ‘Phoenician Inscriptions’, The Biblical Archaeologist, 57 (1994), 2–19, esp. 9–12; C. Bonnet, ‘Phénicien šrn—accadien šurrinu? À propos de l’inscription de Bodashtart CIS I,4’, Orientalia, 64 (1995), 214–22; C. Peri, ‘A proposito dell’iscrizione di Tabnit’, Rivista di Studi Fenici, 24 (1996), 67–72; Abou Samra, Bénédictions et malédictions, pp. 45–81; R. G. Lehmann, ‘Space-Syntax and Metre in the Inscription of Yaḥawmilk, King of Byblos’, in O. Al-Ghul and A. Zeyadeh (eds), Proceedings of Yarmouk Second Annual Colloquium on Epigraphy and Ancient Writings 7th–9th October, 2003 (Irbid, 2005), pp. 71–98; A. Schade, A Syntactic and Literary Analysis of Ancient Northwest Semitic Inscriptions (Lewiston NY/Lampeter, Edwin Mellen Press, 2006), pp. 139–89; P. Xella, ‘Eshmounazor, áhōros? ᾿ZRM en phénicien et punique’, Orientalia, 76 (2007), 93–9; G. Abousamra, ‘Le vocabulaire funéraire dans les inscriptions phéniciennes d’époque perse’, Trans. 36 (2008), 25–35; J. Á. Zamora, ‘Epigrafia e historia fenicias: Las inscripciones reales de Sidón’, in J. J. Justei et al. (eds), Las culturas del Próximo Oriente Antiguo y su expansión mediterránea, Textos de los Cursos de Postgraduados del CSIC en el Instituto de Estudios Islámicos y del Oriente Próximo 2003–2006 (Saragossa, 2008), pp. 211–28; Jigoulov, Social History of Achaemenid Phoenicia, pp. 50–5; S. Ackerman, ‘The Mother of Eshmunazor, Priest of Astarte: A Study of her Cultic Role’, Die Welt des Orients, 43 (2013), 158–78; M. G. Amadasi Guzzo, ‘“Re dei Sidoni”?’, in O. Loretz et al. (eds), Ritual, Religion and Reason: Studies in the Ancient World in Honour of Paolo Xella, Alter Orient und Altes Testament, 404 (Münster, Ugarit-Verlag, 2013), pp. 257–65; H. Niehr, ‘Die phönizische Inschrift auf dem Sarkophag des Königs Ešmunazor II, aus Sidon (KAI 14) in redaktionsgeschichtlicher und historischer Sicht’, in Loretz et al. (eds), Ritual, Religion and Reason, pp. 297–309.

(38) Cooke, Text-Book of North-Semitic Inscriptions, p. 26; Gibson, Textbook III, p. 102. See also E. Lipiński, ‘Phoenician Cult Expressions in the Persian Period’, in W. G. Dever and S. Gitin (eds), Symbiosis, Symbolism, and the Power of the Past: Canaan, Ancient Israel, and Their Neighbors from the Late Bronze Age through Roman Palaestina (Winona Lake, Eisenbrauns, 2003), pp. 297–308 at 298: ‘… Tabnit I and Eshmunazor II, kings of Sidon in the first part of the 5th century B.C.E.’; A. Kuhrt, The Persian Empire (London/New York, Routledge, 2010 [2007]), p. 664: ‘500–490’ or ‘480–470’.

(39) J. Elayi, Sidon, cité autonome de l’empire perse (Paris, Idéaphane, 1989), pp. 52, 70, 235–43.

(40) Ibid., p. 248; ead., ‘La chronologie de la dynastie sidonienne d’᾿Eshmun῾azor’, Trans. 27 (2004), 9–27; ead., ‘On Dating the Reigns of Phoenician Kings’, pp. 102–4.

(41) R. A. Stucky, Das Eschmun-Heiligtum von Sidon: Architektur und Inschriften, Antike Kunst, Beiheft 19 (Basel, 2005) p. 24.

(42) Ibid., pp. 30–2.

(43) J. Elayi, Sidon, pp. 41–5 and 53–61.

(44) B. André-Salvini and P. Bordreuil in P. Bordreuil and E. Gubel (eds), ‘Bulletin d’antiquités archéologiques du Levant inédites ou méconnues (BAALIM) VI’, Syria, 67 (1990), 483–520, esp. 493–500: ‘II.6 and 7: Quel est le nombre des dédicaces de Bodachtart?’

(45) C. Bonnet and P. Xella, ‘Les inscriptions phéniciennes de Bodashtart roi de Sidon’, in M. G. Amadasi et al. (eds), Da Pyrgi a Mozia: Studi sull’archeologia del Mediterraneo in memoria di Antonia Ciasca, Vicino Oriente, 3/1 (Rome, La Sapienza, 2002), pp. 93–104. See also J. Á. Zamora, ‘The inscriptions of king Bodashtart and the history of his reign, I: The CIS I,4 inscription’, in Contini and Israel (eds), Munuscula amicitiae phoenicia et punica, 100–13; Niehr, ‘Die phönizische Inschrift’, pp. 303–6.

(46) P. Xella and José-Ángel Zamora López, ‘L’inscription phénicienne de Bodashtart in situ à Bustān eš-Šēḫ (Sidon) et son apport à l’histoire du sanctuaire’, Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins, 121 (2005), pp. 119–29; A. Lemaire, Trans. 32 (2000), 187–8.

(47) The interpretation connecting BN ṢDQ to BD῾ŠTRT, as proposed by B. André-Salvini and P. Bordreuil, Syria, 67 (1990), 500–2, and P. Bordreuil, ‘À propos de la généalogie de Bodachtart’, Trans. 3 (1990), 93–4, is unlikely. See M. G. Amadasi Guzzo, ‘Varia Fenicia’, Rivista di Studi Fenici, 20 (1992), 95–104, esp. 99–100; A. Lemaire, Trans. 4 (1991), 114; E. Puech, Trans. 8 (1994), 53 n. 27; Bonnet and Xella, ‘Les inscriptions phéniciennes de Bodashtart roi de Sidon’, p. 104 n. 40.

