Tripolitania Punic inscriptions explained

Tripolitania Punic inscriptions
Writing:Punic

The Tripolitania Punic inscriptions are a number of Punic language inscriptions found in the region of Tripolitania – specifically its three classical cities of Leptis Magna, Sabratha and Oea (modern Tripoli), with the vast majority being found in Leptis Magna. The inscriptions have been found in various periods over the last two centuries, and were catalogued by Giorgio Levi Della Vida. A subset of the inscriptions feature in all the major corpuses of Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions, notably as KAI 119-132.

In addition to inscriptions in the Punic script, the corpus includes a number of Punic inscriptions written in Latin script, such as KAI 304-305.[1] [2]

According to Karel Jongeling, 68 inscriptions are known from Leptis Magna, 15 from Sabratha, 10 from Oea, 4 from Zaiuet el-Mahgiub, 3 from Wadi el-Amud, 2 from Germa and 1 each from El-Amruni, Gasr Doga, Bir Gebira, Bu Khemmàsc, Henchir Gen Rieime, Misurata Marina, Al-Qusbat, Ras el-Hadagia, Sàmet el-Crèma, Taglit and Tarhuna.[3]

Early discoveries

Prior to 1927, only eight Punic inscriptions from all of Tripolitania had been published.[4]

The first find was in 1806 by Jacques-Denis Delaporte at Leptis Magna, published in his 1836 memoir:[5]

I turned south and climbed the remains of the temple of Friendship. I had barely reached the mound when I set foot upon a hard stone. The foreign characters under the Latin characters engraved on it made this monument so precious in my eyes, that I have not hesitated to include a copy of the inscription... It is a shame that it is only a fragment, because it could allow clarification of Punic or Phoenician writing, which is, I believe, that of this inscription, because lingua punica quidquid terraram est à Cyrene usque ad Gades occupavit... The stone is still on the spot: I have not urged the Americans to seize it, because it suits France better, if it is deemed worthy of adorning the Napoleon Museum.[6]

Delaporte identified the language as Punic by reference to a quote from Samuel Bochart's 1646 work Canaan, which translates in full as: "...the language of Canaan, whether Phoenician or Punic, which was brought from Phoenicia into Africa, and occupied all the world from Cyrene to Gades."[7]

By 1857, Moritz Abraham Levy stated that five inscriptions were known.[8]

Later discoveries

For forty years between 1927-1967, Giorgio Levi Della Vida worked to prepare a corpus of the Punic inscriptions in Tripolitania, intended as the Punic parallel of Joyce Reynolds' and John Bryan Ward-Perkins' The Inscriptions of Roman Tripolitania (IRT). Levi Della Vida's corpus brought together research which has often appeared in periodicals that are not very accessible, sometimes defunct, and were not always accompanied by adequate photographic documentation.[9] [10]

Concordance

ImageDiscovery date and locationPunic concordanceLatin (if bilingual)Current LocationOther ref.
Tripolitania[11] Iscrizione Puniche della Tripolitania KAI, CIS, NE[12] Levy 1857[13] IRT[14]
1
9 I1
10 NE 434, B-aI2 [15]
11 I3
12 I4 655lost[16]
13 I5 654Red Castle Museum[17]
12 17 KAI 130
13 18 KAI 129
14 19 KAI 131
16481
27 21 KAI 120 319Leptis Museum
28 22 KAI 122
29 23 KAI 123 Leptis Museum
30 24a and 24b KAI 121 321-323in situ
25 KAI 127 294
31 26 KAI 124 338
32 27 KAI 126 318, 347
34 29 KAI 128
36 30 KAI 125 305
37 31 KAI 119
68 KAI 132
1901, Breviglieri76KAI 118, RES 662[18]
82A-K
96

