The first known inscription was CIS I 4, said to be found in 1858 in a wall near Sidon.[2]
Subsequently, two series of inscriptions were found in the early 20th century at the Temple of Eshmun, near Sidon in Lebanon, immediately before and during the excavations there. They are known as KAI 15 and 16.[3] One of these set of inscriptions refers to only the name of Bodashtart (KAI 15), and the other refers to both Bodashtart and his heir Yatan-milk (KAI 16).[4][5][1]
In 2004 another significant inscription was reconstructed.[6]
CIS I 4
The first known Bodashtart inscription, known today as CIS I 4, currently in the Louvre as AO 4838
This was the earliest known Bodashtart inscription, and is a unique text. The dedication is to Astarte rather than to Eshmun like the other inscriptions.[7]
Philippe Berger's 1904 diagram of the first six known inscriptions. Face A: three blocks, each bearing an inscription, Together, they formed a stele about 2 x 1.5m, which gave the impression of the inscription continuing from one to the other. Upper stone (α) is AO 3553 (2 1/2 lines). Middle stone (β) is AO 3552 (4 1/2 lines). Lower stone (γ) is in two fragments (4 1/2 lines). Face Β: Two inscriptions on two undivided blocks Face C: One inscription (2 1/2 lines)
High-Heavens, Rasapim-Land, (and) Sidon, that he built,[14] and (in) Sidon-of-the-Field (inland or rural Sidon).
’YT HBT Z BN L’LY L’ŠMN ŠD (or ŠR?) QDŠ
He built this temple for his god Eshmūn of the Holy Field(?).
The discovery was made by four workers who were extracting blocks from the temple on behalf of Druze leader Nassib Jumblatt (see Jumblatt family). They noticed that certain blocks had inscriptions with the engravings painted in red. A local antiques dealer bought three of the stones all with the same inscription. Due to the enormous size of the blocks, they were cut down to just 15 or 20 cm in thickness, and some stones were also cut into two or three pieces.[15]
A number of forgeries were subsequently produced.[10]
The excavated wall had two layers of construction: the inner layer showed more careful assembly of the blocks; the KAI 16 inscriptions were on the inside face of the blocks, such that they were not initially visible.[16]
This group of inscriptions, each with text similar to the others, was published together in the Répertoire d'Épigraphie Sémitique as RES 767.[23] They were edited in detail by Wilhelm Freiherr von Landau in 1904.[24]
King of the Sidonians, the son of the son of king Esmūnazor, king of the Sidonians:
’YT HBT Z BN L’LY L’ŠMN ŠD (or ŠR?) QDŠ
he built this temple for his god Eshmūn of the Holy Field(?).
The KAI 16 inscriptions were found in the eastern part of the wall, in the outer layer of blocks, which had been placed less carefully than the inner layer. Again, the inscriptions were turned inwards (walled in) so that they could not be seen.[25]
A fourth Bodashtart inscription, comprising eleven lines, was described by Paolo Xella and José-Ángel Zamora in 2004. The inscription had been discovered and photographed by Maurice Chéhab around 1960 on a rocky bank of the Awali river, some three kilometers from the mouth of the river, in an area where later an electric power plant was built. The in situ inscription seems to exist no longer, and Chéhab had never published it. But Xella and Zamora succeeded in tracking down Chéhab's photographs, and they conclude that the inscription probably refers to the construction of a water channel to bring water from the Awali river to the Eshmun temple complex northeast of Sidon, with its ritual ablution basins. Bodashtart had considerably enlarged this temple complex, so the local Yidlal water source would probably no longer be sufficient to meet its increased water needs.[6]
The inscription is dated to ca. 520 BCE. It reads:[6]
(in) High-Heavens, (in) Rasapim-Land, and (in) Sidon-of-the-Field. This is what he built and that he has made, King Bod‘ashtart, king of the Sidonians:
(4)
...] NBL Z Y ’[.. ’]ŠMN ŠR QDŠ B‘N YDLL LKNNM HMM [...] ’L(?) ’Š ŠQ [? ...
...] this «NBL» (water channel?)[28] [... of(?) E]shmun the Holy Prince, at the YDLL source,
The chronology of Bodashtart's inscriptions and of his reign have been sketched by P. Xella and J.Á. Zamora López.[30] In fact, they suggest that sources are now abundant enough that we may be on the threshold of being able to write Bodashtart's biography.[31]
The oldest inscription is CIS I 4, dating from the king's first reignal year. It describes the dedication of a plot of land to Astarte—a fitting activity for kings of Sidon, who also were high priests—,[32] but Bodashtart had not yet completed any building activities. The king, who was only a cousin of the last king Eshmunazar II, may have tried to justify an illegal succession by stressing his religious sense of duty, and by also mentioning his being a grandson of Eshmunazar I.
Next, the canal inscription dates from the seventh year of his reign. In the intervening five years Bodashtart had finished an extensive building program at the Eshmun temple, and probably also in the three urban districts mentioned in the inscription.