(48) A translation ‘Prince of the sanctuary’ seems also possible but less likely.

(49) M. Chehab, ‘Découvertes phéniciennes au Liban’, in Atti del I Congresso Internazionale di Studi Fenici e Punici, I (Rome, 1983), pp. 165–72 at 171.

(50) P. Xella and J.-Á. Zamora, ‘Une nouvelle inscription de Bodashtart, roi de Sidon, sur la rive du Nahr al-Awwali près de Bustan eš-Šeḫ’, Bulletin d’Archéologie et d’Architecture Libanaises, 8 (2004), 273–300; see also P. Xella et al., ‘Prospection épigraphique et archéologique dans la région du Nahr al-Awali’, Bulletin d’Archéologie et d’Architecture Libanaises, 9 (2005), 269–90, esp. 282–8; A. Lemaire, Trans. 32 (2006), 188; I. Oggiano and P. Xella, ‘Sidone e il suo territorio in età persiana: Epigrafia e archeologia’, in S. Helas and D. Marzol (eds), Phönizisches und persisches Städtewesen. Akten der internationalen Tagung in Rom vom 21. bis 23. Februar 2007, Iberia Archeologica, 13 (Mainz am Rhein, 2009), pp. 69–81.

(51) H.-P. Mathys, ‘Die Phönizischen Inschriften’, in Stucky, Das Eschmun-Heiligtum von Sidon, pp. 273–318. See also R. A. Stucky, Die Skulpturen aus dem Eschmun-Heiligtum bei Sidon, Antike Kunst, Beiheft 17 (Basel, 1993), pp. 84, 91–2, 104–5: nos 101, 157, 228–9 and pls 54–5; A. Lemaire, Trans. 10 (1995), 145; H. Jenni, ‘Les pronoms suffixes cataphoriques en phénicien et les statues d’enfants au sanctuaire du dieu Echmoun de Sidon (Bostan ech-Cheikh)’, Semitica, 56 (2014), 161–77.

(52) Mathys, ‘Die Phönizischen Inschriften’, pp. 275–95; A. Lemaire, Trans. 32 (2006), 186.

(53) Mathys, ‘Die Phönizischen Inschriften’, pp. 295–315; id., Das Astarte-Quadrat (Zurich, Theologischer Verlag, 2008); see also A. Lemaire, Trans. 32 (2006), 186–7; id., ‘Un nouveau type d’inscription phénicienne’, Trans. 37 (2009), 89–97.

(54) For other possible readings, see Lemaire, Trans. 37 (2009), 89–97.

(55) Mathys, ‘Die Phönizischen Inschriften’, pp. 298–9.

(56) See especially J. Elayi, ῾Abd῾aštart I^er/Straton de Sidon: un roi phénicien entre Orient et Occident, Suppl. 12 to Trans. (Paris, Gabalda, 2005).

(57) A. Lemaire, Trans. 37 (2009), 97.

(58) For small Phoenician inscriptions found in Dor, see A. Lemaire, Trans. 10 (1995), 146; J. Naveh, ‘Phoenician Ostraca from Tel Dor’, in Z. Zevit et al. (eds), Solving Riddles and Untying Knots: Biblical, Epigraphic, and Semitic Studies in Honor of Jonas C. Greenfield (Winona Lake, Eisenbrauns, 1995), pp. 459–64; A. Lemaire, Trans. 17 (1999), 112.

(59) For a small Phoenician inscription found in Joppa, see R. Avner and E. Eshel, ‘A Juglet with a Phoenician Inscription from a Recent Excavation in Jaffa, Israel’, Trans. 12 (1996), 59–63.

(60) Gibson, Textbook III, p. 109.

(61) Elayi and Elayi, Trésors de monnaies phéniciennes, pp. 342–3; A. Lemaire, ‘La circulation monétaire phénicienne en Palestine à l’époque perse’, in M. H. Fantar and M. Ghaki (eds), Actes du III^e Congrès International d’Études Phéniciennes et Puniques, Tunis 11–16 novembre 1991, II (Tunis, 1995), pp. 192–202.

(62) See R. Gophna and M. Kochavi, ‘An Archaeological Survey of the Plain of Sharon’, Israel Exploration Journal, 16 (1966), 143–4; J. Kamlah, ‘Zwei nordpalästinische “Heiligtümer” der persischen Zeit und ihre epigraphischen Funde’, Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins, 115 (1999), 163–90.

(63) R. Deutsch and M. Heltzer, Forty New Ancient West Semitic Inscriptions (Tel Aviv/Jaffa, Archaeological Center Publications, 1994), pp. 69–89, esp. 69–73; A. Lemaire, Trans. 10 (1995), 146–7. See also R. Deutsch and M. Heltzer, ‘Numismatic Evidence from the Persian Period from the Sharon Plain’, Trans. 13 (1997), 17–20.

(64) For the reading BŠRN, ‘in the Sharon’, see A. Lemaire, Trans. 10 (1995), 148; E. Lipiński, ‘The Cult of ῾Ashtarum in Achaemenian Palestine’, in L. Cagni (ed.), Biblica et Semitica: Studi in memoria di Francesco Vattioni, Istituto Universitario Orientale, Dipartimento di Studi Asiatici, Series Minor, 59 (Naples, 1999), pp. 315–23 at 320; A. Lemaire, ‘Épigraphie et religion en Palestine à l’époque achéménide’, Trans. 22 (2001), 97–113 at 101–2.

(65) Contemporary Minaean inscriptions mention trade with Tyre and Sidon: see G. Garbini, Iscrizioni sudarabiche, I: Iscrizioni minee (Naples, Istituto Orientale, 1974), p. 117: M 392A (58); C. Robin, ‘Première mention de Tyr chez les Minéens d’Arabie du Sud’, Semitica, 39 (1990) (= Hommages à Maurice Sznycer II), 135–48; id., ‘L’Égypte dans les inscriptions de l’Arabie méridionale préislamique’, in C. Berger et al. (eds), Hommages à Jean Leclant, 4: Varia, Bibliothèque d’Étude, 106/4 (Cairo, 1994), pp. 285–301, esp. 290, 298; A. Lemaire, ‘Les Minéens et la Transeuphratène à l’époque perse: une première approche’, Trans. 13 (1997), 123–39. See also F. Bron, Inventaire des inscriptions sudarabiques, 3: Ma῾īn, Fascicule A. Les documents (Paris, De Boccard; Rome, Herder, 1998), p. 106: 93A58.

