Bashamem inscription explained

The Bashamem inscription or Baalshamam inscription is a Phoenician language inscription found in Cagliari, Sardinia in 1877. It is currently in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Cagliari.

It is engraved on a rectangular block of dolomite, 61 x 20 x 29 cm, with a cavity in the top for the insertion of a statue, sculpture or other votive object linked to the cult of divinity.^[1]

It was found in the Piazza Sant'Eulalia;^[2] ^[3] although it was originally thought to have come from near the Chiesa della Santissima Annunziata^[4]

The inscription is thought to mention San Pietro Island, known in classical times as Hawk Island.

It is also known as KAI 64 or CIS I 139.

Bibliography

Editio princeps

Elena, sopra una iscrizione fenicia scoperta in Cagliari : lettera al chiar . sig . cav . Gaetano Cara direttore del R. Museo archeologico di Cagliari . (28 pag . con tavola litogr . 4.) Livorno

A. Stiglitz, Cagliari fenicia e punica in Rivista di Studi Fenici XXXV, 1-2007 Agnano Pisano (Pisa) 2009 pp. 54–57, fig. 6:3.
E. Pais, Bibliografia, Corpus Inscriptionum..... in BAS Anno I Serie II ed. A. Forni, p. 185, Cagliari 1884.
A. Taramelli, Guida del Museo Nazionale di Cagliari in Archivio Storico Sardo 1914 p. 264- 279 spec. p. 298.
M.G. Amadasi Guzzo, IFPCO Sard. 23, Roma 1967 pp. 101–102 Tav. XXXV

Notes and References

[George Albert Cooke]
E. Pais 1884 p. 185
Taramelli 1914 p. 298
Amadasi Guzzo 1967 sard. 23