Eshmunazar II sarcophagus

The Eshmunazar II sarcophagus is an early 5th century BCE sarcophagus unearthed in 1855 at a site near Sidon and now in the Louvre, which contains a Phoenician inscription which was of great significance on its discovery – it was the first discovered in the Phoenician language from the area known as Phoenicia, and was the most detailed such inscription ever found anywhere up to that point.[1][2]

Eshmunazar II sarcophagus
The sarcophagus in the Louvre
MaterialAmphibolite
Size2.56 x 1.25 m
WritingPhoenician language
Createdc.500 BCE
Discovered1855
Present locationLouvre
IdentificationAO 4806

Eshmunazar II (Phoenician: 𐤀𐤔𐤌𐤍𐤏𐤆𐤓 ʾšmnʿzr, a theophoric name meaning 'Eshmun helps' or 'helper of Eshmun', similar to Eleazar or Eliezer) was a Phoenician King of Sidon and the son of King Tabnit (possibly the Greek Tenes). The sarcophagus was likely created in Egypt, being carved from amphibolite from Wadi Hammamat. The inscription states that the "Lord of Kings" granted the Sidonian kings "Dor and Joppa, the mighty lands of Dagon, which are in the plain of Sharon".[3]

More than a dozen scholars across Europe and the United States rushed to translate it and to interpret its details in the two years after its discovery was first published.[4] Jean-Joseph-Léandre Bargès wrote that the language of the inscription is "identical with Hebrew, except for the final inflections of a few words and certain expressions, in very small numbers, which are not found in the biblical texts which have come down to us; the fact that Hebrew was written and spoken in Sidon, at a time when the Jews returning from captivity no longer heard this language, is proof that it was preserved among the Phoenicians longer than among the Hebrews themselves."[5]

Discovery
Announcement of the discovery in the The Journal of Commerce

Announcement of the discovery was made in a letter dated 11 February 1855 by a correspondent of the The Journal of Commerce. The sarcophagus had been discovered on 19 January 1855 at the Cemetery of Aadloun.

On the discovery of the sarcophagus, a dispute broke out between the Beirut consuls of Britain and France (Aimé Péretié, Chancellor of the Consulate General of France in Beirut):

In the mean time a controversy has arisen in regard to the ownership of the discovered monument, between the English and French Consuls in this place - one having made a contract with the owner of the land, by which he was entitled to whatever he should discover in it; and the other having engaged an Arab to dig for him, who came upon the sarcophagus in the other consul's limits, or , as the Californians would say, within his “claim".

It was purchased later in the same year by Honoré Théodoric d'Albert de Luynes, who donated it to the Louvre.[6]

A list of early published translations is below:[4] Several other well known scholars worked on the translation, including Josiah Willard Gibbs, William Henry Green, James Murdock, Rev. Dr. William Jenks, W. A. Miller, and Christian Frederic Crusé; William McClure Thomson and Eli Smith were living in Syria at the time and were understood to have successfully read most of the inscription in early 1855, but did not produce any publications.[7]