(66) I. Kottsieper, ‘῾ŠTRM: eine südarabische Gottheit in der Scharonebene’, Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, 113 (2001), 245–50. See also A. Prioletta, ‘Evidence from a New Inscription Regarding the Goddess ῾ṯ(t)rm and Some Remarks on the Gender of Deities in South Arabia’, Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 42 (2012), 309–18 at 312–13 n. 22.

(67) A. Lemaire, Trans. 22 (2001), 101; Lipiński, ‘The Cult of ῾Ashtarum’, pp. 315–23 at 315–19; M. Sznycer, ‘Antiquités et épigraphie nord-sémitique’, Livret-Annuaire de l’École Pratique des Hautes Études, Section des sciences historiques et philologiques, 15 (1999–2000), 29–36 at 29–30.

(68) J. Elayi and A. G. Elayi, Le monnayage de la cité phénicienne de Sidon à l’époque perse (V^e–IV^e s. av. J.-C.), 2 vols, Suppl. 11 to Trans. (Paris, Gabalda, 2004). See also eid., Phoenician Coinage, pp. 15–68.

(69) For the Phoenician inscription mentioning this king and his dynasty on the marble base of a ‘temple-boy’, see lately R. A. Stucky, ‘Du marbre grec en Phénicie: Grandeur et décadence de Sidon aux époques perse et hellénistique’, CRAI (2012), 1177–203, esp. 1184, 1186.

(70) See J. Elayi, ῾Abd῾aštart I^er/Straton de Sidon. See also A. G. Elayi et al., ‘The Devaluation of Sidonian Siver Coinage in 365 BCE and the First Bronze Issues’, American Journal of Numismatics, 2nd Series, 19 (2007), 1–8.

(71) The interpretation of the monetary legend ῾῾ as indicating Evagoras II of Salamis seems to me desperate. For other possibilities in Phoenician onomastics, see J. Elayi, Le monnayage de la cité phénicienne de Sidon, pp. 450–1.

(72) See J. Elayi, Trans. 32 (2006), 33–5; ead., ‘On Dating the Reigns of Phoenician Kings’, pp. 104–8.

(73) Diodorus Siculus XVI.40–6; P. Briant, Histoire de l’empire perse (Paris, Fayard, 1996), pp. 701–3.

(74) For the interpretation of the coin with the Aramaic legend MZDY ZY ῾L ῾BR NHR᾿, ‘Mazday who is over the Transeuphratesia’, see A. Lemaire, ‘Remarques sur certaines légendes monétaires ciliciennes (v^e–iv^e siècles avant J.-C.)’, in O. Casabonne (ed.), Mécanismes et innovations monétaires dans l’Anatolie achéménide: Numismatique et histoire, Varia Anatolica, 12 (Paris, de Boccard, 2000), pp. 129–41 at 136–8; id., ‘La Transeuphratène en transition (c. 350–300)’, in Briant and Joannès (eds), La transition, pp. 405–41 at 407–8.

(75) Elayi and Elayi, Le monnayage de la cité phénicienne de Sidon, pp. 291–311, 427–8, 808.

(76) J. W. Betlyon, The Coinage and Mints of Phoenicia: The Pre-Alexandrine Period, Harvard Semitic Monographs, 26 (Cambridge MA, 1982), pp. 14–16, 18; J. Elayi, Sidon, pp. 181, 218–19; Elayi and Elayi, Trésors de monnaies phéniciennes, p. 18; eid., Le monnayage de la cité phénicienne de Sidon, pp. 291–323; eid., ‘Le monnayage sidonien de Mazday’, Trans. 27 (2004), 155–62; eid., Phoenician Coinages, pp. 58–66.

(77) E. Babelon, Traité des monnaies grecques et romaines, II^e partie: Description historique II (Paris, 1910), pp. 581–2; A. Lemaire, ‘Le monnayage phénicien’, in T. Hackens et al. (eds), A Survey of Numismatic Research 1985–1990 (Brussels, 1991), pp. 96–101 at 98 n. 19; Briant, Histoire de l’empire perse, pp. 733–4, 1041–2.

(78) Lemaire, ‘La Transeuphratène en transition’, pp. 405–41 at 407–8.

(79) H. J. Katzenstein, The History of Tyre: From the Beginning of the Second Millennium BCE until the Fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 538 BCE (Jerusalem, Schocken Institute, 1975). H. J. Katzenstein, ‘Tyre in the Early Persian Period (539–486 BCE)’, The Biblical Archaeologist, 42 (1979), 23–34.

(80) See H. Sader, Iron Age Funerary Stelae from Lebanon, Cuadernos de arqueología mediterránea, 11 (Barcelona, 2005); G. Abousamra and A. Lemaire, Nouvelles stèles funéraires phéniciennes / New Funerary Phoenician Stelae (Beirut, Kutub, 2014).

(81) Josephus, Against Apion I.156; Katzenstein, History of Tyre, pp. 322–32; see also F. Joannès, ‘Trois textes de Ṣurru à l’époque néo-babylonienne’, Revue d’Assyriologie, 81 (1987), 147–58; S. Zawadzki, ‘Nebuchadnezzar and Tyre in the Light of New Texts from the Ebabbar Archives in Sippar’, in I. Eph‘al et al. (eds), Hayim and Miriam Tadmor Volume, Eretz-Israel, 27 (Jerusalem, 2003), pp. 276*–81*; id., ‘Nebuchadnezzar’s Campaign in the 30th year (575 BC): A Conflict with Tyre’, in M. Cogan and D. Kahn (eds), Treasures on Camels’ Humps: Historical and Literary Studies from the Ancient Near East Presented to Israel Eph‘al (Jerusalem, Hebrew University Magnes Press, 2008), pp. 331–6. The argument of H. Schaudig (‘A Tanit-Sign from Babylon and the Conquest of Tyre by Nebuchadrezzar II’, Ugarit-Forschungen, 40 (2008), 533–45, esp. 537–41) does not seem convincing.

