Greek–Phoenician Bilingual Inscriptions from Rhodes

Abstract

Bilingual Greek–Semitic inscriptions have been found at numerous places in the Mediterranean—not only on Cyprus, but also on Malta, on Cos, in Athens, Miletus, and elsewhere—and, though not as numerous as Greek–Latin bilingual texts, are nevertheless of considerable interest both in themselves and also as evidence for the coexistence, in individual cases, of the two cultures. Rhodes, from which the three pieces here republished come, had a large foreign population in the Hellenistic period, but bilingual texts are not common there. It is, however, noteworthy that what is probably the earliest bilingual Greek–Latin inscription, of the third century B.C., comes from Lindos (Inscr. Lind. 92).I. Plaque of dark grey marble, complete on all sides, H. 0·130, W. 0·243, Th. 0·065, letters (Gk.), 0·018, (Phoen.), 0·010–0·015. Rough-picked on all sides for affixing into stele or similar object, but front part of all sides smooth (Plate 12a).Found, casually, 1968, in area of eastern necropolis near the church of Panagia Phaneromene. Now in Rhodes Museum, Inv. no. ΠΒΕ 1233.Greek: Phoenician: