The Yehimilk inscription is a Phoenician inscription (KAI 4 or TSSI III 6) published in 1930,[1][2] currently in the museum of Byblos Castle.
| Yehimilk inscription | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created | c. 955 BC |
| Discovered | before 1931 Byblos, Keserwan-Jbeil, Lebanon |
| Present location | Byblos, Keserwan-Jbeil, Lebanon |
It was published in Maurice Dunand's Fouilles de Byblos (volume I, 1926–1932, numbers 1141, plate XXXI).[3]
It is dated to the 10th century BCE, and contains the earliest known Phoenician reference to Baalshamin.[4]
Text of the inscription
BT
Z
BNY
YḤMLK
MLK
GBL
[This is] the temple that he has built, Yehimilk, king of Byblos.
H’T
ḤWY
KL
MPLT
HBTM
/
’L
It was he who restored all these ruins of temples.
WMPḤRT
’L
GBL
/
QDŠM
and the assembly of the holy gods of Byblos—
YMT
YḤMLK
WŠNTW
/
‘L
GBL
[may these gods prolong] Yehimilk's days and his years over Byblos,
K
MLK
ṢDQ
WMLK
/
YŠR
because [he is] a just king and a righteous king
LPN
’L
GBL
QDŠM
[H’]
before the holy gods of Byblos, he.
Bibliography
- Christopher Rollston, "The Dating of the Early Royal Byblian Phoenician Inscriptions: A Response to Benjamin Sass." MAARAV 15 (2008): 57–93.
- Benjamin Mazar, The Phoenician Inscriptions from Byblos and the Evolution of the Phoenician-Hebrew Alphabet, in The Early Biblical Period: Historical Studies (S. Ahituv and B. A. Levine, eds., Jerusalem: IES, 1986 [original publication: 1946]): 231–247.
- William F. Albright, The Phoenician Inscriptions of the Tenth Century B.C. from Byblus, JAOS 67 (1947): 153–154.
- Corinne Bonnet. Existe-t-il un B'l gbl. à Byblos. À propos de l'inscription de Yehimilk (KAI 4). Ugarit-Forschungen, 1993, 25, pp.25-34. ⟨hal-01865311⟩