(82) See P. Bordreuil, ‘Attestations inédites de Melqart, Baal Hamon et Baal Saphon à Tyr’, in Bonnet et al. (eds), Religio Phoenicia, pp. 77–86, esp. 82–6; H. Sader, ‘Deux épigraphes phéniciennes inédites’, Syria, 67 (1990), 315–22, esp. 318–21; A. Lemaire, Trans. 4 (1991), p. 115; H. Lozachmeur and M. Pezin, ‘De Tyr: un nouvel étui et son amulette magique à inscription’, in Hommages à Jean Leclant, 3, Bibliothèque d’études. Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, 106/3 (Cairo, 1993), pp. 361–71; A. Lemaire, Trans. 10 (1995), 146; P. C. Schmitz, ‘Reconsidering a Phoenician Inscribed Amulet from the Vicinity of Tyre’, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 122 (2002), 817–23 at 820; A. Berlejung, ‘Phönizische und hebräische Texte, 1: Amulettinschriften aus Syrien und Palästina’, in Janowski and Schwemer (eds), Grab-, Sarg-, Bau- und Votivinschriften, pp. 305–19 at 308–10.

(83) Sader, Iron Age Funerary Stelae, pp. 80–4.

(84) A third unprovenanced, apparently Tyrian, votive inscription has been published by P. Bordreuil, ‘Nouvelle inscription phénicienne dédiée à Milqart’, in A. Spanò Giammellaro (ed.), Atti del V Congresso Internazionale di Studi Fenici e Punici, I (Palermo, 2005), pp. 135–7, but the paleography of this inscription seems to indicate that it is a forgery: see A. Lemaire, Trans. 32 (2006), 191.

(85) A. Lemaire, ‘Inscription royale phénicienne sur bateau votif’, in M. Heltzer and M. Malul (eds), Teshûrôt LaAvishur: Studies in the Bible and the Ancient Near East in Hebrew and Semitic Languages. Festschrift Presented to Prof. Yitzhak Avishur (Tel Aviv/Jaffa, Archaeological Center Publications, 2004), pp. 117*–29*.

(86) For another Phoenician inscribed votive boat, see A. Lemaire, ‘Remarques sur les bateaux phéniciens et leurs représentations’, in J. Napoli (ed.), Ressources et activités maritimes des peuples de l’Antiquité, Les cahiers du littoral, 2, no. 6 (Boulogne, 2008), pp. 341–6.

(87) For the use of the word ‘Sidonians’, see recently P. J. Boyes, ‘“The King of the Sidonians”: Phoenician Ideologies and the Myth of the Kingdom of Tyre-Sidon’, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Studies, 365 (2012), 33–44.

(88) Cf. E. Lipiński, ‘Hiram/Hirôm’, in E. Lipiński (ed.), Dictionnaire de la civilisation phénicienne et punique (Turnhout, Brepols, 1992), pp. 218–19.

(89) Herodotus VII.98.

(90) A. Lemaire, ‘Trône à Keroubs avec inscription phénicienne’, in A. Lemaire (ed.), Phéniciens d’Orient et d’Occident: Mélanges Josette Elayi, Cahiers de l’Institut du Proche-Orient Ancien du Collège de France, 2 (Paris, Maisonneuve, 2014), pp. 127–45.

(91) See M. Metzger, Königsthron and Gottesthron: Thronformen und Throndarstellungen in Ägypten und Vorderen Orient im dritten und zweiten Jahrtausend vor Christus und deren Bedeutung für das Verständnis von Aussagen über den Thron im Alten Testament, Alter Orient und Altes Testament 15/1–2 (Neukirchen, 1985), I, pp. 259–79; II, pp. 236–47.

(92) See, for instance, M. Delcor, ‘Les trônes d’Astarté’, in Atti del I Congresso Internazionale di Studi Fenici e Punici, Roma, 5–10 novembre 1979, III (Rome, 1983), pp. 777–87, pls CXLVI–CL; A. Ferjaoui, Recherches sur les relations entre l’Orient phénicien et Carthage (Beit Al-Hikma/Carthage, 1992), pp. 107–9; A. Nunn, ‘Iconisme et aniconisme dans le culte des religions phénicienne et israélite’, Trans. 35 (2008), 165–90, esp. 170–5.

(93) E. Gubel, Phoenician Furniture, Studia Phoenicia, 7 (Leuven, Peeters, 1987), pp. 37–75; T. N. D. Mettinger, No Graven Image? Israelite Aniconism and Its Ancient Near Eastern Context, Coniectanea Biblica, Old Testament Series, 42 (Stockholm, 1995), pp. 100–3; E. Gubel, ‘Cinq bulles inédites des archives tyriennes de l’époque achéménide’, Semitica, 47 (1997), 53–64, esp. 58–62; T. N. D. Mettinger, ‘JHWH-Statue oder Anikonismus im ersten Tempel? Gespräch mit meinen Gegner’, Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, 117 (2005), 485–508, esp. 495–9; A. Nunn, ‘Die Phönizier und ihre südlichen Nachbarn in der achämenidischen und frühhellenistischen Zeit: Ein Vergleich’, in M. Witte and J. F. Diehl (eds), Israeliten und Phönizier (2008), pp. 95–123 at 113–15; J. Kamlah, ‘Die Bedeutung der phönizischen Tempel von Umm el-Amed für die Religionsgeschichte der Levante in vorhellenistischer Zeit’, in Witte and Diehl (eds), Israeliten und Phönizier, pp. 125–64 at 135–8.

