Tuesday, April 04, 2023

Is the Jerusalem "(proto-)Canaanite" inscription actually Old South Arabian?

SOUTH SEMITIC EPIGRAPHY? Inscription on Sherd From Solomon-era Jerusalem Found to Be Ancient Arabian Script. Scholars have been squabbling over the inscription found on the sherd since its discovery 11 years ago – though according to a new interpretation, the script is Sabaean, from the time of the Kingdom of Sheba (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).

I have posted on the "Jerusalem inscription" here (discovery in 2013), and here, here, here, and here. I noted a couple, by no means all, of the proposed interpretations.

I don't have the expertise to evaluate the claim that the script is Sabaean. The readings are quite different from the earlier ones I've seen, and the latter are not entirely consistent. In fact, Dr. Vainstub's Sabean reading has six letters and the ealier ones have seven.

Whoever may be right, if anyone, the main takeaway for me is that we really don't know much about alphabetic scripts from the tenth century BCE.

The Kingdom of Sheba in Yemen is one possible place of origin for the Queen of Sheba. The other is Axum (Aksum) in Ethiopia. This inscription, if (big if) the new interpretation proves to be correct, would show there was contact between Solomonic-era Jerusalem and the Yemenite Sheba. But that seems likely enough anyway, since Palestine was an unavoidable route for the spice trade.

Note: Old South Arabian Sabaean should not be confused with Mandaic or Mandean (Mandaean) Sabean (Sabaean/Sabian). The latter refers to a late-antique Aramaic dialect and the people who spoke and who still use it.

UPDATE (11 April): More here.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.