Ma'sub inscription

The Ma'sub inscription is a Phoenician-language inscription found at Khirbet Ma'sub (French: Masoub) near Al-Bassa.^[1] The inscription is from 222/21 BC.^[2][1] Written in Phoenician script,^[3] it is also known as KAI 19.^[4]

Masub inscription
The inscription at the Louvre
Created	221 BC in Umm al-Amad, Ptolemaic Kingdom
Discovered	1887 Northern Israel
Present location	The Louvre
Language	Phoenician

Provenance

It is considered by the Louvre to originate from Umm al-Amad, Lebanon, around 6-7 km to the northwest of Kh. Ma'sub, on the basis of the reference to an Astarte temple in the inscription; such a temple has been excavated at the Lebanese site.^[2][5] This theory is contra the original provenance statement by Clermont-Ganneau and has also been recently contested by Friedman and Ecker, who see no reason to construe a new provenance and suggest that a second Astarte temple, a twin to the northern one from Umm al-Amad, was built at the southern entrance to the Ladder of Tyre pass, i.e. at or near Ma'sub, thus creating a ritual "bracket" for the pass.^[2] In Dunand and Duru's catalogue of Umm al-Amad inscriptions, it is number iv.^[6]

Inscription

The inscription is given as:^[7][8]

(1)

‘RPT

KBRT

MṢ’

ŠMŠ

WṢ

‘RPT KBRT MṢ’ ŠMŠ WṢ

The great colonnade of (the side of) the sunrise, and its nor-

(2)

PLY

’Š

BN

H’LM

ML’K

MLK

PLY ’Š BN H’LM ML’K MLK

-th (side), which the ʾElim (gods), the envoys of (the divine couple) Milk-

(3)

‘ŠTRT

W‘BDY

B‘L

ḤMN

‘ŠTRT W‘BDY B‘L ḤMN

ʿAshtart and the servants of Baʿal Ḥammon (dedicated)

(4)

L‘ŠTRT

B’ŠRT

’L

ḤMN

L‘ŠTRT B’ŠRT ’L ḤMN

to ʿAshtart, in the holy courtyard of the god Ḥammon

(5)

BŠT

20

3

3

LPTLMYS

’DN

BŠT 20 3 3 LPTLMYS ’DN

in the 26th year of Ptolemy, lord

(6)

MLKM

H’DR

P‘L

N‘M

BN

PT

MLKM H’DR P‘L N‘M BN PT

of kings, (the) noble, (the) beneficent, son of Pto-

(7)

LMYS

W’RSN’S

’LN

’[Ḥ]

LMYS W’RSN’S ’LN ’[Ḥ]

-lemy and Arsinoë, the divine A[del]-

(8)

YM

ŠLŠ

ḤMŠM

ŠT

L‘M

[ṢR]

YM ŠLŠ ḤMŠM ŠT L‘M [ṢR]

-phoi (literally "the gods-brothers"), (in the) three-(and)-fiftieth year of the people of [Tyre],

(9)

KM’Š

BN

’YT

KL

’ḤRY

[HMQ]

KM’Š BN ’YT KL ’ḤRY [HMQ]

as also they built all of the other tem-

(10)

[DŠ]M

’Š

B’RṢ

LKN

LM

L[SKR]

[DŠ]M ’Š B’RṢ LKN LM L[SKR]

-ples which are in the land, to be to them for [memory]

(11)

[WŠM

N‘M

‘D]

‘LM

[WŠM N‘M ‘D] ‘LM

[and good name for] eternity.