Author.Preliminary TranslationMemoirPrevious Interpretations consulatedReference
Edward E. Salisbury31 May 1855Phoenician Inscription of Sidon
William Wadden Turner31 May 18553 July 1855The Sidon Inscription
Emil Rödiger15 June 1855Bemerkungen über die phönikische Inschrift eines am 19. Januar 1855 nahe bei Sidon gefundenen Königs-Sarkophag's
Franz Dietrich and Johann Gildemeister25 April 18551 July 1855Zwei Sidonische Inschriften, eine griechische aus christlicher Zeit und eine altphönicische Königsinschrift
Ferdinand Hitzig30 September 1855Rödiger, Dietrich.Die Grabschrift des Eschmunazar
Konstantin SchlottmannDecember 1855Rödiger, Dietrich, Hitzig, De Luynes and Ewald.Die Inschrift Eschmunazar's, Königs der Sidonier
Honoré Théodoric d'Albert de Luynes14 August 185515 December 1855Mémoire sur le Sarcophage et inscription funéraire d'Esmunazar, roi de Sidon
Heinrich Ewald19 January 1856Salisbury, Turner, Roidiger, Dietrich, Hitzig.Erklärung der grossen phönikischen inschrift von Sidon und einer ägyptisch-aramäischen : mit den zuverlässigen abbildern beider
Jean-Joseph-Léandre BargèsFebruary 18561856Salisbury, Turner, Rödiger, Dietrich, Hitzig, De Luynes, Ewald (?).Mémoire sur le sarcophage et l'inscription funéraire d'Eschmounazar, roi de Sidon
Salomon Munk6 April 1855Salisbury, Turner, Rödiger, Dietrich, Hitzig, DeLuynes, Barges.Essais sur l'inscription phénicienne du sarcophage d'Eschmoun-'Ezer, roi de Sidon
Moritz Abraham LevyAugust 1856Salisbury, Turner, Rödiger, Dietrich, Hitzig, Ewald, De Luynes, MunkPhonizisches Worterbuch

Inscription
Copy of the inscription at the Jaffa museum

The sarcophagus bears a 22 line inscription, known as KAI-14,[8] written in the Phoenician Canaanite language, in the Phoenician alphabet. The inscription identifies the king inside and warns people not to disturb his repose.[9]

The language used in the inscription is a Canaanite dialect mutually intelligible with Biblical Hebrew.

As in other Phoenician inscriptions, the text seems to use no, or hardly any, matres lectionis. As in Aramaic, the preposition אית (ʾyt) is used as an accusative marker, while את (ʾt) is used for "with".[8]

Translation

The translation below is based on that by Julius Oppert,[6] amended with the help of a more recent translation in Prichard & Fleming.[10]

  1. In the month of Bul,[nb 1] in the fourteenth year of the royalty of King Eshmunazar,[nb 2] King of the two Sidons,
  2. son of King Tabnit, King of the two Sidons, King Eshmunazar, King of the two Sidons, said as follows: I am carried away,
  3. before my time, the son of (few) days, an orphan, the son of a widow. And I am lying in this coffin, and in this tomb,
  4. in the place which I have built. Whoever you are, of royal race or an ordinary man, may he not open this resting-place, and
  5. may he not search after anything, for nothing whatsoever has been placed into it. May he not move the coffin in which I am resting, nor carry
  6. me away from this resting-place to another resting-place. Whatever a man may tell thee, do not listen to him: For every royal race and
  7. every ordinary man, who will open this resting-place or who will carry away the coffin where I repose, or who will carry me
  8. away from this resting-place: may they not have any funeral couch with the embalmers (the Ropheïm), may they not be buried in a grave, and may there not be a son or offspring
  9. to succeed to them, and may the sacred gods abandon them to a mighty ruler who (might) rule them, in order
  10. to exterminate that royal race or man who will open this resting-place or who will take away
  11. this coffin, and also the offspring of this royal race, or of that ordinary man. There shall be to them no root below, nor
  12. fruit above, nor living form under the sun. For I am carried away, before my time, the son of
  13. (few) days, an orphan, the son of a widow. For I, Eshmunazar, King of the two Sidons, son of
  14. King Tabnit, King of the two Sidons, the grandson of King Eshmunazar, King of the two Sidons, And my mother Amoashtart,
  15. the Priestess of Astarte, our mistress, the Queen, the daughter of King Eshmunazar, King of the two Sidons: It is we who have built the temple of
  16. the gods, and the temple of Astaroth, on the seaside Sidon,[nb 3] and have placed there (the image of) Astaroth in Shamem-Addirim. And it is we
  17. who have built a temple for Eshmun, the holy prince, at the purpleshells River on the mountain, and have established him in Shamem-Addirim. And it is we who have built the temples
  18. for the gods of the two Sidons, in the seaside Sidon, the temple of Baal-Sidon and the temple of Ashtart-Shem-Baal. Moreover, the Lord of Kings[nb 4] gave us
  19. Dor and Joppa, the mighty lands of Dagon, which are in the plain of Saron, in accordance with the important deeds which I did. And we annexed them
  20. to the boundary of the land, that they would belong to the two Sidons for ever. Whoever you are, of royal race or ordinary man, may he not open it
  21. and may he not uncover me and may he not carry me away from this resting-place. Otherwise,
  22. the sacred gods shall abandon them and exterminate this royal race and this ordinary man and their offspring for ever.
Hebrew transcription

