The Byblian royal inscriptions are five inscriptions from Byblos written in an early type of Phoenician script, in the order of some of the kings of Byblos, all of which were discovered in the early 20th century.
They constitute the largest corpus of lengthy Phoenician inscriptions from the area of the "Phoenician homeland"; it is the only major site in the region which has been excavated to pre-Hellenistic levels.
The five royal inscriptions The Ahiram Sarcophagus (KAI 1), discovered in 1923, together with two fragments of alabaster vases with the name of Ramesses II.René Dussaud, Les inscriptions phéniciennes du tombeau d’Ahiram, roi de Byblos, Syria 5 (1924): 135–157. Currently in the National Museum of Beirut. The Yehimilk inscription (KAI 4) published in 1930.Maurice Dunand, Nouvelle Inscription Phénicienne Archaique, RB 39 (1930): 321–331. Currently in the museum of Byblos Castle. The Abiba’l inscription (KAI 5), on a throne on which a statue of Sheshonq I was placed, found in 1895, published in 1903.Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau, Inscription égypto-phénicienne de Byblos, Comptes rendu, Académie des inscriptions et belies-lettres (Paris, 1903). Currently in the Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin."Ganz nach dem Geschmack von Lepsius!“ - Das Statuenfragment Scheschonqs I. aus Byblos im Vorderasiatischen Museum zu Berlin und Neues zur königlichen Skulptur der LibyerzeitLemaire, André, La datation des rois de Byblos Abibaal et Élibaal et les relations entre l’Égypte et le Levant au Xe siècle av. notre ère, Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres Année 2006 150-4 pp. 1697-1716 The Osorkon Bust or Eliba'l Inscription (KAI 6), inscribed on a statue of Osorkon I; known since 1881, published in 1925.René Dussaud, Dédicace dune stame d’Osorkon Ier par Elibaal, roi de Byblos, Syria 6 (1925): 101–117. Currently at the Louvre. The Safatba'al inscription or the "Shipitbaal inscription" (KAI 7), found in Byblos in 1936, published in 1945.Maurice Dunand, Biblia Grammata: Documents et Recherches sur le Dévelopment de L'écriture en Phénicie (Beyrouth: Direction des Antiquité, 1945): 146–151. Currently in the National Museum of Beirut.
KAI 2 is the Byblos Necropolis graffito and KAI 3 are the Byblos bronze spatulas; neither contain names of royalty or other historical information.
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Bibliography Christopher Rollston, "The Dating of the Early Royal Byblian Phoenician Inscriptions: A Response to Benjamin Sass." MAARAV 15 (2008): 57–93. Benjamin Mazar, The Phoenician Inscriptions from Byblos and the Evolution of the Phoenician-Hebrew Alphabet, in The Early Biblical Period: Historical Studies (S. Ahituv and B. A. Levine, eds., Jerusalem: IES, 1986 [original publication: 1946]): 231–247. William F. Albright, The Phoenician Inscriptions of the Tenth Century B.C. from Byblus, JAOS 67 (1947): 153–154.
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