Baalshamem inscription

The inscription is on an alabaster slab about 32 x 29cm. The writing is not deeply engraved and is not considered to be of monumental character; it was found almost intact except for the beginning, consisting of eight letters, which scholars were able to reconstruct partly from the traces present and partly from the content of the inscription.

The inscription is known as KAI 18 or CIS I 7. Today it is on display at the Louvre, with ID number AO 4831.

The inscription

The Phoenician characters read from right to left; characters inside brackets denote a filled in lacuna:

The title "Lord of Kings" in line 5 (’dn mlkm, ’adōn malkîm) was used by the Ptolemies who reigned Egypt as Pharaohs since 305 BCE. This would suggest the year 125 BCE as the date of the inscription. A slightly different date, 132 BCE, follows from the "people of Tyre" dating, that is reckoned from the year 275 BCE when the city abandoned the concept of monarchy and instead became a republic. If the reign of the first Ptolemy is counted from the First Battle of Gaza in 312 BCE, then both dates agree.