The text of the 22 line inscription, on the front side of the sarcophagus, follows, with one-to one transliteration into the Hebrew alphabet. The original text contains no word breaks; these are merely suggested; numbers appear in the original inscription in an Egyptian standard.

  1. [12]בירח בֻּל[13] בשנת עסר[14] וארבע 14 למלכי מֶלֶך אֶשמֻנעַזָר מלך צִדֹנִם
  2. [15]בן מֶלֶך תַּבּנִת מֶלֶך צדנם דבר מֶלֶך אֶשמֻנעַזָר מֶלֶך צדנם לֵאמֹר נגזלתִ
  3. בל עתי[16] בן מסך[17] יָמִם[18] אזרם[19] יתֹם[20] בן אלמת[21] ושֹׁכֵב אָנֹכִ[22] בחלת[23] זֶ[24] ובקבר ז
  4. במָקֹם[25] אֲשֶׁ[26] בָּנִתִ[27] קֹנֶ[28] מי אַתָּ[29] כֹּל ממלכת[30] וכל אדם אל יפתח אֶית[31] משכב ז ו
  5. אל יבקש בן מִנִם[32] כִּ[33] אִי שָׂמֻ[34] בנ מנם ואל ישא אית חלת משכבי ואל יַעֲמִ
  6. סֵנִ[35] במשכב ז עלת[36] משכב שני אף אִם אדמם[37] יְדַבְּרוּנךָ[38] אל תשמע בדנמ כ כל ממלכת ו
  7. כל אדם אש יפתח עלת משכב ז אם אש ישא אית חלת משכבי אם אש יַעֲמִסֵנִ במ
  8. שכב ז אל יִכֹּן לָמֹ[39] משכב את רפָאִם[40] ואל יקבר בקבר ואל יִכֹּן למֹ בן וזרע
  9. תחתנם[41] ויסגרנם[42] האלנם[43] הקְדֹשִם את ממלכ(ת) אַדִּר[44] אש מֹשֵל בנם לק
  10. צתנם[45] אית ממלכת אם אדם הֻא אש יפתח עלת משכב ז אמ אש ישא אית
  11. חלת ז ואית זרע ממלת הא אמ אדממ המת אל יכנ למ שרש למט ו
  12. פר למעל ותאר בחימ תחת שמש כ אנכ נחנ נגזלת בל עתי בנ מס
  13. כ יממ אזרמ יתמ בנ אלמת אנכ כ אנכ אֶשמֻנעַזָר מלכ צדנמ בנ
  14. מלכ תַּבּנִת מֶלֶכ צדנמ בנ בנ מֶלֶכ אֶשמֻנעַזָר מֶלֶכ צדנמ ואמי אמ עשתרתכהנת
  15. כהנת עשתרת רבתנ המלכת בת מֶלֶכ אֶשמֻנעַזָר מֶלֶכ צדנמ אמ בננ אית בת
  16. אלנמ אית (...)ת בצדנ ארצ ימ וישרנ אית עשתרת שממ אדרמ ואנחנ
  17. אש בננ בת לאשמנ (?)ר קדש ענידלל בהר וישבני שממ אדרמ ואנחנ אש בננ בתמ
  18. לאלנ צדנמ בצדנ ארצ ימ בת לבעל צדנ ובת לעשתרת שמ בעל ועד יתנ לנ אדנ מלכמ
  19. אית דאר ויפי ארצת דגנ האדרת אש בשד שרנ למדת עצמת אש פעלת ויספננמ
  20. עלת גבל ארצ לכננמ לצדנמ לעל(?) קנמי את כל ממלכת וכל אדמ אל יפתח עלתי
  21. ואל יער עלתי ואל יעמסנ במשכב ז ואל ישא אית חלת משכבי למ יסגרנמ
  22. אלנמ הקדשמ אל ויקצנ הממלכת הא והאדממ המת וזרעמ לעלמ