(94) See R. de Vaux, ‘Les Chérubins et l’arche d’alliance, les sphinx gardiens et les trônes divins dans l’ancien Orient’, Mélanges de l’Université Saint-Joseph, 37 (1960–1) (Mélanges offerts au Père René Mouterde), 91–124 (= Bible et Orient (Paris, Cerf, 1967), pp. 231–59); T. N. D. Mettinger, ‘YHWH SABAOTH: The Heavenly King on the Cherubim Throne’, in T. Ishida (ed.), Studies in the Period of David and Solomon and Other Essays (Tokyo, Yamakawa-Shuppansha, 1982), pp. 109–38; id., ‘Israelite Aniconism: Developments and Origins’, in K. van der Torn (ed.), The Image and the Book (Leuven, Peeters, 1997), pp. 173–204, esp. 184–9, 195–6.

(95) F. L. Benz, Personal Names in the Phoenician and Punic Inscriptions, Studia Pohl, 8 (Rome, 1972), pp. 149, 177.

(96) See the role of Acherbas beside Pygmalion: Justinus, Trog. Pomp. Epitome XVIII.4. Cf. C. Bonnet, Melqart: Cultes et mythes de l’Héraclès tyrien en Méditerranée, Studia Phoenicia, 8, Bibliothèque de la faculté de philosophie et lettres de Namur, 69 (Leuven/Namur, 1988), pp. 112–13; A. Lemaire, ‘Remarques sur le contexte historique et culturel de la fondation de Carthage’, in A. Ferjaoui (ed.), Carthage et les autochtones de son empire du temps de Zama: Hommage à Mhamed Hassine Fantar (Tunis, 2010), pp. 55–9 at 57.

(97) See Abbar in Josephus, Against Apion I.157.

(98) Herodotus II.44.

(99) F. M. Cross, ‘Newly Discovered Inscribed Arrowheads of the Eleventh Century BCE’, Israel Museum Journal, 10 (1992), 57–62 at 58; id., ‘Newly Discovered Inscribed Arrowheads of the 11th Century BCE’, in A. Biran and J. Aviram (eds), Biblical Archaeology Today, 1990 (Jerusalem, 1993), pp. 533–42 at 536.

(100) See, for example, E. Lipiński, ‘La fête de l’ensevelissement et de la résurrection de Melqart’, in A. Finet (ed.), Actes de la XVII^e Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale (Ham-sur-Heure, 1970), pp. 30–58; J. C. Greenfield, ‘Larnax tēs Lapethou III Revisited’, in E. Lipiński (ed.), Phoenicia and the East Mediterranean in the First Millennium BC, Studia Phoenicia, 5 (Leuven, Peeters, 1987), pp. 391–401, esp. 397–9; Bonnet, Melqart, pp. 174–9; C. Bonnet and E. Lipiński, ‘Miqim Elim’, in E. Lipiński (ed.), Dictionnaire de la civilisation phénicienne et punique (Turnhout, Brepols, 1992), pp. 294–5; J. Hoftijzer and K. Jongeling, Dictionary of the North-West Semitic Inscriptions II (Leiden, Brill, 1995), p. 1003; P. Xella, ‘Da Baal di Ugarit agli dei fenici: Una questione di vita e di morte’, in id. (ed.), Quando un dio muore: Mori e assenze divine nelle antiche tradizioni mediterranee (Verona, Essedue Edizioni, 2001), pp. 73–96 at 88–90; M. G. Amadasi Guzzo, ‘Notes sur quelques inscriptions provenant de l’Égée’, in F. Briquel-Chatonnet et al. (eds), Entre Carthage et l’Arabie heureuse: Mélanges offerts à François Bron, Orient et Méditerranée, 12 (Paris, 2013), pp. 163–76 at 167.

(101) The identification of Astronoe with Astarte is indirectly indicated in a Greek inscription: see R. Dussaud, ‘Héraclès et Astronoé à Tyr’, Revue de l’Histoire des Religions, 63 (1911), 1–9 at 4; C. Bonnet, ‘Astronoé’, in Lipiński (ed.), Dictionnaire de la civilisation phénicienne et punique, p. 48; E. Lipiński, Dieux et déesses de l’univers phénicien et punique, Studia Phoenicia 14, OLA 64 (Leuven, Peeters, 1995), p. 137. The presence of ῾ŠTRNY in our inscription seems to exclude a Greek or Punic origin for Astronoe.

(102) Josephus, Against Apion, I.119. See Ch. Clermont-Ganneau, ‘L’Egersis d’Héraclès et le Réveil des dieux’, Recueil d’Archéologie Orientale VIII (Paris, 1924), pp. 149–67; Bonnet, Melqart, pp. 33–8, 104–12; P. Xella, ‘Le soi-disant “Dieu qui meurt” en domaine phénico-punique’, Trans. 22 (2001), 63–77, esp. 72–6; R. Marlasca Martin, ‘La Egersis de Melqart: una propuesta para su interpretación’, in Spanò Giammellaro (ed.), Atti del V Congresso Internazionale di Studi Fenici e Punici I, pp. 455–61; J.-M. Husser, ‘A-t-il existé un bûcher cultuel de Melqart?’, in W. G. E. Watson (ed.), ‘He unfurrowed his brow and laughed’: Essays in Honour of Professor Nicolas Wyatt, Alter Orient und Altes Testament, 299 (Münster, 2007), pp. 163–75.

(103) See W. Cullican, ‘Melqart Representations on Phoenician Seals’, Abr Nahrain, 2 (1960–1), 41–54, esp. 44–7; id., ‘The Iconography of Some Phoenician Seals and Seal-Impressions’, Australian Journal of Biblical Archaeology, 12 (1968), 50–103 at 57–9; O. Keel, Jahwe-Visionen und Siegelkunst, Stuttgarter Bibelstudien, 84/85 (Stuttgart, 1977), pp. 15–45; Metzger, Königsthron und Gottesthron, 2, p. 236; Gubel, Phoenician Furniture, pp. 39–48: nos 6, 7, 9, 11–13, 15–25, 27–8, 30–1; N. Avigad and B. Sass, Corpus of West Semitic Stamp Seals (Jerusalem, Israel Exploration Society, 1997), no. 736: ‘allegedly from Tyre’; J. de Vos, in H. Poncy et al., ‘Sceaux du musée d’Adana’, Anatolia Antiqua/Eski Anadolu, 9 (Paris, 2001), 9–37 at 23, no. 91 (throne with sphinx and not with griffins).

