• Alphabetic Akkadian Gravestone Translations from Sidon Show Differing Religious Themes (330 - 0 BCE)

    Author(s):
    David Olmsted (see profile)
    Date:
    2021
    Group(s):
    Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean archaeology, Alphabetic Akkadian, Classical Philology and Linguistics, Near Eastern Archaeology
    Subject(s):
    Akkadians
    Item Type:
    Online publication
    Tag(s):
    Yah, sidon, grave, cippi, Akkadian
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/sx1d-p606
    Abstract:
    These seven alphabetic gravestone texts and one-coin texts from Sidon date to the Hellenistic era based upon their religious themes and their Greek Island letter styles. In contrast, one earlier coin style from Sidon from the Persian period has the Phoenician letter style. Their underlying language is Akkadian which was the empire language of Mesopotamia and Mediterranean regions until it was mostly replaced by Greek and Latin during the latter half of the Hellenistic era. One of gravestone texts has a Latin signature yet its main text is still in Akkadian. These texts demonstrate that the change to Latin and Greek was uneven and happened over a period of time. Significantly, none of the Hellenistic era religious themes exhibited in these texts is Phoenician. One set of themes is Samaritan being Yahu (Yahweh) focused but doing so within the Ancient Pagan framework. The other set of themes was Central Mediterranean emphasizing the non-mixing of the two power classes of the Ancient Pagan Paradigm. The divine powers (deities) mentioned are Yahu (Yah, Yahweh), Hu, Ayu, the Shepherd (Su as the full moon), and eagle-vultures.
    Notes:
    These are translations of the texts found on gravestones out of Hellenistic era Sidon
    Metadata:
    xml
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    2 years ago
    License:
    Attribution-ShareAlike

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