CG no. 209

Compare DAIK / SI O 4961, Fund-Nr. 44703C/f-1 (unpub.) and notes there. Lemaire, Nouvelles (1996), pp. 121–123 (no. 203), has a similar phrase as line 1, for which Lemaire favors reading as a date without reference to a regnal year. In the memoranda on the verso of the Darius inscription (P. 13447v), one finds the abbreviation P which TAD interprets as a פרס "peras dry measure." HL reads here "Ration," either seeing this as an abbreviation of פרס or פתפ. Line 2 is enigmatic. All letters except the second and third-to-the-last letters are certain. The similar text from Lemaire, Nouvelles, suggests that this should be a name, but no indication of בנ is found. The letters KYP could be part of an Egyptian name kꜢp, kp (cf. פכיפ [PꜢ-kꜢp, PꜢ-kp]), or if read as (...)כס, then a measurement. Lemaire's proposal כס בת מלכ seems to me to be the best solution, though its meaning "Cup. Bat of the king" (or the like) seems difficult to understand. In support of reading בת, see 14-02-112-05/? (Syene). Line 3 is a name; the first name is probably a biform of the Egyptian name אספמת/אספמט with the elision of the מ. The second is curious. The first and third letters are more likely ח or ש, which are indistinguishable in some 5th-century Phoenician hands. I have chosen, with strong reservation, to read Ḥalaḥ, which is so far only attested as a GN in NWS but is known in NA (Tallqvist, Assyrian, 83a and Prosopography NA vol. 2/1, 440–1) (Moore).