(104) E. Lipiński, ‘Marzeh’, in id. (ed.), Dictionnaire de la civilisation phénicienne et punique, p. 275.

(105) See, for instance, KAI II, p. 73; Gibson, Textbook III, pp. 148–52: no. 41; J. Friedrich et al., Phönizische-punische Grammatik, Analecta Orientalia, 55 (Rome, Pontificio Istituto Biblico, 1999³, § 315a; I. Kottsieper, ‘Nordwestsemitische Texte (8. Jh. v. Chr.–3. Jh. n. Chr.)’, in M. Lichtenstein (ed.), Staatsverträge, Herrscherinschriften und andere Dokumente zur politischen Geschichte, Texte aus der Umwelt des Alten Testaments, nf 2 (Gütersloh, 2005), pp. 307–30, esp. 318; M.-F. Baslez, ‘Du marzeaḥ aux “confréries joyeuses”: La commensalité sacrée dans le Proche-Orient hellénisé’, in Loretz et al. (eds), Ritual, Religion and Reason, pp. 491–503 at 493.

(106) KAI 69:16; N. Avigad and J. C. Greenfield, ‘A Bronze phialē with a Phoenician Dedicatory Inscription’, Israel Exploration Journal, 32 (1982), 118–28; M. G. Guzzo Amadasi, ‘Under Western Eyes’, Studi Epigrafici e Linguistici, 4 (1987), 121–8.

(107) See e.g. J. S. Greer, ‘A Marzeaḥ and a Mizraq: A Prophet’s Mêlée with Religious Diversity in Amos 6,4–7’, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 32 (2007), 243–61.

(108) See e.g. B. Becking, ‘Temple, marzēaḥ and Power at Elephantine’, Trans. 29 (2005), 37–47.

(109) See e.g. A. Lemaire, ‘A New Inscribed Palmyrene Stone Bowl from the Moussaieff Collection’, in M. Lubetski (ed.), New Inscriptions and Seals (Atlanta, SBL, 1992), pp. 147–55 at 153–4.

(110) See Z. al-Salameen and H. Falahat, ‘Two Nabatean Inscriptions from Wādi Mūsā, with Discussion of Gaia and the Marzēaḥ’, Journal of Semitic Studies, 57 (2012), pp. 37–51 at 43–9.

(111) See, for instance, V. Alavoine, ‘Le mrzḥ est-il un banquet funéraire? Étude des sources épigraphiques et bibliques (Am. 6,7 et Ier. 16,5)’, Le Muséon, 113 (2000), pp. 1–23; J. L. McLaughlin, The marzeaḥ in the Prophetic Literature: References and Allusions in Light of the Extra-Biblical Evidence, Suppl. to Vetus Testamentum, 86 (Leiden, Brill, 2001); M. Bietak, ‘Temple or “Bêt Marzeaḥ”?’, in Dever and Gitin (eds), Symbiosis, Symbolism, and the Power of the Past, pp. 155–68; K. M. McGeough, ‘Locating the Marziḥu Archaeologically’, Ugarit-Forschungen, 35 (2003), 407–20; G. London, ‘A Ceremonial Center to the Living and the Dead’, Near Eastern Archaeology, 74 (2011), 216–25 at 223–4.

(112) See E. Koffmahn, ‘Sind die altisraelitischen Monatsbezeichnungen mit den kanaanäischphönikischen identisch?’, Biblische Zeitschrift, 10 (1966), 197–219; M. G. Amadasi Guzzo, ‘Calendrier’, in Lipiński (ed.), Dictionnaire de la civilisation phénicienne et punique, p. 87; G. N. Knoppers, ‘“The God in his Temple”: The Phoenician Text from Pyrgi as a Funerary Inscription’, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 51 (1992), 105–20; R. R. Stieglitz, ‘The Phoenician-Punic Menology’, in M. Lubetski et al. (eds), Boundaries of the Ancient Near Eastern World: A Tribute to Cyrus H. Gordon, Suppl. 273 to Journal for the Study of the Old Testament (Sheffield, 1998), pp. 211–21; id., ‘The Phoenician-Punic Calendar’, in M. E. Aubet and M. Barthélemy (eds), Actas del IV Congreso Internacional de Estudios Fenicios y Púnicos II (Cadiz, 2000), pp. 691–5.

(113) J. Tropper, Ugaritisch: Kurzgefasste Grammatik mit Übungstexten und Glossar, Elementa linguarum orientis, 1 (Münster, Ugarit-Verlag, 2002), p. 40: § 62.4; id., Ugaritische Grammatik, Alter Orient und Altes Testament, 273 (Münster, 2000), p. 355: § 62.41.

(114) See A. Lemaire, ‘Trône à Keroubs avec inscription phénicienne’, in id. (ed.), Phéniciens d’Orient et d’Occident: Mélanges Josette Elayi (2014), pp. 138–41.

(115) It should be at least Maharba῾al II, since Josephus mentions a Tyrian king ‘Merbal/Maharba῾al’ in Against Apion I.158 (above, p. 24).

(116) Hdt. II.44. For the dating of this visit to 449 or 448, see Ph. E. Legrand, Hérodote: Introduction, Collection des Universités de France (Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 1966), p. 29.

(117) See J. Elayi and A. G. Elayi, The Coinage of the Phoenician City of Tyre in the Persian Period (5th–4th Cent. BCE), OLA 188 (Leuven/Paris/Walpole MA, Peeters, 2009); J. A. Belmonte Marin, ‘La etapa persa de la ciudad de Tiro a travès de sus acuñaciones monetarias’, Aula Orientalis, 30 (2012), pp. 354–8; Elayi and Elayi, Phoenician Coinage, pp. 69–147.

(118) J. Elayi, ‘The Dating on Coins: A Phoenician Invention’, in N. L. Wright, Coins from Asia Minor and the East: Selections from the Colin E. Pitchfork Collection. Ancient Coins in Australian Collections, II (Sydney, 2011), pp. 31–4.

