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H 245 x W 174 mm

140 pages

7 Figures

Published Sep 2024

Archaeopress Archaeology

ISBN

Paperback: 9781803278278

Digital: 9781803278285

DOI 10.32028/9781803278278

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Keywords
Canaanite; Phoenician; Inscriptions; Orality; Classical Hebrew Verse; Philology; Comparative Semitics; Word Division

Related titles

How to Read Ancient Texts

With a Focus on Select Phoenician Inscriptions from Malta

By Anthony J. Frendo

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This book foregrounds the principles of interpretation that scholars employ when reading ancient inscriptions. In order to better come to grips with Canaanite, such as Phoenician, inscriptions, we need to first understand how people wrote and read texts in the ancient Mediterranean world, including that of the Greeks and Romans.

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Contents

Preface


Chapter 1. Introduction


Chapter 2. The Phoenicians: Who are They?


Chapter 3. The Hallmarks of Writing and Reading in Antiquity: Prose and Verse


Chapter 4. Verse in the Levant: Classical Hebrew


Chapter 5. Basic Principles of Interpretation: General and Phoenician-Specific


Chapter 6. Context as the Indispensable Criterion of Interpretation: The Case of CIS I, 123 and 123 bis

Stela of Milk-Ba‘al

Stela of an offering instead of an infant

Stela of a sacrifice consisting of an infant

Stela of a sacrifice of a lord

Stela of a (human) sacrifice of one making (it)

Stela of a sacrifice to Ba‘al (literally ‘of a sacrifice of Ba‘al’)

Stela of one sacrificed to Ba‘al (literally ‘of a sacrificed one of Ba‘al’)


Chapter 7. Reading and Interpreting Phoenician Verse: The Tal-Virtù Papyrus


Chapter 8. Conclusions


Bibliography


Index

About the Author

Anthony J. Frendo is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, and Emeritus Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology and the Hebrew Bible as well as Senior Fellow of the University of Malta. He has degrees in Philosophy, Theology, Near Eastern Studies, Biblical Exegesis, and holds a PhD in Biblical Archaeology from University College, University of London. He is the author of two books (Pre-Exilic Israel, the Hebrew Bible, and Archaeology: Integrating Text and Artefact, 2011, and Approaching Biblical Archaeology, 2021) as well as numerous articles, book chapters, and reviews. He was a Visiting Scholar at Sede Boqer in the Negev, Israel, besides having been twice elected Visiting Scholar at Wolfson College, Oxford.