References
  1. Lehmann, Reinhard G. (2013). "Wilhelm Gesenius and the Rise of Phoenician Philology" (PDF). Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft. Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter. 427: 209–266. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-04-08. Quote: "Alas, all these were either late or Punic, and came from Cyprus, from the ruins of Kition, from Malta, Sardinia, Athens, and Carthage, but not yet from the Phoenician homeland. The first Phoenician text as such was found as late as 1855, the Eshmunazor sarcophagus inscription from Sidon."
  2. William Wadden Turner, 3 July 1855, The Sidon Inscription, p.259: "Its interest is greater both on this account and as being the first inscription properly so-called that has yet been found in Phoenicia proper, which had previously furnished only some coins and an inscribed gem. It is also the longest inscription hitherto discovered, that of Marseilles—which approaches it the nearest in the form of its characters, the purity of its language, and its extent — consisting of but 21 lines and fragments of lines."
  3. Louvre website: "The favor of the Persian king had increased the territory of Sidon by granting it part of Philistine: "The Lord of Kings gave us Dor and Yapho, the rich wheat-lands that are in the Plain of Sharon, in recognition of the great deeds that I accomplished and we have added to the lands that are forever those of the Sidonians.""
  4. Turner, W. (1860). Remarks on the Phœnician Inscription of Sidon. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 7, 48-59. doi:10.2307/592156 (the list is on page 49)
  5. Bargès, Jean-Joseph Léandre (1856), Benjamin Duprat (ed.), Mémoire sur le sarcophage et l'inscription funéraire d'Eschmounazar, roi de Sidon (editio princeps ed.), p. 39, Sous le rapport de la linguistique, il nous fournit de précieux renseignements sur la nature de la langue parlée en Phénicie quatre siècles environ avant l'ère chrétienne; cette langue s'y montre identique avec l'hébreu, sauf les inflexions finales de quelques mots et certaines expressions, en très-petit nombre, qui ne se retrouvent pas dans les textes bibliques parvenus jusqu'à nous ; le fait de l'hébreu écrit et parlé à Sidon, à une époque où les Juifs de retour de la captivité n'entendaient déjà plus cette langue, est une preuve qu'elle s'est conservée chez les Phéniciens plus longtemps que chez les Hébreux eux-mêmes. [Translation: With regard to linguistics, it provides us with valuable information on the nature of the language spoken in Phoenicia about four centuries before the Christian era; this language is shown to be identical with Hebrew, except for the final inflections of a few words and certain expressions, in very small numbers, which are not found in the biblical texts which have come down to us; the fact that Hebrew was written and spoken in Sidon, at a time when the Jews returning from captivity no longer heard this language, is proof that it was preserved among the Phoenicians longer than among the Hebrews themselves.]
  6. Samuel Birch, Records of the past: Being English Translations of the Ancient Monuments of Egypt and Western Asia, vol. 9, 1877, p. 111.
  7. Edward E. Salisbury, Phoenician Inscription of Sidon, p.230
  8. "Kanaanäische und Aramäische Inschriften", Herbert Donner, Wolfgang Röllig , ISBN 3-447-04587-6.
  9. Cline, Austin. "Sidon Sarcophagus: Illustration of the Sarcophagus of Eshmunazar II Found Near Sidon, Lebanon". About.com. Retrieved 2009-03-27.
