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    Ptolemaic Chronology in the Phoenician Inscriptions from Cyprus

    Author(s): Javier TeixidorSource: Zeitschrift fr Papyrologie und Epigraphik, Bd. 71 (1988), pp. 188-190Published by: Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, Bonn (Germany)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20186764.

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    1

    88

    PTOLEMAIC HRONOLOGY

    N

    THE PHOENICIAN NSCRIPTIONSFROMCYPRUS

    Studies

    on

    Ptolemy Philadelphus' chronology

    fail to take

    into

    account

    the Phoenician

    inscriptions

    from

    Cyprus

    which

    are

    dated

    to

    the

    reign

    of

    that

    monarch.

    I

    present here the data that may

    be

    gleaned

    from those

    inscriptions.

    An

    inscription found

    at

    Lapethos

    on

    the

    nord coast

    of the island

    and

    now

    in the Musee du

    Louvre

    )

    records

    the

    erection

    in the temple of Melqart

    of

    the statue of Yatonbaal

    who

    was, like

    his father,

    a

    magistrate

    of a

    terri

    tory outside of the city walls (RB 'RS). Writing in the first person the

    local official

    says that

    he set

    up

    the

    statue

    as

    his memorial

    in the 11th

    year

    of the lord of

    kings Ptolemy

    son of

    the

    lord of

    kings

    Ptolemy,

    which is

    the 33rd

    year

    of the

    people

    of

    Lapethos.

    This

    was also the

    year in

    which

    Yatonbaal's

    brother, Abdashtart,

    was

    the

    priest

    of the lord of

    kings.

    The threefold

    indication

    of

    the date in

    this inscription

    is to some

    degree

    unavailing,

    however,

    because

    the

    dates of the era

    of

    Lapethos and

    of

    the

    eponymous

    priest

    of the

    local

    cult of

    Ptolemy Soter

    are

    unknown

    to

    us:

    we

    are

    left with

    a

    chronology

    to be

    computed only

    starting

    with

    Philadelphus'

    regnal years. The

    Cypriot inscription certainly abides

    by

    the

    practice

    of

    dating

    the

    first regnal

    year

    of

    Philadelphus

    in

    285/284

    when he

    was

    associated

    with

    his

    father

    in

    the government of

    Egypt2);

    the date

    of the

    inscription,

    therefore,

    is 274 and

    were

    there

    any

    doubts about

    it

    the second

    part

    of the

    inscription dissipates

    them. There Yatonbaal rehearses

    two

    former

    acts

    of

    piety.

    The

    first

    one took

    place

    when he

    placed

    in

    the

    sanctuary

    the bronze

    effigy

    of his

    father;

    this occurred

    in

    the

    4th

    year

    of the lord of

    kings

    Ptolemy

    son

    of the lord of

    kings Ptolemy.

    The second

    pious

    act

    occurred in

    the 5th

    year

    of

    the lord

    of

    kings Ptolemy

    son

    of the lord

    of

    kings Ptolemy ;

    then,

    Yatonbaal tells

    us,

    he

    instituted

    sacrifices

    in honor

    of

    Melqart

    on

    behalf

    of

    my

    life and

    on

    behalf

    of

    my progeny,

    and

    for

    the

    legitimate

    scion

    (SMH SDQ)

    and for his

    wife.

    The

    mention

    of

    the

    legitimate

    scion

    seems to

    me

    to be

    decisive

    to

    establish

    the

    chronology,

    for the

    sentence

    cannot

    but

    be

    applied

    to

    a

    particular

    year

    in

    Philadelphus' reign.

    It

    is

    known that

    he

    was

    chosen

    by

    1. H. Donner and W.

    R6llig,

    Kanaanaische und

    aramaische Inschriften,

    vols I (Wiesbaden 21966),

    II

    (21968)

    and III (1964)

    = KAI

    no

    43; J.C.L.

    Gibson,

    Textbook of Syrian Semitic Inscriptions.

    Vol. 3: Phoenician Inscriptions

    (Oxford 1982),

    n?

    36;

    R.S.

    Bagnall,

    The

    Administration

    of

    the

    Ptolemaic

    Possessions outside

    Egypt

    (Leiden

    1976), pp. 71-72.

