Shophet
In several
Etymology
In Hebrew and several other Semitic languages, shopheṭ literally means "Judge", from the Semitic root Š-P-Ṭ, "to pass judgment". Cognate titles exist in other Semitic cultures, notably Phoenicia.
Hebrew
In the
Phoenician
In the various independent Phoenician city-states—on the coasts of present-day
The officeholder's role as a diplomatic executive, representative of a collective citizenry, is evidenced by an inscription written by the šūfeṭ Diomitus at Sidon in the late third century BC. He boasts of his chariot race victory at the Nemean Games in Greece, perpetuating political favor as "the first of the citizens" to do so.[3]
Punic
By the time of the
The term sufet was not, however, reserved for the heads of the Carthaginian state. Towards the end of their Western Mediterranean dominance, political coordination between local and colonial Carthaginians was likely expressed through a regional hierarchy of sufetes. For example, some epigraphic evidence from Punic-era Sardinia is dated with four names: the years' magistrates not only on the island, but also at home in North Africa.[5]
Further inscriptional evidence of sufetes found in the major settlements of
Later use
Official state terminology of the
Unlike the continuity of Punic inhabitance in Sardinia, the sufet's prevalence in interior regions of Roman Africa, which were previously unsettled by Carthage, suggests that settlers and Punic refugees endeared themselves to Roman authorities by adopting a readily intelligible government.[10]
Three sufetes serving simultaneously appear in first century CE records at Althiburos, Mactar, and Thugga, reflecting a choice to adopt Punic nomenclature for Romanized institutions without the actual, traditionally balanced magistracy.[11] In those cases, a third, non-annual position of tribal or communal chieftain marked an inflection point in the assimilation of external African groups into the Roman political fold.[12]
The Roman approximation of the term, sufes, appears in at least six works of Latin literature.[13] Erroneous references to Carthaginian "kings" with the Latin term rex betray the translations of Roman authors from Greek sources, who equated the sufet with the more monarchical basileus (Greek: βασιλεύς).[14]
See also
References
- JSTOR j.ctvc77kkd.13.
- ^ Roppa, Andrea (2018). Kouremenos, Anna (ed.). Insularity and identity in the Roman Mediterranean. Oxbow Books. pp. 144–164.
- S2CID 162445747.
- JSTOR 24591869.
- ^ Pilkington, Nathan. "The Sufetes of North Africa: Comparative Contexts". Society for Classical Studies. Columbia University. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
- ^ Roppa, Andrea (2018). Kouremenos, Anna (ed.). Insularity and identity in the Roman Mediterranean. Oxbow Books. pp. 144–164.
- JSTOR 24591869.
- JSTOR j.ctvc77kkd.13.
- JSTOR 41857007.
- JSTOR j.ctvc77kkd.13.
- JSTOR j.ctvc77kkd.13.
- JSTOR 41857007.
- JSTOR 24591869.
- JSTOR 24591869.
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Judges". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Judges