Benz, Frank L. Personal Names in the Phoenician and Punic Inscriptions : A Catalog, Grammatical Study and Glossary of Elements. Rome : Biblical Institute Press, 1972. http://archive.org/details/personalnamesinp0000benz.
RÉS 0604
Lidzbarski, EsE II, 170f.;
Metadata
- Language
- Phoenician / Punic
- Script
- Phoenician
- Find Type
- Excavation
- Material
- Stone | Limestone
- Updated by
- James D. Moore, 2026-06-28
General Notes
It is difficult to date the graffito. The handcopy appears professional, but no letters stand out as diagnostically valuable for firm date. The Yod, Kaf, and Taw suggest to me a 6th–4th century BCE date, but this is only a hunch. Furthermore, many of the seemingly Persian period Phoenician inscriptions from the Osiris temple at Abydos begin with "I, PN" (Moore).
This Phoenician graffito was inscribed on the thirteenth century temple of Osiris at Abydos. The graffiti found at Abydos (see also DEAPS numbers 11489 and 16903) are dated by Donner and Röllig to the Persian period, roughly fifth to third centuries BCE, based on the paleography (KAI II 1964, 65-67; see also Holmstedt et al., 2026, 265) (Wheaton).
Cooke, George Albert. A Text-Book of North-Semitic Inscriptions; Moabite, Hebrew, Phoenician, Aramaic, Nabataean, Palmyrene, Jewish. Oxford Clarendon Press, 1903. http://archive.org/details/textbookofnorths00cookuoft.
Holmstedt, Robert D., Aaron Schade, and Philip C. Schmitz. Phoenician Inscriptions. Atlanta: SBL Press, 2026.
Murray, Margaret Alice. The Osireion At Abydos, 1904. http://archive.org/details/the-osireion-at-abydos.
Textual Notes
"The name ˁBDˀ seems to be a shortened form of a name with a possible theophoric element (“servant of …”; e.g., ˁBDˀDNY, ˁBDˀLM, ˁBDˀSRS). This would make sense as ˁAbd… is very common in Phoenician names, especially with theophoric elements. The word ארודי is a gentilic for Arvadite. Arvad is an island off the coast of Syria, near Sidon. It was a significant Phoenician city-state. Ezekiel 27:8 says they were skilled mariners and ship builders. According to Krahmalkov (2000, 175) חא is an obscure deity attested in personal names (e.g., אבדאחא). Pūt is also another name for Ethiopia.
RÉS 604 and Lidzbarsky (1908, 170-171) read כל מח, but the drawings from Margaret A. Murray (1904, pl. XXII) read כל נוח. The first letter of the second word looks like a nun, because it is a straight line that extends down past the line. This is how the nun can look with the Sidonian script (Gibson 1982, 180-181). This would align with the writer being from Arvad, which was associated with Sidon. A mem is unlikely because the drawing has a vertical line (which looks like nun) and a letter that looks like a ו, which appears earlier in the line and it looks the same as this letter. If נוח is the correct word here, it probably means “resting place” (i.e., shrine)." (Wheaton).
Text and Translation
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RÉS Last updated 29 April, 2026 by James D. Moore
RÉS Last updated 29 April, 2026 by James D. Moore
Moi, Abdo, fils de …, l’Arvadien, j’ai vu (?) tout (?) ce qui était à voir.
Moore, James D., Armand Rogers. 'RÉS 0604.' DEAPS. 24 Apr, 2026. https://deaps.osu.edu/text_objects/16903. Accessed: 29 Jun, 2026.