A few years later Bodashtart in KAI 15 records his building activities in those three districts, and also in a fourth urban district, appropriately called "Sidon of the Ruler".
KAI 16 dates from a few more years later. Only the building of the temple complex for Eshmun is mentioned. In this inscription Bodashtart for the first time mentions his son Yatonmilk, whom he explicitly calls a legitimate successor to the throne. This may be indicative of some uneasiness about his own rightfulness as a king. It is not known whether Yatonmilk ever has actually become king of Sidon.
Between 575 and 400 BCE no less than twelve names of rulers of Sidon are known (among them one queen-regent, Amoashtart). Bodashtart was the fifth of them, his regnal years cannot have been many, probably from c. 525 till c. 515. His accession may then have been related to a military campaign of the Persian king Cambyses II in 525 BCE, that ended in Cambyses's conquest of Egypt.
Notes
^ abBordreuil, 1990, "L'exemple le plus impressionnant est certainement celui des nombreuses dedicaces de Bodachtart decouvertes dans le temple d'Echmoun pres de Saida et conservees aujourd'hui dans plusieurs musees, auxquelles s'ajoutent trois exemplaires demeures in situ... Le nombre des inscriptions de Bodachtart mises au jour et repertories est a ce jour d'au moins dix-neuf (KAI 15 + 16) dont neuf (KAI 16) mentionnent Yatonmilk patronyme de Bodachtart. Il faut y ajouter RES 767 K in situ et les trois mentionnes par G. Contenau, soit quatre, a moins que RES 767 K ne soit la premiere mentionnee par G. Contenau, ce qui reduirait le supplement a trois. De plus on ne sait si l'estampage de RES 289 C correspond a un exemplaire connu par ailleurs ou s'il est le seul temoignage d'un exemplaire aujourd'hui disparu. A ma connaissance le nombre d'inscriptions de Bodachtart doit donc varier entre vingt-deux et vingt-quatre exemplaires dont douze ou treize mentionnent Yatonmilk patronyme de Bodachtart."
^Bordreuil, 1990, "Il est étonnant de constater que cette inscription (fig. 18), connue un demi-siècle plus tôt que les dédicaces sidoniennes de Bodachtart, n'a pratiquement jamais été jointe au dossier jusqu'à présent. Cette unique inscription de Bodachtart fils de Bodachtart est dédiée à 'Achtart et non pas à Echmoun mais cela ne constitue pas un problème car le culte de 'Achtart comme celui d'Echmoun faisait partie des traditions de la famille régnante. On sait qu'Echmouna- zor II, dont la mère portait le nom de 'M'èTRT, s'attribue l'édification du temple d'Echmoun et de 'Achtart."
^ abDonner, Herbert; Rölig, Wolfgang (2002). Kanaanäische und aramäische Inschriften (5 ed.). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. p. I, 4.
^ abKrahmalkov, Charles R. (2000). Phoenician-Punic Dictionary. Leuven: Peeters / Departement Oosterse Studies. ISBN90-429-0770-3.
^This was the most recently built district, note that in a inscription published in 2004 (see below) this district is not yet mentioned.
^Berger Philippe. Mémoire sur les inscriptions de fondation du temple d'Esmoun à Sidon. In: Mémoires de l'Institut national de France, tome 37, 1e partie, 1904. pp. 265-296. DOI : https://doi.org/10.3406/minf.1904.1582 "La découverte, comme cela arrive le plus souvent en épigraphie, a été, paraît-il, purement accidentelle. Quatre ouvriers travaillaient à extraire des blocs pour le compte de Nassib-bey Djemblat. En détruisant méthodiquement une très large assise, au niveau de l'excavation signalée plus haut, ils s'aperçurent que certains blocs portaient sur leurs faces des inscriptions dont les caractères, gravés en creux dans la pierre, étaient peints en rouge. Un marchand d'antiquités du voisinage, mis au courant de la découverte, acheta, pour quelques medjidiés, trois de ces pierres qu'on croyait appartenir à la même inscription. Le volume et le poids énorme des blocs n'en permettant pas le transport, on les retailla sur leur épaisseur, qui fut ainsi artificiel¬ lement réduite à 15 ou 20 centimètres, et on sectionna, en outre, certaines pierres en deux ou trois morceaux. Le tout fut alors transporté soit chez lui, soit chez le cheik grec catholique du village d'Halalieh."
^W. Freiherr von Landau: Vorläufige Nachrichten über die im Eschmuntempel bei Sidon gefundenen phönizischen Altertümer, Mitteilungen der Vorderasiatischen Gesellschaft, X, 1 (and IX, 5): "An dieser Stelle waren deutlich aus der Beschaffenheit des Mauerwerks zwei Epochen des Baues feststellbar, deren erstere die beiden inneren, deren spätere die beiden äusseren Schichten des gewaltigen unteren Baues bildeten. Die erstere unterschied sich von der andern durch sorgfältigere Aneinanderfügung der Blöcke und durch die Bearbeitung der Vorderseite, welche durch die Vorlegung der beiden späteren Schichten verdeckt worden war. Dieser Schicht mit den bearbeiteten Vorderseiten gehören die Blöcke an, welche die (nach innen gekehrten, also nicht sichtbaren) Inschriften Bod-Astarts trugen.