Other

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. Goodchild . R. G. . 2011-11-29 . The Latino-Libyan Inscriptions of Tripolitania - The Antiquaries Journal . The Antiquaries Journal . 30 . 3–4 . 135–144 . 10.1017/S0003581500087795 . 162787261 . 1758-5309 . 2022-05-31.
  2. Charles R. Krahmalkov. “A Reinterpretation of the Neo-Punic Inscription IRT 889 from Roman Tripolitania.” Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 93, no. 1, 1973, pp. 61–64. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/600518. Accessed 31 May 2022.
  3. http://www.punic.co.uk/phoenician/neopunic-inscr/nptxts/libyaframes.html Neo-punic inscriptions from Libya
  4. Levy Della Vida, 1927, page 92: "Non è inopportuno rammentare quali siano le iscrizioni neopuniche della Tripolitania finora pubblicate: esse non superano, come è stato detto sopra, il numero di otto."
  5. Reynolds, J. M. “Some Inscriptions from Lepcis Magna.” Papers of the British School at Rome, vol. 19, 1951, pp. 118–21. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40310492. Accessed 9 Oct. 2022.
  6. Book: Delaporte . Mémoire sur les ruines de Leptis Magna, régence de Tripolis de Barbarie: adressé en 1806 à M. le prince de Bénévent . Impr. roy. . 1836 . fr . 2022-10-06 . 13–14. Je pris au sud et montai les débris du temple de lAmitié. J'étais à peine arrivé sur la colline qu'ils forment, que je mis le pied sur une pierre dure. Les caractères étrangers placés sous les caractères latins qui y sont gravés ont rendu ce monument si précieux à mes yeux, que je n'hésite pas à en figurer l'inscription... Il est à regretter que ce ne soit qu'un fragment, car elle pourrait faire naître quelque éclaircissement sur l'écriture punique ou phénicienne, qui est, je crois, celle de cette inscription, parce que lingua punica quidquid terraram est à Cyrene usque ad Gades occupavit... La pierre est encore sur les lieux :je n'ai pas engagé les Américains à s'en saisir, parce qu'elle convient mieux à la France, si toutefois elle est jugée digne d'orner le musée Napoléon..
  7. Book: Bochart, S. . Geographia Sacra seu Phaleg et Canaan . Impensis Johannis Davidis Zunneri . 1674 . la . 2022-10-06 . 66. Tertia sit lingua Chanaan, sive Phænicum aut Punica, quæ ex Phænice in Africam perlata est, & occupavit quicquid terrarum est à Cyrene usque ad Gades..
  8. Book: Phönizische Studien von M. A. Levy . F. E. C. Leuckart . v. 2 . 1857 . de . 2022-10-12 . 88.
  9. Book: Vida . G.L.D. . Amadasi . M.G. . Guzzo . M.G.A. . Iscrizioni puniche della Tripolitania (1927-1967) . "L'Erma" di Bretschneider . Monografie di archeologia libica . 1987 . 978-88-7062-612-4 . it . 2022-10-12 . 15–16. Nel corso degli ultimi anni del proprio lavoro scientifico, G. Levi Della Vida si era dedicato, in particolare, alla raccolta in un piccolo Corpus delle iscrizioni in caratteri punici e neopunici rinvenute nella region tripolitana e da lui già edite per la massima parte nel corso dei lunghi anni della sua attività. La scomparsa dello studioso arrestò il compimento di quest'opera, che era intesa come il « parallelo » punico della raccolta di J. M. REYNOLDS e J. B. WARD - PERKINS, The Inscriptions of Roman Tripolitania, Rome-London, 1952 (IRT). L'utilità del lavoro è evidente: le edizioni di G. Levi Della Vida sono spesso apparse in periodici poco accessibili, a volte estinti, e non sempre sono accompagnate da un'adeguata documentazione fotografica;.
  10. Book: Jongeling . K. . Kerr . R.M. . Late Punic Epigraphy: An Introduction to the Study of Neo-Punic and Latino-Punic Inscriptions . Mohr Siebeck . 2005 . 978-3-16-148728-6 . 2022-10-12 .
  11. Tripolitania, in Dictionnaire des Inscriptions Sémitiques de l'Ouest
  12. [Mark Lidzbarski]
  13. Book: Phönizische Studien von M. A. Levy . F. E. C. Leuckart . 2 . 1857 . de . 2022-10-06 . 88.
  14. http://inslib.kcl.ac.uk/irt2009/ Inscriptions of Roman Tripolitania
  15. Jongeling, Karel. “IPT 10.” Orientalia, vol. 76, no. 1, 2007, pp. 47–52. JSTOR, . Accessed 13 Oct. 2022.
  16. Web site: Inscriptions of Roman Tripolitania: 655 .
  17. Web site: Inscriptions of Roman Tripolitania: 654 .
  18. https://base-map-polytheisms.huma-num.fr/source/553

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