Title
The spr š lh ̣“Tablet Scribe” at Phoenician Kition (CIS I 86 A 14)
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2009
Department/School
History and Philosophy
Abstract
The writer discusses the phrase “rb sprm ̌slḥ” in the Phoenician text on the obverse of the well-known ritual account discovered at Kition in Cyprus in 1879. He challenges previous scholarly readings that read the letters ̌sḷh as the verb ̌s-l-̣h “stretch out, give free reign to, let go, accompany, send away.” He argues instead that the string ̌sḷh comprises two words: the relative complementizer ̌s-, and the noun ḷh “tablet.” He concludes therefore that the phrase sprm ̌s ḷh does not describe a chief scribe who was somehow sent or commissioned, but a particular type of scribe who wrote on tablets, such as the stone tablet on which this Phoenician text appears.
Recommended Citation
Schmitz, P. C. (2009). The spr š lh ̣“Tablet Scribe” at Phoenician Kition (CIS I 86 A 14). Journal of the American Oriental Society, 129(3), 499–501.