Cippi of Melqart
The Cippi of Melqart | |
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Registration | CIS I, 122/122 bis or KAI 47 (Malta Cippus), AO 4818 (Louvre Cippus) |
The Cippi of Melqart are a pair of
The tradition that the cippi were found in
Description and history
The importance of the cippi to Maltese archaeology is inestimable.
A cippus (plural cippi) is a small column. Cippi serve as
Although it is not rare for cippi to have dedications,
When the Greek inscription was published in the third volume of the Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum in 1853, the cippi were described as discovered in the coastal village of Marsaxlokk.[15] Before, their Marsaxlokk provenance had not been proposed by anyone, and it was more than a century later that the claim was discredited.[16] The attribution to Tas-Silġ was apparently reached by inference, because the candelabra were thought, with some plausibility, to have been dedicated and set up inside the temple of Heracles.[5][n 6][18]
Inscriptions on the Cippi
The Phoenician inscription is a Phoenician votive inscription to Melqart, and it reads (from right to left;[n 7] characters inside brackets denote a filled in lacuna):
𐤋𐤀𐤃𐤍𐤍
lʾdnn
𐤋𐤌𐤋𐤒𐤓𐤕
lmlqrt
𐤁𐤏𐤋
bʿl
𐤑𐤓
ṣr
𐤀𐤔
ʾš
𐤍𐤃𐤓
ndr
To our lord Melqart, Lord of Tyre, dedicated by
𐤏𐤁𐤃[𐤊]
ʿbd[k]
𐤏𐤁𐤃𐤀𐤎𐤓
ʿbdʾsr
𐤅𐤀𐤇𐤉
wʾḥy
𐤀𐤎𐤓𐤔𐤌𐤓
ʾsršmr
you[r] servant Abd' Osir and his brother 'Osirshamar
𐤔𐤍
šn
𐤁𐤍
bn
𐤀𐤎𐤓𐤔𐤌𐤓
ʾsršmr
𐤁𐤍
bn
𐤏𐤁𐤃𐤀𐤎𐤓
ʿbdʾsr
𐤊𐤔𐤌𐤏
kšmʿ
both sons of 'Osirshamar, son of Abd' Osir, for he heard
The following is the Greek inscription, a rendering to
Διονύσιος
Dionýsios
καὶ
kaì
Σαραπίων
Sarapíōn
οἱ
hoi
Dionysios and Sarapion, the
Σαραπίωνος
Sarapíōnos
Τύριοι
Týrioi
sons of Sarapion, Tyrenes,
Discovery and publication
Initial identification
In 1694, a Maltese
Copies of the inscriptions, which had been made by Giovanni Uvit in 1687, were sent to Verona to an art historian, poet and Knight Commander in the Hospitaller order, Bartolomeo dal Pozzo.[20] These were then handed to another Veronese noble art collector, Francesco Sparaviero who wrote a translation of the Greek section.[n 15]
In 1753, Abbé Guyot de Marne, also a Knight Commander of the Maltese Order, published the text again in an Italian journal, the Saggi di dissertazioni accademiche of the Etruscan Academy of Cortona, but did not hypothesise a translation.[25] The first attempt had come in 1741, by the French scholar Michel Fourmont, who had published his assumptions in the same journal.[4] However, neither led to a useful translation.[26]
Deciphering the Phoenician script
The shorter Phoenician text was transliterated and translated more than twenty years after Fourmont's publication, by the Abbé Jean-Jacques Barthélemy.
He correctly identified 16 of the 17 different letters represented in the text, but still mistook the Shin and the He.[4] Barthélémy began the translation of the script by reading the first word "lʾdnn" as "to our lord."[27] The hypothesis that Heracles corresponded with Melqart, Lord of Tyre, made Barthélemy pinpoint more letters, while the names of the patrons, being the sons of the same father in the Greek text, allowed the backward induction of the father's name in the Phoenician text.[2]
The Phoenician script, once translated read:
- "To our lord Melqart, Lord of Tyre, dedicated by / your servant Abd' Osir and his brother 'Osirshamar / both sons of 'Osirshamar, son of Abd' Osir, for he heard / their voice, may he bless them."[2][n 8]
The
Later work
Work on the cippi now focused on a fuller understanding of Phoenician grammar, as well as the implications of the discovery of Phoenician texts in Malta.