    2. See W. Clarysse and G. Van der Veken, The Eponymous Priests of

    Ptolemaic Egypt (P.L.Bat. 24). Chronological

    Lists

    of the Priests of

    Alexandria

    and

    Ptolemais with

    a

    Study of the Demotic Transcriptions

    of their

    Names

    (Leiden 1983),

    p.

    5

    (n. 19).

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    Ptolemaic Chronology

    in

    the

    Phoenician

    Inscriptions

    from

    Cyprus

    189

    Soter as

    his successor in

    place

    of his eldest brother Ptolemy Keraunus. The

    conduct of the latter conveys the impression that the claim of his brother

    Philadelphus to the Egyptian

    throne could not

    have

    gone indisputed

    after

    their father's death in 282. Consequently, the straightforward

    and

    unique

    reference

    to the

    legitimate king

    in the fifth

    year

    of his

    reign

    makes sense

    only

    if

    the year

    of

    the second offering

    of Yatonbaal

    coincided with the

    begin

    ning

    of 281: Soter

    was

    dead,

    Lysimachus

    was

    going

    to

    die

    at

    Korupedion,

    and

    Keraunus, disinherited,

    would

    appoint

    himself king

    of

    Macedonia

    after

    killing

    Seleucus.

    As for

    Ptolemy's

    wife

    in

    281,

    Yatonbaal

    preferred

    not

    to mention

    her

    name when he wrote the

    inscription

    in 274:

    by

    then Arsinoe II had

    taken

    Arsinoe

    I's

    place probably since 2793).

    A

    second Cypriot

    inscription4),

    this

    one from Idalion,

    also reckons the

    regnal year

    of Ptolemy

    Philadelphus

    from the

    first year

    of

    his coregency.

    The

    text

    commemorates the

    setting

    up

    by

    a local

    lady

    of

    votive

    statues

    as a vow

    to

    Reseph

    on

    behalf of

    her

    grandchildren.

    The

    offering

    took

    place

    on the

    31rst year

    of

    the

    lord of

    kings

    Ptolemy

    son

    of

    Ptolemy

    ...,

    which is

    the

    57th

    year

    of

    the

    people

    of

    Kition,

    Amat-Osir

    (...) being

    the

    Kanephoros

    of

    Arsinoe Philadelphus.

    The Kition

    era

    is

    known to

    have started

    in

    311 B.C.,

    namely

    the

    year

    Ptolemy

    Soter

    put

    to death

    Pumyaton

    the

    king

    of

    Kition. This

    inscription

    therefore must date

    from 254, a

    reckoning

    that matches

    the

    regnal

    years

    of

    Philadelphus

    if

    counted from 285.

    The

    chronological

    correlation present

    in the two

    inscriptions

    permit us

    to

    conclude

    that the

    Lapethos

    era started in

    307/306

    when

    Demetrius

    Poliorcetes captured

    Cyprus to rule over

    the

    island

    for some twelve

    years5)

    When Ptolemy Soter conquered Cyprus

    he

    did

    not treat Kition

    and

    Lapethos in

    the same

    manner,

    for Kition was

    allowed to start

    a

    new era after

    the

    suppres

    sions

    of

    its monarchy

    whereas the

    same event

    did

    not

    give

    Lapethos

    the

    op

    portunity

    of

    gaining

    a

    new

    statute. Diodorus says

    that Soter

    arrested

    Praxippus,

    the king of Lapethos, whom

    he suspected

    of

    being ill-disposed

    toward himself

    (19.79),

    but

    this can

    hardly explain

    the absence of

    a

    new

    era in the city. The explanation for Soter's behaviour escapes us and one can

    only guess

    that the

    determining

    factor

    was the different

    social

    component of

    3. E. Will. Histoire politique du monde

    hell6nistique

    I

    (Nancy 21979),

    pp. 104-105; cf. H. Hauben, Arsinoe

    II

    et la

    politique ext6rieure

    de l'tgypte,

    Studia hellenistica 27 (Lovanii 1983),

    pp.

    99-127. Following

    Gibson

    (note 1),

    p. 140 '1TW in

    line

    11 should de translated

    his

    wife and not his

    wifes

    as A.M. Honeyman in Journ. Egypt. Arch. 26 (1940), p.

    64

    (the editors

    of KAI

    stand

    undecided).

    The

    translation

    here proposed is

    grammatically

    sound.

    Gibson however is mistaken when he states that the wife is Arsinoe

    II.

