Arslan_Tash_ivory_inscription

Arslan Tash ivory inscription

Arslan Tash ivory inscription

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Arslan Tash ivory inscription is a small ivory plaque with an Aramaic language inscription found in 1928 in Arslan Tash in northern Syria (ancient Hadātu) by a team of French archaeologists led by François Thureau-Dangin.[1]

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It has been dated to the early 9th century BCE, on the basis of the name "Hazael" in the inscription,[2] who has been speculated to be the Biblical Hazael of Aram-Damascus. The inscription is known as KAI 232.[3]

The plaque, along with many other ivory items, was found on the site of a palace from the 8th century BC belonging to the city's Neo-Assyrian governor.

Three parts of the plaque have been found; two parts fit together, the third one does not. The two joined parts together are 2 cm high and 7.9 cm long, while the third part is 1.9 cm high and 3.2 cm long. The entire inscription on the plate is usually reconstructed as follows:

This ... son of Amma, engraved for our lord Hazael in the year ...

Currently, the plaque is in the Louvre collection under the inventory number AO 11489.

Bibliography

  • Clyde E. Fant, Mitchell G. Reddish, "Lost Treasures of the Bible", Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids / Cambridge 2008, pp. 106–109.

References

  1. [1]
    Arslan-Tash. v. 1 p.135: "Trois fragments d'une lamelle d'ivoire portant une ligne de texte en carac- tères araméens. Ces fragments ont été trouvés aux environs immédiats des cadres décrits plus haut p. 89 et suiv."
  2. [2]
    Millard, A. R. “Alphabetic Inscriptions on Ivories from Nimrud” Iraq, vol. 24, no. 1, 1962, pp. 41–51: The ivory strip from Arslan Tash is of particular value as it enables a date to be given to the bedstead of which it was a part and to associated ivories. On it is a dedication, in Aramaic, "to our lord Hazael." Hazael king of Damascus c. 843-796 B.C. is the only known historical figure to whom such reference might apply. If, then, it is correct to attribute this ivory to the late ninth century B.C., it may be that it formed an item of the tribute taken from Damascus by Adad-nirari III c. 804 B.C. which included ivory furniture."
  3. [3]
    Muscarella, Oscar White (29 January 1980). The Catalogue of Ivories from Hasanlu, Iran: Hasanlu Special Studies, Volume II. UPenn Museum of Archaeology. pp. 218–. ISBN 978-0-934718-33-2.
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