  10. James B. Prichard and Daniel E. Fleming, The Ancient Near East: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures, 2011, p. 311.
  11. pages 42 "Ifil" and 107 "wyšbn", see Glossary of Phoenician, by Harris, Zellig S.,: A Grammar of the Phoenician Language, New Haven, 1936
  12. = צידונים 'Sidonians'.
  13. = בּוּל, the month Bul, mentioned in 1Kings 6:38: "in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month". Identical to Cheshvan in the current Hebrew calendar, which uses the Babylonian names.
  14. = עשׂר 'ten'
  15. = נגזלתי 'I was taken away by force'.
  16. parallel to Biblical בלא עִתִי 'before my time' as in Ecclesiastes 7:17 (בְּלֹא עִתֶּךָ 'before your time').
  17. different opinions, likely מסך corresponds to Hebrew סָך 'sum total' (as in Hebrew סך הכול), which implies a limited total (as in the parallel Aramaic/Syriac ܣܟܐ/סכא 'limit, bound'): the expression מסך ימם corresponding to Hebrew סך ימים and meaning '(limited) total of days'. cf Phoenician-Punic Dictionary by Charles R. Krahmalkov (entry MSK 2).
  18. = ימים 'days'
  19. according to the traditional opinion, אזרם = 'infant sacrificial victim', to which the King compares himself because of his untimely death ("I was taken away before my time like an infant sacrificial victim"). cf Phoenician-Punic Dictionary by Charles R. Krahmalkov (entry 'ZRM).
  20. = יתום 'orphan'
  21. = אלמנה 'widow'. The 'נ' disappeared in Phoenician, similarly to Akkadian almattu.
  22. = אָנוֹכִי 'I'
  23. חלת = coffin, likely from the root חלל 'cavity', חלול 'hollow'.
  24. = זֶה
  25. = מקום
  26. = אשר as usual in Phoenician (Hebrew אשר = Phoenician אש).
  27. = בָּנִיתִי 'I built'
  28. = קונה: acquirer.
  29. = אתה
  30. = מַמְלֶכֶת 'kingdom' and hence 'king'.
  31. = אֶת as usual in Phoenician.
  32. בן מִנִם = something, parallel to Hebrew כל מיני, Akkadian mīnummê 'whatever, everything'.
  33. = כי
  34. = שָׂמוּ 'they put'
  35. = יַעֲמִיסֵנִי = 'load me, transport me'
  36. = על 'on'. cf Phoenician-Punic Dictionary by Charles R. Krahmalkov (entry עלת).
  37. plural of אדם 'man'
  38. = יְדַבְּרוּךָ 'they will tell you' (final nun as in Aramaic).
  39. = לָמוֹ 'to them, to him', Biblical Hebrew poetic form of לו.
  40. = Rephaim.
  41. = תחתם 'under them', inflected form of תחת 'under'
  42. = יַסְגִּירוּם 'will deliver them', with final nun as usual in Phoenician.
  43. = האלים 'the Gods' with added נ in the masculine plural. cf Phoenician-Punic Dictionary by Charles R. Krahmalkov (entry 'lm).
  44. = אדיר 'mighty'
  45. form equivalent to Hebrew לְקַצְּצָם 'cut off/exterminate them', root קצץ as in קץ 'end'.

Notes
  1. The eighth month of the Phoenician year which was identical with the Judaic, where it is now called Cheshvan. The name is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible (1Kings 6:38: "in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month").
  2. King Eshmunazar lived in the fourth century B.C., this is generally admitted on account of the form of the sarcophagus, which was certainly Egyptian; there are even in the middle of it traces of hieroglyphs which have been erased. The King Tabnit may be the Tennes of Greek authors.
  3. The seaside Sidon' Sidon eres yam, seems to be one of the two Sidons, the other may have been the Sidon of the mountain. Sennacherib speaks also of the two Sidons, the great and the little one
  4. The "Lords of the Kings" seem not to be the Kings of Persia, but an epithet applicable to a divine king.
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