Social:Kilamuwa scepter

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Kilamuwa scepter in the Pergamon Museum

The Kilamuwa scepter or Kilamuwa sheath is an 9th-century BCE small gold object inscribed in Phoenician or Aramaic, which was found during the excavations of Zincirli in 1943. It was found in burned debris in a corridor at the front of the "Building of Kilamuwa".

King Kilamuwa is believed to have ruled in the area of Zincirli in ca. 830 - 820 BC.

The object measures 6.7 x 2.2 cm, and is ornamented with soldered gold wire and gold plates; two of the rectangular plates are inscribed with a total of seven lines or writing. Felix von Luschan concluded that it was once on the handle (or sheath) of a staff or scepter.

Text

The text as presented by Dupont-Sommer is as follows.[1]

1. סמרזקן
2. כלמו
3. ברחי
4. לרכבאל
5. יתנלהר
6. כבאל
7. ארכחי

The text may be read as follows.[2]

סמר ז קן כלמו בר חי לרכבאל. יתן לה רכבאל ארך חי.


Bibliography

References

  1. Dupont-Sommer, A. “Une Inscription Nouvelle Du Roi Kilamou et Le Dieu Rekoub-El” Revue de l’histoire Des Religions 133, no. 1/3 (1947): 21
  2. Galling, Kurt. “The Scepter of Wisdom: A Note on the Gold Sheath of Zendjirli and Ecclesiastes 12: 11” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, no. 119 (1950): 16.