"
^Charles Cutler Torrey, "A Forged Phoenician Royal Inscription in the Louvre." The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures 58, no. 2 (1941): 135-38. Accessed August 12, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/528810: "Visiting the Phoenician Collection in the Louvre in 1929, I was interested to see Beshira's inscription conspicuously placed, bearing the number A.O. 4077. The stone makes a fine appearance, as its former owner had said of it. Possibly it has deceived no one; but for the reputation of the old Phoenician carvers of inscriptions the fact of its true origin and character should be made known by a label, if it is put on exhibition. Since, however, the Collection possesses more than one of the inscribed stones from this temple, with the inscription complete and perfectly legible, there will be no good reason for exhibiting this additional example when it is understood to be a forgery."
^W. Freiherr von Landau: Vorläufige Nachrichten über die im Eschmuntempel bei Sidon gefundenen phönizischen Altertümer, Mitteilungen der Vorderasiatischen Gesellschaft, X, 1 (and IX, 5): "Ausser diesen Inschriften mit ihrem regelmässig wiederholtem Text war noch eine mit einem davon verschiedenen Inhalte gefunden worden, welche sich im American College in Beirut befindet. Ihre Wichtigkeit für die Gewinnung eines Anhaltspunktes zur Bestimmung der Person Bod-Astarts und seines Verhältnisses zu dem Bau des Tempels war von Anfang an klar; der Zustand der Inschrift und Schwierigkeiten des Textes führten aber auf Zweifel und Bedenken, welche kaum über Vermutungen hinauskommen Hessen. Sie war vor Beginn der Ausgrabungsarbeiten und nach den Angaben der Arbeiter als erste in dem östlichen Teil der Mauer gefunden worden, wo von der die Inschriften tragenden Blockreihe bei Aufnahme der Arbeiten nichts mehr übrig war... Es ist nicht nur eine Inschrift, sondern eine ganze Reihe (bis jetzt neun Stück) dieser Art gefunden worden, und ihr Text steht jetzt vollkommen fest. Dadurch werden nicht nur manche der Voraussetzungen und Erwägungen, welche an den unvollständigen Text geknüpft worden waren, hinfällig, sondern auch die Anschauung über die Entstehung des ganzen Baues, welche auf Grund der Beschaffenheit des Mauerwerkes gebildet worden war, ist wesentlich umzugestalten. Wenn nämlich angenommen wurde, dass eine Inschrift dieser Art ausser der des American College nicht mehr gefunden werden würde, so beruhte das auf der Voraussetzung, dass diese aus derselben Blockreihe (der zweiten von innen) herrührte, wie die der anderen Gattung. Wider alles Erwarten wurden aber die neuen Exemplare in der ersten Reihe von aussen, also der äusseren derjenigen beiden gefunden, deren Blöcke weniger sorgfältig bearbeitet sind und welche als nachträglich vor die beiden andern gelegt angesehen werden muss. Alle diese Inschriften waren ebenso angebracht wie die der anderen Gattung, d. h. sie waren nach innen gekehrt eingemauert, sodass sie nicht gesehen werden konnten. Diese neuen Funde bestimmen also das Mauerwerk der beiden äusseren Reihen, das als später vorgelegt zu gelten hat, zeitlich genauer und zwar anders, als man aus dem äusseren Aussehen schliessen musste: es ist auch noch von Bod-Astart errichtet worden, also zeitlich nicht allzuweit von den beiden inneren Reihen zu trennen. Das Nähere hängt von der Erklärung der ersten Zeile der Inschrift (Stellung Sydyk-jatans zu Bod-Astart) ab, aber eine Veränderung in der Auffassung des Wesens der beiden Teile des Mauerwerks wird dadurch schwerlich herbeigeführt."
^The text is messed up here due to clumsy correction of an error by the stone cutter.
^The word «NBL» is known as a fluid container: "cup, jar, vase". Here it apparently refers to some kind of hydraulic project. A water channel would fit nicely, though other possibilities, such as a cistern, are not excluded [Xella & Zamora (2004), p. 288].
Zamora, José Á. "The Inscription from the First Year of King Bodashtart of Sidon's Reign: CIS I, 4." Orientalia, NOVA SERIES, 76, no. 1 (2007): 100–13. Accessed August 12, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/43077614.
Charles Cutler Torrey (1902). A Phoenician Royal Inscription. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 23, 156–173. doi:10.2307/592387
Xella, Paolo, and José-Ángel Zamora López. “L’inscription Phénicienne de Bodashtart in Situ à Bustān Eš-Šēḫ (Sidon) et Son Apport à l’histoire Du Sanctuaire.” Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins 121, no. 2 (2005): 119–29. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27931768.
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