Dwie nowe inskrypcje fenickie z Ibizy

Abstract

The 2003 archaeological campaign in Puig des Molins-a Punic necropolis in Ibiza-yielded two inscriptions, both of which were published recently in a volume of studies dedicated to M. H. Fantar. The first inscription (7th cent. B.C.E.) is a bone door-plaque inscribed with dedication to Eshmun-Melqart, a seldom attested Phoenician “double deity.” Among the text’s distinctive features is the donor’s genealogy which goes back six generations and contains rare and archaic names. The second inscription (3rd cent. B.C.E.), engraved on the pedestal of a missing statue, is also dedicatory. The people of tgʾlbn-an as-yet unidentified locale-offered the statue to the Tyrian deity Melqart in the fulfillment of a vow. The two inscriptions attest to the mosaic-like complexity of the origins of the Phoenician population of Ibiza. The first inscription contains Cypriote elements (the relative pronoun with prosthetic aleph, an a dedication to a deity attested mainly in Cyprus) while the second preserves the memory to Tyre by invoking its principal patron-deity.