(119) Justinus, Trog. Pomp. Epitome XVIII.3–4; see J. Elayi, ‘La révolte des esclaves de Tyr relatée par Justin’, Baghdader Mitteilungen, 12 (1981), 139–50; see also ead., ‘L’inscription bilingue de Délos CIS I,114’, Baghdader Mitteilungen, 19 (1988), 549–55 at 554.

(120) Arrian, Anabasis II.15.6–7, II.24.5; Diodorus Siculus XVII.40–6; Plutarch, Alexander 24–5.

(121) See A. Lemaire, ‘Le monnayage de Tyr et celui dit d’Akko dans la deuxième moitié du iv^e siècle av. J.-C.’, Revue Numismatique, 18 (1976), 11–24.

(122) The chronology proposed in A. Lemaire, ‘Le royaume de Tyr dans la seconde moitié du iv^e siècle av. J.-C.’, in Atti del II Congresso Internazionale di Studi Fenici e Punici, I (1991), pp. 131–50 at 150 must be slightly revised: see Elayi and Elayi, Coinage of the Phoenician City of Tyre, pp. 372–89, who proposed a chronology two years earlier, starting in 349. Actually, taking into account the only plated coin with ‘17’, one year earlier is enough: see A. Lemaire, review of Elayi and Elayi, Coinage of the Phoenician City of Tyre, CRAI (2010), 378–9 at 379.

(123) J. C. Greenfield, ‘A Group of Phoenician City Seals’, Israel Exploration Journal, 35 (1985), 129–34; Lemaire, ‘Le royaume de Tyr’, pp. 140–5.

(124) P. Bordreuil, ‘Du Carmel à l’Amanus: Notes de toponymie phénicienne II’, in P.-L. Gatier et al. (eds), Géographie historique au Proche-Orient (Syrie, Phénicie, Arabie, grecques, romaines, byzantines) (Paris, Éditions du CNRS, 1988), pp. 301–14 at 302; id., in Bordreuil and Gubel (eds), ‘BAALIM V’, Syria, 65 (1988), 437–56 at 440 (Louvre AO 29.461).

(125) A. Lemaire, ‘Nouveau sceau fiscal phénicien et la Galilée au iv^e s. av. J.-C.’, in S. Bar (ed.), In the Hill-Country, and in the Shephelah, and in the Arabah (Joshua 12,8): Studies and Researches Presented to Adam Zertal in the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Manasseh Hill-Country Survey (Jerusalem, Ariel, 2008), pp. 188*–94*.

(126) For a Phoenician ostracon from Akko connected to a sanctuary, see M. Dothan, ‘A Phoenician Inscription from Akko’, Israel Exploration Journal, 35 (1985), 81–94; A. Lemaire, ‘Épigraphie et religion en Palestine à l’époque achéménide’, Trans. 22 (2001), 97–113 at 98; F. M. Cross, ‘The Phoenician Ostracon from Acco, the Ekron Inscriptions and ᾿ŠRTH’, in J. Aviram et al. (eds), Ephraim Stern Volume, Eretz-Israel, 29 (Jerusalem, 2009), pp. 19*–28*; E. Lipiński, ‘Wares Ordered from Ben-Ḥarash at Akko’, in Aviram et al. (eds), Ephraim Stern Volume, pp. 105*–10*; Jigoulov, Social History of Achaemenid Phoenicia, pp. 58–9.

(127) Lemaire, ‘Nouveau sceau fiscal phénicien’; id., ‘La Transeuphratène en transition’, p. 424.

(128) M. Dayagi-Mendels, ‘8. Rhyton. 9. Incense Burner’, in R. M. Nagy et al. (eds), Sepphoris in Galilee: Crosscurrents of Culture (Winona Lake, Eisenbrauns, 1996), pp. 162–5.

(129) M. Stolper, in Nagy et al. (eds), Sepphoris in Galilee, pp. 166–7.

(130) G. Beckham, ‘Tablet Fragments from Sepphoris’, Notes Assyriologiques Brèves et Utilitaires (1997/3), 81–2: § 86; A. Lemaire, Trans. 17 (1999), 116; W. Horowitz et al., ‘A Bibliographical List of Cuneiform Inscriptions from Canaan, Palestine/Philistia and the Land of Israel’, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 122 (2002), 753–66 at 759; E. Meyers, ‘Jesus and his World’, in C. G. den Hertog et al. (eds), Saxa loquentur: Studien zur Archäologie Palästinas/Israel. Festschrift für Volkmar Fritz, Alter Orient und Altes Testament, 302 (Münster, 2003), pp. 185–97 at 186; W. Horowitz and T. Oshima, Cuneiform in Canaan: Cuneiform Sources from the Land of Israel in Ancient Times (Jerusalem, Israel Exploration Society, 2006), pp. 118–20.

(131) See, for instance, A. Lemaire, ‘Populations et territoires de la Palestine à l’époque perse’, Trans. 3 (1990), 31–74 at 63–4; U. Rapaport, ‘Phoenicia and Galilee: Economy, Territory and Political Relations’, in Hackens and Moucharte (eds), Numismatique et histoire économique phéniciennes, pp. 261–8 at 265; R. Frankel et al., Settlement Dynamics and Regional Diversity in Ancient Upper Galilee: Archaeological Survey of Upper Galilee, IAA Reports, 14 (Jerusalem, 2001), p. 107: ‘The status of Galilee in this period is uncertain …’.

(132) See mainly A. M. Berlin and R. Frankel, ‘The Sanctuary at Mizpe Yamim: Phoenician Cult and Territory in the Upper Galilee during the Persian Period’, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 366 (2012), 25–78.

(133) R. Frankel and R. Ventura, ‘The Mizpe Yamim Bronzes’, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 311 (1998), 39–55; J. Kamlah, ‘Zwei nordpalästinische “Heiligtümer” der persischen Zeit und ihre epigraphischen Funde’, Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins, 115 (1999), 163–90, esp. 164–70; A. Lemaire, Trans. 17 (1999), 112; M. Weippert, ‘Eine phönizische Inschrift aus Galiläa’, Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins, 115 (1999), 191–200; A. Lemaire, ‘Épigraphie et religion en Palestine à l’époque achéménide’, Trans. 22 (2001), 97–113 at 98–9; H. Niehr, ‘Phoenician Cults in Palestine after 586 BCE’, in I. Cornelius and L. Jonker (eds), ‘From Ebla to Stellenbosch’: Syro-Palestinian Religions and the Hebrew Bible, Abhandlungen des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins, 37 (Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 2008), pp. 13–24 at 15–17; Berlin and Frankel, ‘The Sanctuary at Mizpe Yamim’, 46.

