Cippi of Melqart
The Cippi of Melqart is the collective name for two white marble cippi that were unearthed at Tas-Silġ,[1] Marsaxlokk,[2] Malta by the Knights Hospitaller in the late 17th century. One is currently in the Louvre, the other rests in the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta.[3]
Of Phoenician origin, the candelabra-shaped cippi dated to the 2nd century BCE served as monuments and incense-burning pillars[2] dedicated as ex voto gifts by the brothers ʿAbdosir and 'Osirshamar, to the Tyrian divinity Melqart, syncretized as Heracles.[3]
The cippi provided the key to the deciphering that led to modern understanding of the Phoenician language, since the inscriptions on each base were written in both Greek and Phoenician.[3]
The inscription on the cippus of the Louvre reads:
Phoenician inscription
1 - lʾdnn.mlqrt.bʿl.ṣr.ʾš.ndr
To our master Melqart, Lord of Tyre, dedicated by
2 - ʿbdk.ʿbdʾsr.wʾ(ḥy).ʾsršmr[?]
Your servant ʿAbd' Osir and his brother 'Osirshamar
3 - šn.bn.ʾsršmr.bn.ʿbdʾsr.kšmʿ
Both sons of 'Osirshamar, son of ʿAbd' Osir for he heard
4 - qlm.ybr(km)
Their voice, may he bless them[4]
Greek inscription
Greek: Dionysos and Serapion the / sons of Serapion, Tyrenes / to Heracles the founder. [3]
The French scholar Jean-Jacques Barthélémy identified Phoenician letters with this inscription, which used 18 of the 22 letters of the Phoenician alphabet.[3]
In 1782, the cippus of the Louvre was presented to Louis XVI by Emmanuel de Rohan-Polduc, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller.[3] It was first deposited at the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres and then moved to the Bibliothèque Mazarine in 1792, where it remained for 4 years. It was moved to the Louvre in 1864.[3]
References
- ^ "The Maltese Language". My-Malta.com. Retrieved February 16, 2011.
- ^ a b Charles Fiott. "Malta-The George Cross Island". Conventual Franciscans of Rabat. Retrieved February 16, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Cippus from Malta". Louvre.com. 2009. Retrieved February 16, 2011.
- ^ "p195".