    4. KAI n? 40; G.

    Hill,

    A History of Cyprus

    I

    (Cambridge

    1949),

    p.

    184.

    5. Hill, p. 171.

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    190

    J.

    Teixidor

    6)

    the

    two cities

    The inscription

    of

    Lapethos

    provides

    another

    interesting piece

    of

    in

    formation

    concerning

    the

    dynastic

    cult.

    By

    274

    only

    the cult of

    Soter was

    known

    in

    the

    island,

    the cult devoted to

    Arsinoe

    Philadelphus

    had

    yet

    to be

    founded

    in Cyprus

    and

    most

    probably

    in

    Egypt

    as

    well. The

    mention for

    the

    first time

    in a contract

    dated

    in

    the 14th

    year

    of

    Philadelphus of the

    priest

    of Alexander and

    of

    the

    Theoi

    Adelphoi, namely

    in

    272/271

    has led

    7)

    Fraser

    to

    conclude

    that Arsinoe's cult

    must

    have been

    founded that

    year

    As a result the

    Lapethos

    inscription

    and the

    contract

    supply two dates

    between

    which the

    appearance

    of the

    dynastic

    cult can be

    confidently placed.

    A third inscription from Cyprus should be mentioned here. The text, in

    Greek and

    Phoenician,

    was written on

    a

    rock

    outside

    of

    Larnax

    tis

    Lapithou

    near

    ancient Lapethos.

    It is

    usually

    dated to the

    end

    of

    the

    fourth century

    B.C. but

    a

    date at the

    beginning

    of

    the third

    century

    seems more

    coherent

    with

    the event there recorded. The

    inscription

    commemorates the

    erection

    by

    Praxidemos Sesmaos

    (in Phoenician

    Baalshillem

    son of

    Sesmai)

    to

    'Aenva

    EcxTeCpa

    N1T1

    /

    axcL

    BQ

    OLX6WO

    HIoTX6jLQou

    which in Phoenician reads:

    L'NT M'Z

    HYM

    /

    WL'DMLKM

    PTLMYS, To

    Anat

    the shelter of

    life and to the lord of

    kings

    Ptolemy 8

    .

    The

    wording

    of the Greek

    text

    is

    awkward and

    it

    has been

    suggested

    that the

    xcx'

    of

    line

    2

    belongs

    to

    the

    preceding word,

    i.e. to

    the

    Victory

    of

    king

    Ptolemy.

    In

    any

    event the text refers

    to

    a

    victory gained

    by

    Soter,

    in

    my

    view to that of

    295,

    when

    the

    Egyptian

    monarch

    eliminated any

    effective

    control

    by

    Demetrius over

    Cyprus

    and not to

    Soter's

    ephemeral victory

    over

    the

    kings

    of the

    island

    in

    312/311.

    We

    know

    that

    Lapethos

    did

    not at

    that

    time receive

    a

    new statute

    and therefore

    the

    euphoric

    tone of the

    inscription

    hardly

    fits

    that

    circumstance.

    Paris

    Javier

    Teixidor

    6. Kition

    was

    Phoenician since

    the

    beginning

    of

    the

    First Millennium B.C.,

    see M.

    Yon,

    Studia Phoenicia

    V,

    ed. E.

    Lipifnski (Leuven 1987),

    pp.

    369-373

    and

    Lapethos

    was a

    Laconian

    foundation,

    Strabon

    14.6.3;

    Hill,

    p.

    99

    note

    6.

    According

    to the

    fifth

    century B.C.

    source used by

    (Pseudo-)Skylax

    Lapethos

    was Phoenician

    (phoinikon, 86;

    MUller

    103):

    I

    follow

    A.

    Peretti,

    Il

    periplo

    di Scilace. Studio sul primo portolano del Mediterraneo (Pisa 1979).

    7. P.M. Fraser, Ptolemaic

    Alexandria I, p. 216; II, p. 366 n. 219 but

    see

    Hauben

    (n. 3),

    p.

    113

    note

    57.

    8.

    KAI

    no

    42; Dittenberger

    OGIS

    I

    17;

    G.A.

    Cooke,

    A

    Text-Book

    of

    North-Semitic Inscriptions (Oxford 1903), p. 81; for the name Sesmas see

    0. Masson,

    Les

    inscriptions chypriotes syllabiques (Paris 1961),

    p.

    182.

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