In 1782, Emmanuel de Rohan-Polduc, Grand Master of the Order of Malta, presented one of the cippi to the
Idiomatic use and cultural impact
The term
The two cippi were reunited for the first time in 240 years at an exhibition at the Louvre Abu Dhabi in 2023.[35]
Notes and references
Notes
- ^ The description of the Louvre cippus states that the inscription contains 18 out of the 22 letters in the Phoenician alphabet.[2] Lehmann, however, reports that there are 17.[4] The latter source appears to be more credible (Lehmann cites the cippi's lack of a proper provenance, while the Louvre collection states the cippi were found at Marsaxlokk).
- ^ The Phoenician god Melqart was associated with the Hellenic god Heracles by means of interpretatio graeca.
- ^ " Corpus Inscriptionum Græcarum vol. 3, no. 5733, 680‒681 " - (in Latin and Greek) "Ambo simul monumenta sunt reperta inter rudera, etiam nunc exstantia, portus hodie Marsa Scirocco, olim Ἡρακλέουϛ λιµήν, appellati".[5]
- ^ (in French) "...en plein période dite 'punicò-romaine' (II siècle av. J.-C.), des Maltais restent Phéniciens, attachés à la religion et à la culture phéniciennes."[13]
- ^ (in French) "...deux monuments distincts, chacun étant l’oeuvre d’un artisan et d’un scribe différents."[13]
- ^ Μελίτη νῆσος ἐν ᾗ ... καὶ Ἡρακλέους ἱερόν. The island of Melite on which is ... and the temple of Heracles.[17]
- ^ Unfortunately the rendered direction of the Phoenician text may vary across web browsers. See relevant talk page section.
- ^ a b Important Note: As of 25 February 2014, in the Louvre Museum webpage of the Cippus,[2] the text in bold below is missing from the translation of the third line of the Phoenician inscription:
both sons of 'Osirshamar, for he heard for both sons of 'Osirshamar, son of Abd' Osir, for he heard. - ^ (in Italian) "Stimo esser stata simile lamina, qualche superstitioso Amuleto posto presso quel cadavere, ivi esistente per poco meno di tre mila anni, mentre da Geroglifìci Egytii, e da quei segni di caratteri posti su'l fine della prima linea scorgonsi in essa, da me giudicati per Fenici, si riconosce esser stato questo amuleo di personaggio Fenice, la di cui natio ne hebbe ne'trasandati tempo per piu secoli il dominio di quest'isola, conforme l'afferma Tucidide... E Diodoro Sicolo, parlando delle Colonie de Fenici, e commentando il detto testo di Tucidide, lasciò scritto...".[20]
- ^ The villa was demolished by the British colonial administration to build a power station.[21]
- ^ (in Italian) "Due iscrittioni scolpite con caratteri Greci, e Fenici a mio credere".[20]
- ^ (in Italian) "L’anno 1732 essendo Rettore di questo collegio de’ Padri Gesuiti il P. Ignazio Bonanno si scavò parte d’un viale del Giardino, in cui è situato il sovraccennato casino, posseduto un tempo dall’Abela, che scriveva l’anno 1647, per fabbricarvi una scala; e quivi sotterrate si rinvennero le due Pietre co’ Fenici, e Greci caratteri segnate; le quali dal P. Luigi Duquait Francese sovrastante all’opera furon collocate nello stesso viale per ornamento. Dopo qualche tempo un altro accorto Religioso temendo, che di là tolte fossero (come fu lor tolto il capo della bella statua d’Ercole, che fu venduto per testa di S. Giuseppe, e poi da essi ricuperato, e riunito al suo luogo) trasportolle alla stanza contigua al Gabinetto, o Museo dell’Abela".[22] The episode is referred to briefly in Abela-Ciantar, vol. I, p. 465, and in further detail on pp. 527-528.[23]