(134) Berlin and Frankel, ‘The Sanctuary at Mizpe Yamim’, pp. 60–1: ‘The construction of a large official building here strongly suggests that in the fifth century BCE Tyre controlled the Upper Galilee as far as its eastern edge’; A. M. Berlin and S. Herbert, ‘A New Persian and Hellenistic Period Administrative Center at Tel Kedesh in the Upper Galilee’, Qadmoniot, 46 (2013), 72–80 (Heb.). See now S. C. Herbert and A. M. Berlin, ‘A New Administrative Center for Persian and Hellenistic Galilee: Preliminary Report of the University of Michigan/University of Minnesota Excavations at Kedesh’, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 329 (2003), 13–59.

(135) H. Gitler and O. Tal, ‘A Hoard of Tyrian and Athenian Coins from Dalton, Israel’, in Lemaire (ed.), Phéniciens d’Orient et d’Occident, pp. 243–9.

(136) Because of the discoveries of the last twenty years, our hypothetical interpretation of a Persian province of Galilee (Trans. 3 (1990), 63–4) is probably to be given up.

(137) J. Elayi, ‘La diffusion des monnaies phéniciennes en Palestine’, in E.-M. Laperrousaz and A. Lemaire (eds), La Palestine à l’époque perse (Paris, Cerf, 1994), pp. 289–309 at 298; A. Lemaire, ‘La circulation monétaire phénicienne en Palestine à l’époque perse’, in Fantar and Ghaki (eds), Actes du III^e Congrès International des Études Phéniciennes et Puniques, pp. 192–202 at 197.

(138) During the rebuilding of the Temple, Sidonians and Tyrians were already apparently associated in sending cedar-wood to Jaffa: Ezra 3:7.

(139) With the possible exception of the district of ‘Lod, Hadid, Ono’ tied to the province of Samaria (see below, pp. 84–6).

(140) See J. Elayi, Recherches sur les cités phéniciennes à l’époque perse (Naples, 1987), pp. 3–4; Lemaire, ‘Populations et territoires de la Palestine’, 31–74 at 54–5.

(141) See H. Gitler and O. Tal, The Coinage of Philistia of the Fifth and Fourth Centuries BC: A Study of the Earliest Coins of Palestine, Collezioni numismatiche: Materiali pubblici e privati, 6 (Milan/New York, 2006), pp. 112–13, 144–5 and 305; O. Tal, ‘Negotiating Identity in an International Context under Achaemenid Rule: The Indigenous Coinages of Persian-Period Palestine as an Allegory’, in O. Lipschits et al. (eds), Judah and the Judeans in the Achaemenid Period: Negotiating Identity in an International Context (Winona Lake, Eisenbrauns, 2011), pp. 445–59 at 452 n. 11.

(142) See F. M. Cross, ‘Inscriptions in Phoenician and Other Scripts’, in L. E. Stager et al. (eds), Ashkelon I: Introduction and Overview (1985–2006) (Winona Lake, Eisenbrauns, 2008), pp. 350–65.

(143) See J. Naveh, ‘Unpublished Phoenician Inscriptions from Palestine’, Israel Exploration Journal, 37 (1987), 25–30; A. Lemaire, Trans. 1 (1989), 93 n. 25.

(144) For the coast: Shiqmona and Gaza, see A. Lemaire, ‘La Transeuphratène en transition’, p. 423; more generally E. A. Bettles, Phoenician Amphora Production and Distribution in the Southern Levant: A Multi-disciplinary Investigation into Carinated-Shoulder Amphorae of the Persian Period (539–332 BC), BAR International Series, 1183 (Oxford, 2003).

(145) A. Lemaire, Nouvelles inscriptions araméennes d’Idumée au Musée d’Israël (abbreviated hereafter as L), Suppl. 3 to Trans. (Paris, Gabalda, 1996), pp. 121–3; id., Nouvelles inscriptions araméennes d’Idumée, II: Collections Moussaïeff, Jeselsohn, Welch et divers (abbreviated hereafter as AL), Suppl. no. 9 to Trans. (Paris, Gabalda, 2002), p. 192; id., ‘New Aramaic Ostraca from Idumea and Their Historical Interpretation’, in O. Lipschits and M. Oeming (eds), Judah and the Judeans in the Persian Period (Winona Lake, Eisenbrauns, 2006), pp. 413–56 at 451–2; id., ‘Administration in Fourth-Century BCE Judah in Light of Epigraphy and Numismatics’, in O. Lipschits et al. (eds), Judah and the Judeans in the Fourth Century BCE (Winona Lake, Eisenbrauns, 2007), pp. 53–74 at 64–5.

(146) L, pp. 121–3.

(147) See above n. 65.

(148) On the difficulty of dating and interpreting this verse, see D. Edelman, ‘Tyrian Trade in Yehud under Artaxerxes I: Real or Fictional? Independent or Crown Endorsed?’, in Lipschits and Oeming (eds), Judah and the Judeans in the Persian Period, pp. 207–46. Whether 5th or 4th century, this verse accords with the importance of Tyrian economic influence in Cisjordan.

Select your specializations: Select All / Clear Selections

André Lemaire

Subject(s) in British Academy Scholarship Online

Levantine Epigraphy and Phoenicia: the Kingdoms of Aradus, Byblos, Sidon and Tyre during the Achaemenid Period

Levantine Epigraphy and Phoenicia: the Kingdoms of Aradus, Byblos, Sidon and Tyre during the Achaemenid Period

André Lemaire

Abstract and Keywords

The Kingdom of Aradus

(p.4) The Kingdom of Byblos

The Kingdom of Sidon

The Kingdom of Tyre

Notes: