Albright, W. F. “The Phoenician Inscriptions of the Tenth Century B. C. from Byblus.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 67, no. 3 (1947): 153–60. https://doi.org/10.2307/596081.
KAI 002
Gibson 3:05
Metadata
- Collection
- In Situ at Find-Spot
- Keywords
-
- Inscription | Graffito
- Inscription | Grave
- Tomb
- Language
- Phoenician / Punic
- Script
- Phoenician
- Find Type
- Excavation
- Material
- Graffito
- Updated by
- James D. Moore, 2026-06-28
- Date (Paleographic)
- Gregorian -1000 to -975
General Notes
This text is inscribed on one of the walls leading into the tomb where the ˀAḥiram sarcophagus was discovered. It can be found around 3 meters into the shaft (Montet 1928, 216). Gibson (1982, 17) notes that by the style of writing, it is clear that the writing is contemporaneous with ˀAḥiram’s burial rather than an earlier one, which was around 1000 B.C.E. The text comprises six words split into three lines and contains a curse against anyone who would disturb the burial site. It was published by Dussaud in 1924 with his publication of the ˀAḥiram sarcophagus. See notes to 11441 for further information.
Bange, Ludger A. A Study of the Use of Vowel-Letters in Alphabetic Consonantal Writing. München: Verl. UNI-Druck, 1971.
Chéhab, Maurice. “Observations au sujet du sarcophage d’Ahiram.” Mélanges de l’Université Saint-Joseph 46 (1970): 105–17.
Cross, F. M., and D. N. Freedman. Early Hebrew Orthography: A Study of the Epigraphic Evidence. American Oriental Series 36. New Haven, CT: American Oriental Society, 1952.
Donner, Herbert. “Zur Formgeschichte der Ahīrām-Inschrift.” Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Karl-Marx-Universität Leipzig 3 (n.d.): 283–87.
Donner, Herbert, and Wolfgang Röllig. Kanaanäische und aramäische Inschriften. 5th ed. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2002.
Donner, Herbert, and Wolfgang Röllig, eds. Kanaanäische und aramäische Inschriften. 5., erw. Und überarbeitete Aufl. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1971.
Dussaud, René. “Les inscriptions phéniciennes du tombeau d’Ah́iram, roi de Byblos.” Syria 5, no. 2 (1924): 135–57. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4236810.
Galling, Kurt. “Die Achiram-Inschrift im Lichte der Karatepe-Texte.” Die Welt des Orients 1, no. 5 (1950): 421–25. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23470398.
Garbini, G. “Sulla datazione dell’iscrizione di Ahiram.” Annali dell’Istituto Universitario Orientale di Napoli 37 (1977): 81–89.
Greenfield, Jonas C. “Scripture and Inscription: The Literary and Rhetorical Element in Some Early Phoenician Inscriptions.” In Near Eastern Studies in Honor of William Foxwell Albright, edited by Hans Goedicke, 253–68. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1971.
Harris, Zellig S. A Grammar of the Phoenician Language. Vol. 8. American Oriental Series. New Haven: American Oriental Society, 1936.
Magnanini, Pietro. Le iscrizioni fenicie dell’Oriente: Testi, traduzioni, glossari. Rome: Centro di Studi Semitici, Istituto di Studi del Vicino Oriente, 1973.
Martin, M. “A Preliminary Report after Re-Examination of the Byblian Inscriptions.” Orientalia 30, no. 1 (1961): 46–78. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43073578.
Montet, Pierre. Byblos et l’Égypte: Quatre campagnes de fouilles à Gebeil, 1921–1922–1923–1924. Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner, 1928.
Moscati, Sabatino. The World of the Phoenicians. Translated by Alastair Hamilton. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1968. http://archive.org/details/worldofphonician0000unse.
Tawil, Hayim. “A Note on the Aḥiram Inscription.” Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society 3, no. 1 (1970): 33–36.
Torrey, Charles C. “The Aḫīrām Inscription of Byblos.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 45 (1925): 269–79. https://doi.org/10.2307/593505.
Branden, Albertus van den. “Inscription sur le sarcophage d’Ahiram.” Al-Mashriq 54 (1960): 732–36.
Vinnikov, J. H. “Эпитафия Ахирама Библского в новом освещении.” Vestnik Drevnej Istorii 42 (1952): 141–52.
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Textual Notes
2 - לדעת𐤟 : This is an infinitive with L- prefix. Literally, it means, “to know.” It has been translated with the force of a warning, like, “Beware!” (Gibson 1982, 17). 2 - יפד : The meaning is uncertain. Gibson takes the meaning "disaster" from the Hebrew noun, occurring only a few times in the Hebrew Bible, meaning "ruin, disaster," and sees a passive here, (Gibson 1982, 17).
Text and Translation
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John C.L. Gibson Last updated 26 April, 2026 by James D. Moore
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John C.L. Gibson Last updated 26 April, 2026 by James D. Moore
Beware!
Behold, there is disaster for you
under this!
Moore, James D., Cody Beasley. 'KAI 002.' DEAPS. 04 Feb, 2026. https://deaps.osu.edu/text_objects/11442. Accessed: 01 Jul, 2026.