Honeyman inscription

The Honeyman inscription, also known as the Archaic Cyprus inscription, is a seven-line Phoenician gravestone inscription found in Cyprus and first published in 1939. It is the oldest detailed Phoenician inscription found in Cyprus.[1]

Honeyman Phoenician inscription

It was first published in 1939 by Professor Alexander Mackie Honeyman in a review of the Phoenician inscriptions in the Cyprus Museum.[2] Its provenance is unknown, but it is made from red sandstone typical of Kokkinochoria.[2] On the basis of letter forms and grammatical peculiarities the writing was dated to c.900 BCE (or rather the first half of the ninth century) by William F. Albright.[2]

It is currently in the Cyprus Museum (no. 397).

It is also known as KAI 30.

Text of the inscription

The inscription apparently refers to the tomb of an important individual. Remarkably it does not begin with the name of the deceased (many inscriptions begin "I am X, the son of Y, ..."). Most of the first four lines is readable, and it is helpful that word borders are nicely indicated by vertical strokes as word separators. But even then the interpretation is not easy.

The Phoenician text reads:[3]


(line 1)	...]H’ : ’Y : MPT : WH’Š : ’Š[.
(2)	...]M : LQBR : Z’ : K‘L : HGBR : Z’[
(3)	...]ŠY : WY’BD : H[...] Z’ : ’YT : H’[
(4)	.] BN : YD : B‘L : WBN : YD : ’DM : WB[
(5)	N : YD : ..]’R : ’LM : [.....] : L..Y : L[.
(6)	..]..’YT : [...............]Š[..
(7)	..].ŠM[...]Y[..........]NY

Honeyman translated the first five lines as:


(line 1)	This is no[4] magistrate or ruler[5]
(2)	pla]ced in this tomb which is over this man.
(3)	He who [de]files [this] sar[cophagus will be for]gotten and will perish
(4)	whether by the hand of Ba‘al or by the hand of man or by
(5)	the hand of the as]sembly of the gods [...

The inscription being one of the oldest in Cyprus in the Phoenician language, Krahmalkov has interpreted it as referring to a Phoenician who, perhaps as a colonizer, invaded the island.[6][7] Crucial for his interpretation is the reading of two words. In line 1 the otherwise unknown word MPT, read by Honeyman as something like mufti and interpreted as a synonym of R’Š (rō’š = head), is read by Krahmalkov as miPūt, from Pūt, out of Pūt, where Pūt is assumed to be the name Phoenicia.[8] And in line 3 the incomplete word ..]ŠY is read by Krahmalkov as ’LŠY, Alasya, the common name of Cyprus. His translation of the first four lines is:


(line 1)	[Men] came to <this> island from PT (Pūt : Phoenicia). And the man who was their [leader],
(2)	his is this grave. This warrior came up to (invaded)
(3)	Alasia (Cyprus), and this [man/warrior] devastated the island.
(4)	In him was the strength of Baal, but against him was the hand of man
(or:)	In him was the strength of Baal, and in him was the strength of ’Adom. [? a god of death and destruction, lord of Netherworld[9]]

Notes

Christina Ioannou, Cypriotes and Phoenicians, Kyprios Character: History, Archaeology & Numismatics of Ancient Cyprus, 25 August 2015, The Phoenicians and Cyprus prior to the 8th century: "The earliest Phoenician inscription dates paleographically to the 11th century BC... consists of three letters incised... The second inscription is cut on a grave stela and is intriguing both in respect of the date it is paleographically attributed to, i.e. 9th century BC, and in terms of its content. The inscribed grave stela refers to a Phoenician buried on the island by his/her relatives. Being in charge of his/her burial, they erected the stela while other elements indicate the high social position of the deceased. The content of the inscription also attests to the importance of the dead person. It is a text of seven lines which informs readers about the kind of disasters awaiting them if they attempt to violate the tomb.
Honeyman, A. M. “The Phoenician Inscriptions of the Cyprus Museum” Iraq, vol. 6, no. 2, 1939, pp. 104–108 see p.106-107, number 8.
Donner, Herbert; Rölig, Wolfgang (2002). Kanaanäische und aramäische Inschriften (5 ed.). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. p. I, 8.
The word "no" is strange. There is no word "no" in the Phoenician text.
Honeyman reads R’Š, head, i.e. chief, head-man instead of H’Š, the man.
Krahmalkov, Charles R. (2001). A Phoenician-Punic Grammar. Leiden / Atlanta: Brill / SDL. p. 2. ISBN 978-1-62837-031-7. (= Handbuch der Orientalistik, 54).
Krahmalkov, Charles R. (2000). Phoenician-Punic Dictionary. Leuven: Peeters / Departement Oosterse Studies. ISBN 90-429-0770-3.
In the Bible Puthians are mentioned in 1 Chronicles 2:53, but these are not Phoenicians but inhabitants of Judah.
Phoenician ’DM (Hebrew ’ādām) is the common word for man, person, human being. Krahmalkov 2000, p. 33, surmises that, as a deity, ’ADOM is "perhaps the apotheosis of First Man, like First Woman (Phoenician ḥwt [Hebrew Ḥawwāh, Eve]) a god of death and devastation, the dead and the Netherworld."

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[1] Christina Ioannou, Cypriotes and Phoenicians, Kyprios Character: History, Archaeology & Numismatics of Ancient Cyprus, 25 August 2015, The Phoenicians and Cyprus prior to the 8th century: "The earliest Phoenician inscription dates paleographically to the 11th century BC... consists of three letters incised... The second inscription is cut on a grave stela and is intriguing both in respect of the date it is paleographically attributed to, i.e. 9th century BC, and in terms of its content. The inscribed grave stela refers to a Phoenician buried on the island by his/her relatives. Being in charge of his/her burial, they erected the stela while other elements indicate the high social position of the deceased. The content of the inscription also attests to the importance of the dead person. It is a text of seven lines which informs readers about the kind of disasters awaiting them if they attempt to violate the tomb.

[Honeyman-2] Honeyman, A. M. “The Phoenician Inscriptions of the Cyprus Museum” Iraq, vol. 6, no. 2, 1939, pp. 104–108 see p.106-107, number 8.

[3] Donner, Herbert; Rölig, Wolfgang (2002). Kanaanäische und aramäische Inschriften (5 ed.). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. p. I, 8.

[4] The word "no" is strange. There is no word "no" in the Phoenician text.

[5] Honeyman reads R’Š, head, i.e. chief, head-man instead of H’Š, the man.

[PPG-6] Krahmalkov, Charles R. (2001). A Phoenician-Punic Grammar. Leiden / Atlanta: Brill / SDL. p. 2. ISBN 978-1-62837-031-7. (= Handbuch der Orientalistik, 54).

[7] Krahmalkov, Charles R. (2000). Phoenician-Punic Dictionary. Leuven: Peeters / Departement Oosterse Studies. ISBN 90-429-0770-3.

[8] In the Bible Puthians are mentioned in 1 Chronicles 2:53, but these are not Phoenicians but inhabitants of Judah.

[9] Phoenician ’DM (Hebrew ’ādām) is the common word for man, person, human being. Krahmalkov 2000, p. 33, surmises that, as a deity, ’ADOM is "perhaps the apotheosis of First Man, like First Woman (Phoenician ḥwt [Hebrew Ḥawwāh, Eve]) a god of death and devastation, the dead and the Netherworld."