SAQQARA or the story of the two sisters.
Close to
the small village of Sakkara (18 km south of Cairo)
lies an enormous cemetery of the old Egyptian town of Memphis. Here are also the graves of more
than 20 kings under who is the staircase pyramid of Djoser (Zoser). There are only four inscriptions, but the
fourth one is really exceptional.
1.
Inscription on an amphorae: end of the 5th
century BC.
Mlkmhr ? Milk
haste! (Krahmalkov p.272)
h‘ky from Akko
(Krahmalkov p.366).
’
2.Inscription
on an amphorae: end of the 5th century BC.
Mslt 9 ? If there is a misspelling, then
there are some possibilities.
Mšlt: govern
(Krahmalkov p.317)
Mšl: Masol
(short form of name-type DN-mšl or mšl-DN) (Benz p.143)
There is the number 9,
of what?
3. Inscription
on an amphorae: end of the 5th century BC.
Bl If this is an independent
word and no aggregation, then the name of the month
Bul is a possibility.
(Krahmalkov p.103). It is not a personal name.
4.
Inscription in demotic script, but in the Phoenician language: 6th
century BC. KAI 50.
It is a
very common letter in which two daughters in different towns do some kind of business
with each-other. This is very peculiar. Most of the Phoenician inscriptions are
rather short dedications with at the most a list of names.
Line 1:
’l ’ršt bt
’šmny[tn]
To ’Arišut,
daughter of ’Ešmunyaton
Line 2:
’mr | l’ḥty
| ’ršt | ’mr | ’ḥtk | bš’| wšlm | ’t | ’? ’nk | šlm | brktn | lb
Message to
my sister Arišut. Here speaks your sister Bš’. Are you doing well? I am oké. I
greet you in the name of
Line 3:
‘l Ṣpn |
wkl ’l | tḥpnḥs ypln | šlm | ’pqn hksp | ’š šlḥt | ly | wtnt
Baal Saphon
and of the gods of Daphnae. Moreover, I got the silver that you sent me.
Line 4:
z | ly
mš[q]l ||| [| k]r wh[z]’‘l | ’t kpr b‘dt wml’t | ‘lt pny | ’yt | kl
Sent me a
weight of 4 kr and in addition to it I shall give in full all my
Line 5:
ksp | ’š ly
| bdk | wyhtt | ’t k ’t bṭh | bdbr[y]‘r ’š ’d‘ | bm’[t ym]t wš
silver into
your possession and I shall entrust it to you. Trust in my word.
Line 6:
lht ly ’t
spr dnqt ’š lmyš[r]…..ky
Sent me
within 100 days a letter with the power of attorney.
We are
witnessing a correspondence between two daughters of Ešmunyaton. Bš’ lives in
Daphnae = Tall al-Dafanna, ca.8 km west of al-Qantara and Arišut lives in Saqqara, where she got hold of a lot of silver. The
location of the father Esmunyaton is not known.
Bš’ >
Vocalisation and meaning uncertain. Benz p.101, Krahmalkov p.128.
Tḥpnḥs >
Tahpanhès = Daphnae (DCPP 435).
’šmnytn =
’Ešmunyaton (May Esmun grant!) Benz 71-72, Krahmalkov p.83.
’ršt =
’Arišut (short form from Arišutbaal) Benz p.69, Krahmalkov p.75.
DCPP = E.Lipinski
ed. Dictionnaire de la civilisation phénicienne et punique, Brepols, Turnhout,
1992.
Benz: PERSONAL NAMES IN THE PHOENICIAN AND
PUNIC INSCRIPTIONS
Frank L.Benz,
Studia Pohl, Rome, Biblical Institue Press, 1972. Studia Pohl: Dissertations
scientificae de rebus orientis antique. A cataloque, Grammatical Study and Glossary of
Elements.
Krahmalkov:
PHOENICIAN - PUNIC DICTIONARY
Charles
R.Krahmalkov. OLA 90. Studia Phoenicia XV.
Uitgeverij Peeters en Departement
Oosterse studies. Leuven 2000.
ncfps