- ^ (in Italian) "Mi fu detto che nella Villetta del Collegio vi erano due Iscrizioni Arabiche sotto due balaustretti. Io ero stato alla Villa ed avevo visto i balaustri asserti; ma come essi sono vicini a terra sopra di un muricciolo al Sole, non avevo fatto altra riflessione sopra di essi, nè ve l'aveva fatta niuno, se non che poco eruditamente chi me ne diè notizia. Presi aldunque la barchetta, e là tornai, e trovai due iscrizioni non altrimente Arabiche, ma Fenicie e Greche; e dal tenore della Greca, che è in tutti due i dadi la stessa, credo, che i balaustrelli fossero due Candelabri rotti, offerti in dono ad Ercole Arcbagete, da due fratelli di Tiro in Fenicia. A buon conto abbiamo questo nome di Ercole, che io non so se ha noto altrove". Lupi let.11 s.64.[24]
- ^ (in Italian) "[…] che tralasciatane la discifratione di quei caratteri stimati Fenici, per essere forse a lui ignoti, mit trasmise la seguente spiegatione delli Greci in esse tavole scolpiti. Dionysius et Sarapion Sarapionis Tirii, Herculi Duci".[20]
References
- .
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Cippus from Malta". Louvre Museum. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
- ^ Lehmann, p210 and 257, quote: "Soon thereafter, at the end of the 17th century, the abovementioned Ignazio di Costanzo was the first to report a Phoenician inscription and to consciously recognize Phoenician characters proper... And just as the Melitensis prima inscription played a prominent part as the first-ever published Phoenician inscription... and remained the number-one-inscription in the Monumenta (fig. 8), it now became the specimen of authentic Phoenician script par excellence... The Melitensis prima inscription of Marsa Scirocco (Marsaxlokk) had its lasting prominence as the palaeographic benchmark for the assumed, or rather deduced “classical” Phoenician (“echtphönikische”) script."
- ^ ISBN 978-3-11-026612-2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2014-02-21. At the Forschungsstelle für Althebräische Sprache und Epigraphik, University of Mainz.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Bonanno, Anthony (1982). "Quintinius and the location of the Temple of Hercules at Marsaxlokk". Melita Historica. 8 (3): 190–204.
- ^ ISSN 0065-0536.
- ^ ISBN 0313323291. At Google Books.
- ^ Wilhelm Gesenius (1837). Scripturae linguaeque Phoeniciae. Monumenta quotquot supersunt (in Latin). Vol. Pars prima. Leipzig: Fr. Chr. Guil. Vogelius. p. 95. At Google Books.
- ISBN 0520226135. At Google Books.
- ISBN 0520226135. At Google Books.
- ^ a b "The Illustrated Catalogue of the Industry of All Nations". The Art Journal. 2. Virtue: 224. 1853. At Google Books.
- ISBN 1884964052. At Google Books.
- ^ a b c d e Sznycer, Maurice (1975). "Antiquités et épigraphie nord-sémitiques". École Pratique des Hautes études 4e Section: Sciences Historiques et Philologiques. Annuaire 1974–1975 (in French). 107 (1): 191–208. At Persée.
- ISBN 3447054840. At Google Books.
- ^ Böckh, A. (1853). Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum, 681, 5753. Vol. III. Berlin.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Borġ, V. (1963). Tradizioni e documenti storici. Missione. pp. 41–51.
- Claudius Ptolemy (1843). "Book IV, Chapter 3 §37 [sic, recte §47]". In Nobbe, Carolus Fridericus Augustus (ed.). Claudii Ptolemaei Geographia (in Greek and Latin). Vol. I. Carolus Tauchnitius. p. 246. At Google Books.
