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Can I read The Stele Dedicated to Melcarth by Ben-Hadad of Damascus on EtoBox?
The Stele Dedicated to Melcarth by Ben-Hadad of Damascus by Frank Moore Cross is a Arts and Humanities article available to read on EtoBox.
What is The Stele Dedicated to Melcarth by Ben-Hadad of Damascus about?
The Melcarth stele has been the subject of controversy and hot debate since its initial publication by Maurice Dunand in 1939.1 The stele itself is a rather ordinary basalt monument, engraved in relief with a representation of the Phoenician god, and inscribed with five formulaic lines of Old Aramaic. Yet from its initial decipherment, the importance of the text has been evident. The inscription, dating from the mid-ninth century, is the oldest substantial text in Aramaic.2 The stele was erected by a certain Bir-hadad (biblical Ben-hadad) of the royal house of Damascus, ex voto to the god who " hearkened to his voice." Furthermore, it was set up in the environs of Aleppo (to judge from where it was found)," far to the north of the expected influence of the kings of Aram-Damascus. Controversy was fired by W. F. Albright's paper in which he audaciously identified the Bir-hadad of the text with Ben-hadad I, discovering in the second line the patronymics br Tbrmn br Hzyn, " son of Tab-Ramman, son of Hadyin." 4 His reading required the identification of Ben-hadad I, contemporary of Asa and Baasha with the Ben-hadad (usually labeled Ben-hadad II), contemporary of Ahab and his successors,
Who reads The Stele Dedicated to Melcarth by Ben-Hadad of Damascus?
It is typically read by researchers, students, and practitioners in Arts and Humanities.
- Author
- Frank Moore Cross
- Publisher
- University of Chicago Press
- Published
- 1972
- Language
- EN
- Field
- Arts and Humanities (Social Sciences)