- ^ Abela, Giovanni Francesco (1647). Della Descrizione di Malta Isola nel Mare Siciliano con le sue Antichità, ed Altre Notizie (in Italian). Paolo Bonacota. p. 5.
- ^ a b
Prag, Jonathan R. W.; Quinn, Josephine Crawley, eds. (2013). The Hellenistic West: rethinking the ancient Mediterranean. Cambridge University Press. pp. 357–8. ISBN 978-1-107-03242-2. Brown, John Pairman, ed. (1995). Israel and Hellas. Vol. I.ISBN 3-11-014233-3. At Google Books.
- ^ a b c d e Bulifon, Antonio (1698). Lettere memorabili, istoriche, politiche, ed erudite Scritte, […] Raccolta Quarta (IV). Naples: Bulifon. pp. 117–132. Also at [1]
- ^ Grima, Noel (2 May 2016). The historical antecedents of the Marsa Power Station. The Malta Independent. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
- ^ Ciantar, G.A. Dissertazione. Malta: NLM Biblioteca. pp. Ms 166, ff. 25–26r.
- ^ Ciantar, G.A.; Abela, G.F. (1772). Malta illustrata... accresciuta dal Cte G.A. Ciantar. Malta: Mallia. pp. 460–462.
- ^ a b c Paternò, Principe di Biscari, Ignazio (1781). Viaggio per tutte le antichita della Sicilia (in Italian). Napoli: Simoni. pp. 111–112. At Google Books.
- ^ Marne, Guyot (1735). Dissertazione II del Commendatore F. Giuseppe Claudio Guyot de Marne […] sopra un'inscrizione punica, e greca: Saggi di dissertazioni accademiche pubblicamente lette nella nobile accademia etrusca dell'antichissima città di Cortona. Rome: Tommaso / Pagliarini. pp. 24–34.
- ^ Fourmont, Michele (1741). Dissertazione III […] Sopra una Iscrizione Fenicia trovata a Malta, in: Saggi di dissertazioni accademiche pubblicamente lette nella nobile accademia etrusca dell'antichissima città di Cortona. Rome: Tommaso / Pagliarini. pp. 88–110.
- ^ Gallica.
- ^ Bellermann, Johann Joachim (1809). Phoeniciæ linguæ vestigiorum in Melitensi specimen. Berlin: Dieterici.
- ^ Pérez Bayer, F. (1772). Del alfabeto y lengua de los Fenices, y de sus colonias (in Spanish). Spain: Joachin Ibarra. At Google Books.
- ^ "Treasures of Malta". Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti [Maltese Heritage Foundation]. 2009. Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
- ISBN 978-1841623122. At Google Books.
- ^ "Heritage Malta joins in with Lejliet Lapsi Notte Gozitana". Gozo News. 13 May 2010. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
- ^ "MaltaPost Philately". MaltaPost. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
- ^ "Malta- Libya 'non-paper' on illegal immigration". Times of Malta. 29 June 2005. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
- ^ "Pillars used to decipher Phoenician language reunited after 240-years". Times of Malta. 2023-06-02. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
Bibliography
- Culican, William (1980). Ebied, Rifaat Y.; Young, M.J.L (eds.). Oriental Studies. Leeds University Oriental Society - Near Eastern Researches II. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill. ISBN 90-04-05966-0.
- Lewis, Harrison Adolphus (1977). Ancient Malta - A Study of its Antiquities. Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire: Colin Smythe.
- Sagona, Claudia; Vella Gregory, Isabelle; Bugeja, Anton (2006). Punic Antiquities of Malta and Other Ancient Artefacts Held in Ecclesiastic and Private Collections. Ancient Near Eastern Studies. Belgium: Peeters Publishers.
See also
- Votive Stones of Pesaro, ancient cippi
- Lucus Pisaurensis, sacred grove of Pesaro
- Encryption
- Linear A, one of two currently undeciphered writing systems used in ancient Crete
- Transliteration of Ancient Egyptian
- Greek–Punic Wars